On February 7, 2025, the Second Circuit ruled that the crime-fraud exception would prevent the former CEO of a public company from invoking attorney-client privilege to prevent an outside lawyer and his law firm from...more
2/12/2025
/ Abuse of Discretion ,
Attorney-Client Privilege ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corporate Officers ,
Crime-Fraud Exception ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Internal Controls ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Subpoenas ,
White Collar Crimes
Last month, the SEC settled charges against Celsius Holdings, Inc. for allegedly improper accounting when it modified equity compensation awards for six departing employees and retiring directors. The errors caused allegedly...more
2/5/2025
/ Accounting Controls ,
Accounting Standards ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equity Compensation ,
Executive Compensation ,
Financial Reporting ,
Financial Statements ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Vesting
Many of the actions by the SEC over the past few years came following closely divided 3-to-2 votes. The split arose concerning both rulemaking by the Commission as well as enforcement actions....more
On January 10, 2025, the SEC announced settled charges against Vince McMahon, former Executive Chair and CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., for signing two settlement agreements without disclosure to the board, anyone...more
1/14/2025
/ Compliance ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Reporting ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Settlement Agreements
On December 20, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) issued a press release highlighting settled enforcement actions against a private fund adviser and two pre-IPO companies for failure to timely file...more
1/3/2025
/ Blue Sky Laws ,
Corporate Governance ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Form ADV ,
Form D Filing ,
Preemption ,
Private Funds ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Startups ,
Unregistered Securities
On December 17, 2024, the SEC announced settled charges against Express, Inc. for failing to disclose perks paid to its then CEO, including personal use of airplanes.
Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings,...more
12/19/2024
/ Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Compensation ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Neither Admit Nor Deny Settlements ,
Perks ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Violations
As news stories about AI have surged, so have enforcement actions by the SEC alleging fraudulent statements about AI capabilities....more
11/8/2024
/ Anti-Fraud Provisions ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Cease and Desist ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Compliance ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Statements ,
Investment Adviser ,
Misleading Statements ,
Misrepresentation ,
Offerings ,
Permanent Injunctions ,
Prejudgment Interest ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Recently, the SEC announced settled charges against a former chairman/CEO and director of Church & Dwight Co. Inc., for violating proxy disclosure rules by standing for election as an independent director without informing...more
10/8/2024
/ Board of Directors ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Corporate Officers ,
Directors ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Independent Directors ,
Proxy Statements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Regulation
Last week, the SEC announced settled charges against 23 companies and individuals for failing to timely file Section 16 reports on Forms 3, 4 or 5.
Additionally, two public companies were charged for contributing to late...more
10/4/2024
/ Analytics ,
Corporate Governance ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Filing Requirements ,
Neither Admit Nor Deny Settlements ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Required Forms ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Statutory Penalties
On September 26, 2024, the SEC announced that it had settled charges with DraftKings Inc. for selective disclosure of material non-public information on the CEO’s personal X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn accounts in...more
10/2/2024
/ Compliance ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Form 8-K ,
LinkedIn ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Regulation FD ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Social Media ,
Social Media Policy ,
Social Networks ,
Twitter
The SEC announced settled charges against Zymergen Inc. in connection with its IPO based on misleading statements about its market potential, revenue prospects and customer pipeline. After raising $530 million in the 2021...more
On September 10, 2024, the SEC announced that it had charged Keurig Dr. Pepper for making incomplete, and therefore inaccurate, statements regarding the recyclability of its popular K-cup pods....more
9/19/2024
/ Cease and Desist Orders ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Statements ,
Form 10-K ,
Recycling ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act
As discussed in our December 15, 2023 client alert, the SEC has waged an aggressive effort to enforce alleged violations of the whistleblower protection rule. On September 9, 2024, the SEC announced settled charges resulting...more
9/16/2024
