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Mealey's Securities

  • April 21, 2026

    Individual, SEC Debate Interpretation Of Liu, Definition Of Disgorgement

    WASHINGTON, D.C. —The U.S. Supreme Court on April 20 heard oral arguments in a case asking it to determine whether the Securities and Exchange Commission may seek equitable disgorgement under federal securities laws without showing that investors suffered pecuniary harm; the SEC and an individual it brought a civil enforcement action against debated the definition and purpose of disgorgement, as well as the proper interpretation of Liu v. SEC.

  • April 15, 2026

    Individual: Liu Shows That Disgorgement Is Equitable Remedy, Not Punishment

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a reply brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, an individual argues that under the high court’s decision in Liu v. SEC¸ “disgorgement is a traditional equitable remedy” and “cannot be used as a punishment or deterrent,” urging the court to find that the Securities and Exchange Act cannot seek disgorgement under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 without showing pecuniary harm.

  • April 14, 2026

    Parties Submit Joint Status Report In SEC Fraud Dispute With Insurance Mogul

    WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Pursuant to a North Carolina federal court order staying the case until sentencings in related criminal proceedings, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, insurance mogul Greg Lindberg, his advisory services company and its former executive filed a joint status report in the SEC’s suit accusing Lindberg and related parties of defrauding clients out of more than $75 million.

  • April 14, 2026

    Insurer Seeks Review Of Delaware Court’s Ruling As To ‘Public Offering’ Exclusion

    WILMINGTON, Del.— An insurer filed an application for certification of interlocutory appeal of a Delaware court’s grant of partial summary judgment in favor of a technology company insured in its breach of contract and bad faith lawsuit seeking coverage for an underlying securities class action and a Securities Exchange Commission lawsuit arising from a merger between a privately held company and a special purpose acquisition company, challenging the lower court’s holding that its interpretation of the policy’s “public offering” exclusion blurs the line between parent and subsidiary and “would undermine the narrow function of insurance exclusions.”

  • April 10, 2026

    Investors Appeal Dismissal Of Claims Against Cryptocurrency Enterprise Employees

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Twenty-six investors in cryptocurrency appealed to the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a federal judge in Tennessee’s opinion dismissing their suit against three employees of cryptocurrency enterprises; the judge found that the securities fraud and racketeering claims failed for lack of personal jurisdiction or failure to state a claim.

  • April 10, 2026

    Judge Approves $12.5M Deal To End Stock Drop Suit Against Health Care Company

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted final approval to a $12.5 million settlement entered into by investors and a health care company and its president to end a suit the investors brought alleging the defendants misled investors about the president’s education and the company’s contracts.

  • April 10, 2026

    Judge Reconsiders Motion To Dismiss Southwest Stock Drop Suit

    HOUSTON — After initially denying a motion to dismiss the claims brought by investors against Southwest Airlines and certain current and former executives for allegedly misleading statements about the company’s operational resiliency, a federal judge in Texas granted the defendants’ motion for reconsideration, finding that the investors failed to allege materially false or misleading statements or the requisite inference of scienter.

  • April 10, 2026

    5th Circuit Affirms Judgment Against Leader Of Long-Running Ponzi Scheme

    NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed summary judgment against Robert Allen Stanford, the criminally convicted leader of a long-term Ponzi scheme in an enforcement action brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission against Stanford and other scheme participants, finding no reversible error of fact or law; the lower court granted summary judgment as to several participants but Stanford was the only one to appeal.

  • April 10, 2026

    Judge Dismisses Shareholders’ Suit Over Handbag Companies’ Failed Merger

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A federal judge in Delaware dismissed investors’ complaint against two accessible-luxury handbag companies and their executives, finding the companies’ alleged misstatements about their failed merger were unactionable under federal securities laws.

  • April 09, 2026

    Judge Finds Banks’ Proxy Statements Over Merger Not Misleading

    WILMINGTON, Del. — In the latest decision in a long-running case brought by shareholders regarding the merger between M&T Bank Corp. and Hudson City Bancorp Inc., a federal judge in Delaware granted summary judgment in favor of the banks and their respective directors, finding that the banks did not provide any misleading information in their joint proxy statement informing shareholders of the merger.

  • April 08, 2026

    Judge: Allegedly Misleading Statements In Stock Drop Suit Unactionable

    PITTSBURGH — A federal judge in Pennsylvania adopted a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation that the judge grant in part and deny in part a motion to dismiss investors’ securities fraud case against DICK’s Sporting Goods and certain of its executives regarding allegedly false and misleading statements about the state of its inventory, finding that most of the statements are unactionable.

