Securities

  • May 30, 2024

    Ex-FTX Auditor Must Face SEC's Independence Rules Suit

    The former auditor of Sam Bankman-Fried's defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX must face the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's claims it violated auditor independence rules while collecting $3 million in fees from clients, a Florida federal judge has ruled, finding the agency's allegations establish severe recklessness.

  • May 30, 2024

    Musk Won't Appeal Deposition Order In SEC's Twitter Case

    Elon Musk has agreed to waive his right to appeal a California federal judge's order forcing him to testify again in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's suit over his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, now known as X, according to a stipulation filed Thursday.

  • May 30, 2024

    Veradigm Execs Sued Over Company's Nasdaq Delisting

    Current and former members of healthcare technology company Veradigm Inc.'s top brass were sued in Illinois federal court by shareholders alleging that the company suffered stock drops following a string of financial reporting blunders starting in 2021, which caused it to overstate roughly $40 million in revenue before facing a delisting notice from Nasdaq.

  • May 30, 2024

    Autonomy VP Declines To Take Stand As Fraud Trial Nears End

    Testimony wrapped Thursday in a California federal criminal trial over claims that former Autonomy CEO Michael Lynch and finance vice president Stephen Chamberlain duped HP into overpaying billions for the British tech company, as Chamberlain opted not to testify in his own defense after Lynch stepped off the witness stand.

  • May 30, 2024

    Chancery Sweeps Away Most Challenges To Broker's Control

    Independent insurance distributor BRP Group Inc. has defeated most stockholder challenges to founder preapproval requirements for company actions, according to a Delaware Court of Chancery ruling upholding a consent and defense agreement established after the company was sued.

  • May 30, 2024

    Feds Say NC Man Ran $1M Ponzi With 'Tiger-Wolf' Firm

    A self-styled trader and his unregistered hedge fund Tiger-Wolf Capital face wire fraud and securities fraud claims brought by North Carolina federal prosecutors and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over an alleged $1 million scheme that took in over 100 would-be investors.

  • May 30, 2024

    Solar Tech Co. Faces Investor Suit Over Slow '23 Growth

    Energy technology company Enphase Energy Inc. has been hit with a proposed shareholder class action alleging the company and its executives failed to disclose slow growth trends, including a decrease in battery shipments, resulting in share price declines when the information was revealed to investors.

  • May 30, 2024

    Terraform, SEC Reach 'Settlement In Principle' In Crypto Case

    Crypto firm Terraform Labs and its creator Do Kwon appear to have reached an agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to settle remedies after the firm and its founder were held liable for fraud by a Manhattan jury.

  • May 30, 2024

    SEC Cites High Court CFPB Ruling In Market Surveillance Suit

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has told the Eleventh Circuit that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision finding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure is constitutional should sink a challenge from broker-dealer firms seeking to escape paying for a market surveillance tool.

  • May 30, 2024

    NY Expects Crypto Cos. To Meet Customer Service Standards

    The New York State Department of Financial Services on Thursday told the crypto firms under its purview that it expects them to resolve customer service issues promptly and fairly, according to newly issued guidance.

  • May 30, 2024

    Ex-BigLaw Atty Fights 10-Year Sentence In OneCoin Case

    A former Locke Lord LLP partner urged the Second Circuit Wednesday to ax his 10-year prison sentence and conviction for laundering around $400 million in proceeds from the global OneCoin cryptocurrency scam, saying the case was contaminated by perjury and errors at the trial court level.

  • May 30, 2024

    High Court Calls For 2nd Circ. Redo In BofA Preemption Fight

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday threw out a Second Circuit decision that freed Bank of America NA from class action litigation brought over a New York escrow interest law, ruling that the circuit court wasn't "nuanced" enough in finding the law preempted for national banks.

  • May 30, 2024

    Justices Revive NRA's Free Speech Claims Against NY Official

    The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the National Rifle Association can proceed with certain claims in its lawsuit alleging that a former New York state official violated the gun rights group's free speech protections by pressuring financial institutions to cut ties with it.

  • May 29, 2024

    ​​​​​​​Merrill Lynch Inks $20M Deal In Financial Advisers' Bias Suit

    Merrill Lynch has agreed to pay nearly $20 million to settle class action claims filed in Florida federal court alleging discrimination and retaliation against a proposed class of nearly 1,400 Black financial advisers who alleged they received less pay and promotions compared to their white counterparts. 