/ Cease and Desist Orders ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Contract Terms ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employment Contract ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Popular ,
Privately Held Corporations ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Rule 21F-17 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Separation Agreement ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
On August, 19, 2024, the SEC announced settled charges against Carl C. Icahn and his publicly traded company, Icahn Enterprises L.P. (IEP), for failing to disclose information relating to Icahn’s pledges of IEP securities –...more
8/21/2024
/ Cease and Desist ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Collateral ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Margin Calls ,
Pledges ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Schedule 13D ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations
On July 18, 2024, District Court Judge Engelmayer of the Southern District of New York issued his 107-page opinion and order dismissing most – but not all – of the landmark allegations of the SEC against SolarWinds Corp. and...more
7/29/2024
/ Board of Directors ,
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fraud ,
Incident Response Plans ,
Misleading Statements ,
Popular ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
SolarWinds
As discussed in our March 3, 2023 post, the DOJ and SEC brought an insider trading case against the founder and former CEO and Executive Chairman of Ontrak, Inc. based upon the former executive failing the “clean hands”...more
7/1/2024
/ 10b5-1 Plans ,
Corporate Executives ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Insider Information ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud
The SEC recently charged Ilit Raz, the CEO of Joonko Diversity Inc., a failed recruitment startup, with "AI washing" based on allegedly false claims that her company had developed an “automatic recruiting solution” to help...more
As discussed in our September 1, 2021 post, the SEC brought its first “shadow insider trading” case against Matthew Panuwat, a company employee who purchased options in a competitor’s shares shortly after learning his...more
6/14/2024
/ Confidential Information ,
Corporate Governance ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Materiality ,
Misappropriation ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud
On October 30, 2023, the SEC filed charges against SolarWinds Corp. and its chief information security officer (CISO), alleging:
..Failures to disclose known cybersecurity vulnerabilities affecting the company’s “crown...more
11/2/2023
/ Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Form 8-K ,
Fraud ,
Internal Controls ,
Misleading Statements ,
Popular ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act
In New England Carpenters Guaranteed Annuity and Pension Funds v. DeCarlo (Aug. 2023), the Second Circuit held, among other things, that CEO/CFO certifications mandated by SOX Section 302 constitute non-actionable statements...more
9/6/2023
/ Audit Committee ,
CEOs ,
Certification Requirements ,
CFOs ,
Corporate Governance ,
Deferred Compensation ,
Dismissals ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Reporting ,
GAAP ,
Internal Controls ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Section 11 ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Statement of Opinion
A recent court case highlights the potential pitfalls for public companies engaging in informal communications with analysts. The court found that paraphrased statements attributed to an officer in an analyst’s report can be...more
Over the past few years, the SEC has renewed its focus on public company failures to disclose perquisites and related person transactions. As discussed under “Deeper Dive” below, most of the cases involve companies that...more
What happened?
In a recent settlement order, the SEC charged Activision Blizzard with failing to maintain adequate disclosure controls and procedures. Notably, the SEC did not claim that the company’s SEC filings were...more
2/9/2023
/ Cease and Desist ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Internal Communications ,
Internal Controls ,
Material Disclosures ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Risk Assessment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement ,
Whistleblowers
A recent SEC order found that two executives of Cheetah Mobile Inc. engaged in illegal insider trading when selling shares under a purported 10b5-1 trading plan. The SEC found that they established the plan after learning of...more
This newsletter discusses noteworthy updates, key regulatory decisions and upcoming compliance reminders.
In this edition, we review:
...SEC Changes Approach to Shareholder Proposal No-Action Requests
...SEC Issues...more
10/24/2019
/ Breach of Contract ,
Cease and Desist Orders ,
Clean Water Act ,
Contract Terms ,
Corporate Governance ,
Default ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Environmental Violations ,
Federal Loans ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Interpretive Letters ,
Investment Adviser ,
Libor ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
MD&A Statements ,
Misrepresentation ,
New Guidance ,
No-Action Requests ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Proxy Advisors ,
Proxy Advisory Firms ,
Proxy Voting ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation FD ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Shareholder Proposals ,
Shareholders