PLI's inSecurities Podcast - Commissioner Jaime Lizárraga’s Core Values
Law Brief®: The Theranos Trial
Legally Qualified: Protecting Against Elder Investment Fraud and Exploitation
On May 22, 2025, the SEC brought a case of affinity fraud before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Bay Area real estate investor Kenneth Mattson alleging more than $46 million in...more
On May 12, 2025, the Department of Justice (the “DOJ”) released its criminal—and, more specifically, white collar crime enforcement—initiatives under the current administration. This is typical each time new leadership...more
DOJ Announces Updated White-Collar Enforcement Priorities and Revised Policies - Earlier this week, the Criminal Division of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) introduced a new white-collar enforcement plan, which sets...more
On January 28, 2025, FINRA issued its 2025 Annual Regulatory Oversight Report, providing a detailed look into FINRA’s current regulatory oversight of member firms and their registered personnel....more
DOJ Reports Nearly $3 Billion in FCA Settlements, Judgments for FY 2024 - On January 15, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) reported that settlements and judgments under the False Claims Act (FCA) totaled more than $2.9...more
The Senate has yet to take action on the 21st Century Act (FIT21) (H.R.4763) which passed the House by a comfortable margin of 279-136 on May 22, 2024. FIT21 is a proposed landmark piece of legislation that would enact a...more
Affinity fraud is a type of investment fraud. In this form of fraud, the person committing the fraud preys upon members of an identifiable group, such as a religious or ethnic community, the elderly, or a professional group....more
Elizabeth Holmes Sentenced to 11 Years in Prison - On November 18, 2022, former Theranos CEO, Elizabeth Holmes, was sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison for defrauding investors regarding Theranos’ blood...more
EmpiresX Head Trader Pleads Guilty to $100M Cryptocurrency Investment Fraud Scheme - On September 8, 2022, the “Head Trader” for EmpiresX, a purported cryptocurrency platform, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to...more
The federal wire fraud statute has a far-reaching scope, allowing prosecutors to go after conduct as varied as investor fraud to college admissions scandals. In late June, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguably...more
Unscrupulous actors may make misleading statements, use deceptive behavior, or produce falsified statements or documents to induce you to invest in what you are led to believe is a legitimate business opportunity – from real...more
If you read the hype, then you will have read that lack of regulation, speed of transactions, irreversibility of trades, and hidden identities are positive features of the crypto world. Crypto enthusiasts say that finance can...more
The Department of Justice is on high alert for situations when hype turns to fraud at tech startups. Journalist John Carreyrou, whose reporting helped expose what the SEC called an “elaborate, years-long fraud” by Theranos...more
Sixth Circuit Splits with Tenth, Holds False Claims Act Anti-Retaliation Provision Extends to Post-Employment Retaliation - On March 31, 2021, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit addressed an issue of first...more
Supreme Court Declines to Review Issue of “Objective Falsity” Under False Claims Act - On February 22, 2021, the United States Supreme Court denied petitions for certiorari in a case that could have addressed the issue of...more
Engineering Firm Settles $37 Million False Claims Act Allegations - As part of a settlement agreement with the Department of Justice, QuantaDyn Corporation has agreed to pay $37,757,713.91 in restitution to resolve...more
CEP Magazine (August 2020) - The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reported a 35% increase in complaints from mid-March to mid-May compared with last year. The increase is due to two distinct factors:...more
Last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a significant ruling that a business owner who made a $4.5 million disgorgement deal with the SEC to resolve civil fraud claims cannot escape...more
As the coronavirus pandemic affects the normal way of life across the country, federal prosecutors and investigative agencies have begun establishing initiatives to investigate and combat fraudulent schemes related to the...more
To our bad guys, 2019 was a year flush with hope and opportunity; it ended with recidivism, more misery from Venezuela, a charlatan, an Okie who pulled a multi-million dollar fast-one on Chesapeake and, as in years past, a...more
Fraud continues to plague businesses and individuals in Canada and abroad, increasing at an alarming rate. Those involved in asset recovery frequently turn to the equitable doctrine of knowing assistance to catch "strangers"...more
Once again we look back at the continuing cavalcade of crooks, criminals, miscreants and, to put it kindly, morons the less intellectually gifted, who met justice face-to-face in 2017. This year’s class includes a preacher,...more
The CFTC filed a federal civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Defendants Nicholas Gelfman, of Brooklyn, New York, and Gelfman Blueprint, Inc. (GBI), a New York...more
Twenty-three-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps just raced a great white shark to celebrate Shark Week 2017. He lost. And he didn't race against a live shark, but a computer-generated image of one. Phelps swam alone...more
In Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale v. Tilton, No. 651695/15, 2017 BL 55790 (App Div, 1st Dep’t Feb. 23, 2017), a divided panel of the Appellate Division, First Department, affirmed a Commercial Division order that denied...more