  • April 08, 2026

    2nd Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Solar Panel Manufacturer Stock Drop Suit

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of investors’ putative class action against a manufacturer of solar panels and its officers, directors, former shareholders and underwriters regarding alleged misstatements the company made about the impact of rising steel costs on the company’s business, finding that the investors failed to bring their securities fraud claims with the necessary specificity.

  • April 03, 2026

    High Court Asked To Determine If Accountant Is Liable For Company’s Financial Statements

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Investors have filed a petition for a writ of certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether an accountant is liable under Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 for a company’s financial statements; the investors had brought a case against a fuel-cell server manufacturer’s outside accountant, alleging the accountant was liable under the statute.

  • April 03, 2026

    2nd Circuit: Reverse Split Of Debt Securities Is Not A Sale Under Securities Act

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the dismissal of investors’ claims against a bank holding company, its subsidiary and its executives for alleged violations of the Securities Act of 1933, finding that a reverse split of debt securities the defendants issued to the investors did not constitute a sale under the act.

  • March 30, 2026

    DOL Releases Proposed Rule Concerning Retirement Investment Alternatives

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Saying in part that it seeks “to alleviate certain regulatory burdens and litigation risk,” the Employee Benefits Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on March 30 released a proposed rule titled “Fiduciary Duties In Selecting Designated Investment Alternatives.”

  • March 30, 2026

    High Court Won’t Hear Case About SEC’s, Courts’ Authority Over Receivership

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 30 denied a petition for certiorari filed by a man subject to a civil action by the Securities and Exchange Commission asking the court to determine whether federal securities laws allow the SEC and a district court to use the commission’s general equitable authority to order a receivership that will seize every entity owned by a defendant that even slightly benefited from the defendant’s allegedly illegal acts.

  • March 27, 2026

    SEC Urges High Court To Find It Can Seek Disgorgement Without Showing Harm

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission urged the Supreme Court to find that it may seek disgorgement under Sections 21(d)(5) and (d)(7) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 without showing that investors suffered pecuniary harm.

  • March 25, 2026

    Parties Ask Supreme Court To Determine If SEC Gag Rule Violates 1st Amendment

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) and individuals who had entered into settlements with the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a petition for a writ of certiorari, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether an SEC rule requiring defendants to agree not to publicly deny allegations against them before entering into a settlement with the SEC, known as the Gag Rule, violates the First Amendment.

  • March 23, 2026

    Man Asks High Court To Ensure SEC, Courts Don’t Misuse Receivership Authority

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a reply brief in support of his petition for certiorari before the U.S. Supreme Court, an individual subject to a civil action by the Securities and Exchange Commission argued that the court should hear the case “to ensure the lower courts and administrative agencies are not misusing their equitable authority” when granting a receivership.

  • March 23, 2026

    Judge Orders Fraud Defendant To File Answer Complying With Rules Of Procedure

    TYLER, Texas — A federal magistrate judge ordered a defendant in a case brought by a receiver for multiple entities in a fraud lawsuit related to nonexistent hydraulic fracturing technology to file an answer to the amended complaint that complies with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, after the receiver moved to strike the defendant’s initial answer for a lack of good faith.

  • March 12, 2026

    9th Circuit Won’t Rehear Case Against Digital Platform For Misleading Statements

    PASADENA, Calif. — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc filed by a digital experience platform and certain of its executives and directors in a case brought by investors against them for allegedly providing misleading statements in the digital platform’s public offering documents.

  • March 12, 2026

    SEC And CFTC Enter Memorandum Of Understanding

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on March 11 entered into a memorandum of understanding to guide coordination and collaboration between the two to support “lawful innovation” and uphold market integrity.

  • March 06, 2026

    2nd Circuit Mostly Affirms Ruling Against Individual For Investment Fraud

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed in part a lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the Securities and Exchange Commission in an enforcement action against an individual it alleged misled fellow members of his religion to solicit investments in violation of federal securities laws but ruled that the lower court had improperly relied on SEC’s interpretation when it found that the individual violated the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

  • March 06, 2026

    Delaware High Court: Changes To Stockholder Transactions Law Are Constitutional

    NEW CASTLE, Del. — In answering certified questions in a stockholder derivative suit, the Delaware Supreme Court found that amendments to the state’s law about the standard of review for transactions involving a controlling stockholder don’t violate the Delaware Constitution.

  • March 06, 2026

    4th Circuit Finds Stock-Drop Suit Against Advance Auto Parts Lacks Scienter

    RICHMOND, Va. — A Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of investors’ putative class action alleging that Advance Auto Parts and certain of its former executives manipulated the company’s accounting, agreeing with the lower court that the complaint lacked scienter.