Securities

Expert Analysis

In Pursuit Of Financial Fraudsters

While it may be premature to assume the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will not continue fight against the decisions in SEC v. Kelly and The Matter of Flannery in an effort to limit the scope of the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in Janus, these holdings may require the SEC to rethink how it seeks to prosecute corporate executives it believes were participants in the commission of financial fraud, says Robert Howard of Murphy & McGonigle PC.
A Proactive And Analytical Approach To Enforcement

Recently announced enforcement actions suggest that under new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Enforcement Division initiatives, even minor violations may receive significant attention in an effort to identify and undercut potentially fraudulent schemes at their earliest stages, say attorneys with Ropes and Gray LLP.
In The Aftermath Of MF Global

The concerns raised by the MF Global bankruptcy should cause all end-users to carefully consider their futures commission merchant relationships, whether these relate to clearing of over-the-counter derivatives or to regular futures contracts, say attorneys with Sidley Austin LLP.
In The Crosshairs: Key Mortgage REITs Exemption

If mortgage real estate investment trusts become subject to the Investment Company Act of 1940, an important source of liquidity for the housing and real estate markets could be lost, says Steven Regan of Reed Smith LLP.
Matrixx V. Siracusano: Supreme Court Gets Statistical

One of the first things a student of statistics learns is that “correlation is not causation.” This issue might strike some as pedantic and academic, but in fact it was one of the central issues in a recent ruling by the U. S. Supreme Court in Matrixx Initiatives Inc. v. Siracusano, say Jorge Sirgo and Louis Wilde of Gnarus Advisors LLC, and John Williamson of Almost Convex Economics LLC.
New And Improved Whistleblower Incentives

Despite fewer than expected tips reported to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the agency filed a record 735 enforcement actions in fiscal 2011 — and with the advent of monetary awards for whistleblowers under Dodd-Frank, the number of tips to the SEC is expected to increase dramatically, says Robert Horowitz of Greenberg Traurig LLP.
Tweaking Tax On Foreign Investments In The US

The IRS recently proposed long-awaited guidance concerning the taxation of certain income of foreign governments from investments in the United States under Section 892 of the Internal Revenue Code. While helpful in some respects, the proposed regulations fail to address a variety of important interpretive issues arising under Section 892, say attorneys with Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP.
Widening The Class Certification Circuit Split

In Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust funds v. Amegen Inc., the Ninth Circuit joined the Third and Seventh in concluding that, at the class certification stage, plaintiffs in a securities fraud damage action need not prove materiality to utilize the fraud-on-the-market. Given that three other circuits take a contrary view, the issue will have to be resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court, says Thomas Gorman of Dorsey & Whitney LLP.
SEC's Record-Setting Year: Behind The Stats

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced that this year it had filed the most enforcement actions in a single year in SEC history. But these statistics might signal less of an upward trend than first meets the eye, say Barry Rashkover and Andrew Dunbar of Sidley Austin LLP.
Another Milestone For The AIFMD

Recent guidance from the European Securities and Markets Authority brings the regulatory framework introduced by the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive closer to fruition and represents an opportunity for U.S. and other non-European private equity advisers to consider or reconsider the AIFMD’s impact, says Andrew Henderson of Ropes & Gray LLP.