  • May 29, 2024

    11th Circ. Backs SEC Win In Trader's Challenge To 'Dealer' Tag

    An Eleventh Circuit panel on Wednesday affirmed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's win in a suit accusing a microcap stock trader of earning $21.5 million while operating as an unregistered dealer, further solidifying the regulator's argument that so-called toxic lenders are considered unregistered dealers.

  • May 29, 2024

    Forescout Investors Win Class Cert. Over Tanked Sale

    A California federal judge agreed to certify a class of shareholders of cybersecurity company Forescout who allege the company deceived investors ahead of a sale that ultimately fell apart, marking the latest win for plaintiffs who previously saw the case dismissed with prejudice three years ago.

  • May 29, 2024

    SEC Says Asia-Focused Fund Firm Misled Its Investors

    A now-shuttered Asia-focused investment adviser and its CEO have agreed to pay fines totaling $600,000 as part of a deal to end U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission allegations they misled investors about certain details of their portfolios, including a key metric for assessing the risks they faced, and failed to disclose a conflict of interest.

  • May 29, 2024

    Chancery Sends Momentus De-SPAC Claims Toward Trial

    A Delaware vice chancellor refused to dismiss any counts Wednesday in a suit filed by investors in the special purpose acquisition company that took commercial space venture Momentus Inc. public in August 2021, with the court noting that the case will be judged on plaintiff friendly entire fairness standards.

  • May 29, 2024

    Split 3rd Circ. Affirms Court's Revision To $10M SEC Deal

    A split Third Circuit panel has affirmed a district court's decision to revise a nearly $10 million consent judgment between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and a man it accused of misappropriating millions from a private equity fund after he was found in contempt of the judgment.

  • May 29, 2024

    Bankrupt EV Charger Co. Execs Hid Liquidity Woes, Suit Says

    Three current and former executives of bankrupt electric-vehicle charging infrastructure company Charge Enterprises Inc. face an investor's proposed class action claiming the executives concealed a liquidity crisis involving the company's founder and his investment advisory firm that allegedly precipitated Charge's bankruptcy.

  • May 29, 2024

    Texas Securities Regulator Orders Crypto MLM To Shut Down

    Texas State Securities Board Commissioner Travis J. Iles has ordered the shutdown of an allegedly fraudulent Arkansas-based multilevel marketing scheme that claimed to offer investments in cloud mining cryptocurrency.

  • May 29, 2024

    Bankrupt BlockFi Agrees To $150k Penalty In Conn. Bond Row

    Bankrupt cryptocurrency lender BlockFi has reached a deal with Connecticut's banking regulator to pay a $150,000 civil penalty over claims the company failed to maintain a required surety bond, and a decision in November 2020 to halt account withdrawals from the platform.

  • May 29, 2024

    Robinhood Reaches Deal To End 'Meme Stock' Investor Suit

    Robinhood Markets Inc. told a Florida federal judge Tuesday that it has reached a settlement with investors to resolve a suit over the trading platform's suspension of so-called meme stock purchases, saying it anticipates finalizing the deal within the next two weeks.

  • May 29, 2024

    Chancery Pins Down Musk, Tesla On Pay Bid, Del. Jurisdiction

    Delaware's chancellor has nailed Elon Musk, Tesla Inc. and their counsel to assurances that the company won't flee state corporate law jurisdiction and a potentially massive stockholder attorney fee dispute by rushing votes on a struck-down, $56 billion compensation plan for Musk and proposed reincorporation in Texas.

  • May 29, 2024

    Atty Says SEC Waited Too Long To Secure Civil Penalties

    An attorney and her husband have told a Florida federal judge that it's too late for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to reopen its case against them and seek civil penalties over a microcap scheme after almost four years of doing nothing to prosecute the case.

Expert Analysis

  • What 3rd Circ. Trust Ruling Means For Securitization Market

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    Mercedes Tunstall and Michael Gambro at Cadwalader break down the Third Circuit's March decision in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. National Collegiate Master Student Loan Trust, as well as predict next steps in the litigation and the implications of the decision for servicers and the securitization industry as a whole.

