A panel of the D.C. Circuit recently relied on Lucia and Cochran to enjoin a FINRA regulatory enforcement action pending appeal of an Appointments Clause challenge....more
8/21/2023
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Appointments Clause ,
Article II ,
Article III ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Motion To Enjoin ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Seventh Amendment ,
Standing
On June 20, 2023, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to review three questions about the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) administrative courts...more
7/6/2023
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Appointments Clause ,
Article II ,
Certiorari ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Funds ,
Public Rights Doctrine ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
In the securities industry, regulators like to say that the compliance professionals are their “partners.” But every so often, those regulators charge one of their compliance partners with rule violations. The compliance...more
3/23/2022
/ Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance Management Systems ,
Cooperative Compliance Regime ,
Corporate Management ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Lead Supervisory Authority ,
Personal Liability ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations
Resources -
What We Do And Don’t Know About The New COVID-19 Vaccination Mandates -
Since President Biden’s announcement on September 9, 2021 of plans for COVID-19 vaccination and/or weekly testing mandates, we have...more
11/1/2021
/ Business Licenses ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Gamification ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Regulation Best Interest ,
Safety Standards ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Transactions ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
In remarks this week at the SEC Speaks conference, new SEC Enforcement Director Gurbir Grewal said he’s bringing back admissions in SEC settled actions to help spur accountability. Most SEC actions are settled on a “neither...more
The People’s Bank of China (“PBOC”) announced this morning that it is banning crypto currencies and related services, including “trading, order matching, token issuance and derivatives for virtual currencies are strictly...more
9/24/2021
/ Bitcoin ,
China ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Instruments ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Token Sales ,
Trading Restrictions ,
Virtual Currency
In an SEC filing Friday, February 26, Robinhood Financial and Robinhood Securities disclosed they are negotiating with FINRA, the SEC, and state regulators, attempting to settle investigations into options-trading and outages...more
Republican-appointee Commissioners Roisman and Peirce issued a statement on February 12 publicly disagreeing with Acting Chair Lee’s recent fiat discontinuing the Enforcement Division’s practice of proposing settlements that...more
On February 11, SEC Acting Chair Lee announced that the Commission no longer would permit settlements in enforcement actions to include, or be contingent on the grant of, waivers of statutory disqualifications that flow from...more
On February 9, Acting SEC Chair Lee announced she was restoring the delegated authority of Enforcement Division senior officials to issue subpoenas to compel document production and sworn testimony without the need of a...more
On the new year’s first day, Congress passed the NDAA over President Trump’s veto and gave the SEC more clear – and longer – disgorgement authority for enforcement actions in the courts....more
1/6/2021
/ Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Authority ,
Kokesh v SEC ,
Liu v Securities and Exchange Commission ,
NDAA ,
Presidential Veto ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Trump Administration ,
White Collar Crimes
The Supreme Court allowed the SEC to seek “disgorgement” as a form of “equitable relief” in civil-actions, but limited the remedy to net profits for benefit of harmed investors. Answering part of a question reserved in...more
6/25/2020
/ 15 U.S.C. § 78u(d)(5) ,
Administrative Authority ,
Business Expenses ,
Calculation of Damages ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equitable Relief ,
Kokesh v SEC ,
Lack of Authority ,
Liu v Securities and Exchange Commission ,
Net Profits ,
Remedies ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
In the past week, the Securities and Exchange Commission has suspended trading in five separate over-the-counter (“OTC”) stocks due to dubious COVID claims or related identity confusion....more
The U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has filed its first criminal action against fraudulent activity taking advantage of the novel coronavirus pandemic....more
Former Louisiana deputy sheriff and Russian resident Steven Seagal agreed to a Cease and Desist (“C&D”) Order by the SEC, finding violations of the non-touting provisions of Securities Act § 17(b) and imposing civil penalties...more
3/4/2020
/ Cease and Desist Orders ,
Celebrity Endorsements ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Influencers ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
OCIE ,
Securities Litigation ,
Securities Violations ,
Social Media ,
Token Sales
This winter has seen insider-trading trending – and not just because President Trump pardoned Michael Milken. In sequence, several legislative proposals have been working their way through Congress, the Second Circuit...more
2/28/2020
/ Criminal Prosecution ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Agency Taskforce ,
Illegal Tipping ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Misappropriation ,
Personal Benefit ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Regulation ,
Wire Fraud
Last week, the SEC’s Corporate Finance division issued its second no-action letter supporting a digital token issue. On July 25, 2019, the Staff agreed it would not recommend enforcement action over the issuance of Quarters...more
June 20, 2019 – Walmart (NYSE: WMT) and its subsidiary, WMT Brasilia, agreed to a combined criminal penalty and disgorgement of $282M, together with WMT’s criminal guilty plea and undertakings in an NPA, to reach a global...more
6/21/2019
/ Accounting Fraud ,
Brazil ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Sanctions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Subsidiaries ,
Internal Controls ,
Popular ,
Retailers ,
Risk Assessment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement ,
Third-Party ,
Wal-Mart
The SEC recently issued an investor alert warning about crypto advisory and trading websites. The alert cautions investors to be especially wary of web-based crypto-currency sites with any...more
5/8/2019
/ Bitcoin ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Crimes ,
Indictments ,
Money Laundering ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Trading Platforms ,
Websites ,
Wire Fraud
Last week, the D.C. Circuit held that the SEC can’t prosecute the same conduct as both willful and as negligent under the tandem sections found in most of the nation’s securities laws. The ruling prevents the SEC from piling...more
Late last week, the SEC issued a no-action letter widely hailed as its first on a blockchain-based digital token for private jet services. ...more
Last week, the Supreme Court held that knowing distributors of another’s false statements still could be primarily liable under parts of Rule 10b-5, even though they didn’t “make” the statements under prior precedent....more
4/2/2019
/ Appeals ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Statements ,
Fines ,
Intent to Defraud ,
Investment Banks ,
Lorenzo v SEC ,
Material Dissemination ,
Misleading Statements ,
Reaffirmation ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Suspensions
Last week, SEC Enforcement staff lost a bid for a preliminary injunction against a prospective ICO in its pre-offering testing phase....more
12/3/2018
/ Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities
Last Friday, November 16, the SEC issued a pair of settled actions setting a de facto standard of compliance for unregistered ICOs wanting to “come in from the cold.” In each of them, the ICO offeror paid a $250,000 monetary...more
On November 8, the SEC filed its first settled enforcement action against cryptocurrency trading platform for operating as an unregistered exchange trading securities, in violation of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934....more
11/19/2018
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Markets ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency