By Arthur Greenspan and Jacob Taber ( November 28, 2018, 4:09 PM EST) -- As every securities lawyer knows, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 10b-5[1] makes it unlawful to, among other things, "make" a materially false statement in connection with a securities transaction. Next week, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear argument in Lorenzo v. SEC, a case that presents the question of whether a person who knowingly disseminates to investors a false statement "made" by someone else can still be found primarily liable under Rule 10b-5. Lorenzo thus addresses an issue left open in Janus Capital Group Inc. v. First Derivative Traders,[2] where the court, in a 5-4 decision, narrowly defined the "maker" of a statement for purposes of Rule 10b-5(b) as "the person or entity with ultimate authority over the statement, including its content and whether and how to communicate it."[3] Janus held that a fund adviser that allegedly drafted materially misleading statements in a prospectus issued by the fund could not be held primarily liable under 10b-5(b) because the fund, not the adviser, was the maker of the statements....