  • Tips For Balanced Board Oversight After A Cyberincident

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's cybersecurity disclosure rules, as well as recent regulatory enforcement actions bringing board governance under scrutiny, continue to push boards toward active engagement in relation to their cyber-oversight role, despite it being unclear what a board's level of involvement should be, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • Breaking Down DOJ's Individual Self-Disclosure Pilot Program

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s recently announced pilot program aims to incentivize individuals to voluntarily self-disclose corporate misconduct they were personally involved in, complementing a new whistleblower pilot program for individuals not involved in misconduct as well as the government's broader corporate enforcement approach, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.

  • Reverse Veil-Piercing Ruling Will Help Judgment Creditors

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    A New York federal court’s recent decision in Citibank v. Aralpa Holdings, finding two corporate entities liable for a judgment issued against a Mexican businessman, shows the value of reverse veil piercing as a remedy for judgment creditors to go after sophisticated debtors who squirrel away assets, says Gabe Bluestone at Omni Bridgeway.

  • Address Complainants Before They Become Whistleblowers

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    A New York federal court's dismissal of a whistleblower retaliation claim against HSBC Securities last month indicates that ignored complaints to management combined with financial incentives from regulators create the perfect conditions for a concerned and disgruntled employee to make the jump to federal whistleblower, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Ensuring Nonpublic Info Stays Private Amid SEC Crackdown

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    Companies and individuals must take steps to ensure material nonpublic information remains confidential while working outside the office, as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission continues to take enforcement actions against those who trade on MNPI and don't comply with new off-channel communications rules in the remote work era, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • What Cos. Are Reporting Under New SEC Cybersecurity Rule

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    Four months after its effective date, 14 companies have made disclosures under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's mandatory cybersecurity incident reporting rule, and some early trends are emerging, including a possible rush to file, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • 10 Tips For ESG Disclosure Compliance In Private Funds

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    As regulators increase scrutiny of misleading claims about environmental, social and governance investments, private fund sponsors should consider several practical tips for communicating accurately with potential investors, drafting comprehensive disclosures and establishing internal policies that can keep pace with evolving compliance requirements, says Jonathan Rash at Ropes & Gray.

  • Binance Ruling Spotlights Muddled Post-Morrison Landscape

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    The Second Circuit's recent decision in Williams v. Binance highlights the judiciary's struggle to apply the U.S. Supreme Court's Morrison v. National Australia Bank ruling to digital assets, and illustrates how Morrison's territorial limits on the federal securities laws have become convoluted, say Andrew Rhys Davies and Jessica Lewis at WilmerHale.

  • What FERC's Disclosure Demands Mean For Cos., Investors

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    Two recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission orders reflect the commission's increasingly meticulous approach to reviewing corporate structures in applications for approval of proposed consolidations, acquisitions or changes in control — putting the onus on the regulated community to track and comply with ever-more-burdensome disclosure requirements, say attorneys at Willkie.

  • Corp. Transparency Act Could Survive 11th Circ. Several Ways

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    If the Eleventh Circuit upholds an Alabama federal court’s injunction against the Corporate Transparency Act, the anti-money laundering law could persist as a narrower version that could moot some constitutional challenges, but these remedies would likely generate additional regulatory or statutory ambiguities that would result in further litigation, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • Del. Match.com Ruling Maintains Precedent In Time Of Change

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    Despite speculation that the Delaware Supreme Court could drive away corporations if it lowered the bar for business judgment review in its Match.com stockholder ruling, the court broke its recent run of controversial precedent-busting decisions by upholding, and arguably strengthening, minority stockholder protections against controller coercion, say Renee Zaytsev and Marc Ayala at Boies Schiller.

  • Macquarie Ruling Raises The Bar For Securities Fraud Claims

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last week in Macquarie Infrastructure v. Moab Partners — holding that a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule does not forbid omissions in company disclosures unless they render other statements false — is a major setback for plaintiffs pursuing securities fraud claims against corporations, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • First 10b5-1 Insider Trading Case Raises Compliance Issues

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    The ongoing case against former Ontrak CEO Terren Peizer is the U.S. Department of Justice's first insider trading prosecution based primarily on the filing of 10b5-1 plans, and has important takeaways for attorneys reviewing corporate policies on the possession of material nonpublic information, say attorneys at Cadwalader.

  • Series

    Whitewater Kayaking Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Whether it's seeing clients and their issues from a new perspective, or staying nimble in a moment of intense challenge, the lessons learned from whitewater kayaking transcend the rapids of a river and prepare attorneys for the courtroom and beyond, says Matthew Kent at Alston & Bird.

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