Expert Analysis

• Midyear Trends, Takeaways As Securities Class Actions Surge

  

  High numbers of securities class actions through June suggest filings will stay elevated, with factors like changing enforcement attitudes, media scrutiny and the proliferation of potential defendants serving as both cause and effect in increased litigation involving AI-related disclosures, health and tech companies, and foreign issuers, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

• 3 Ways The SEC's Retail Fraud Reboot Raises The Bar

  

  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent revival of the retail fraud working group with an expanded mandate, scope and experienced senior leadership points to a stronger incarnation of the task force with concrete implications for firms managing retail-accessible alternative investments, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

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  Going To Hardcore Shows Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  While government contracts law and the hardcore scene may seem entirely unrelated, in my experience, both are about community, focus, being prepared for the unexpected and managing chaos, says Isaac Natter at Fluet.

• How Axing SEC Trade-Through Rule Could Reshape Markets

  

  The proposed elimination of a Securities and Exchange Commission rule that mandates a price benchmark for equity securities trades could allow blockchain-based trades to compete with legacy frameworks in registered markets, potentially serving as a test case for updated regulatory models, say Alex Zozos at Superstate, and Lewis Rinaudo Cohen and Edward Leaf at Cahill Gordon.

• NYDFS Swedbank Order Offers Lessons On Candor

  

  The New York State Department of Financial Services' consent order with Swedbank reflects the department's broad view of its investigative authority, emphasizes transparency, and underscores the risks of intrusive investigations that can occur if a regulator believes that it was misled, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

• AI Data Mining Is Changing FCA Enforcement

  

  With False Claims Act investigations increasingly emerging from statistical anomalies identified by data miners, companies need to consider what conclusions an outsider armed with artificial intelligence might draw from public-facing data and be ready to explain any anomalies if questions arise, say attorneys at Cohen & Gresser.

• Handling Section 301 Tariffs When CBP Detains Goods

  

  Importers subject to Section 301 tariffs on goods under a U.S. Customs and Border Protection forced labor hold should consider three approaches when deciding whether to pay tariffs on goods that may ultimately be excluded, or wait and watch port demurrage compound daily, says James Ferry at Ferry Trade.

• How To Limit Trading Risk When AI Accesses Nonpublic Info

  

  Financial firms' increasing adoption of artificial intelligence raises questions about how to control AI tools' access to nonpublic information to mitigate the risk of a trading, surveillance or enforcement problem, but designing policies to prevent misuse may help, say attorneys at Skadden.

• Lessons From 5 Months Of DOJ Corporate Policy Deals

  

  Recent declinations and prosecution agreements between the U.S. Department of Justice and corporations since the March unveiling of the corporate enforcement and voluntary disclosure policy provide takeaways for management considering how to respond to corporate misconduct, says Brendan Quigley at Baker Botts.

• Justices' FTC Ruling Weakens Qui Tam's Constitutional Base

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Trump v. Slaughter, expanding presidential control over those exercising executive power, suggests that courts may be receptive to arguments challenging the constitutional foundations of the False Claims Act’s qui tam mechanism, says Daniel Passeser at Wiggin.

• 9th Circ. Rule Block Unlikely To Deter FinCEN Cartel Focus

  

  The Ninth Circuit recently blocked the Financial Crimes Enforcement Unit's border cash reporting rule, interpreting it as an impermissible use of an emergency anti-money laundering tool, but regulators are more likely to see the opinion as a road map for building a more defensible rule, say attorneys at Bradley Arant.

• 5 Financial Statement Fraud Red Flags To Spot Post-Sripetch

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court recently held in Sripetch v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that disgorgement exists to strip a wrongdoer of unjust enrichment, not merely to compensate victims for what they lost, shifting the work at the center of securities fraud cases in five ways, says Rand Manasse at Green Lane Partners.

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  Being A Sommelier Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Being a sommelier has quietly shaped how I practice law by changing the way I think, communicate and connect with people, and offers a constant reminder that expertise is about making your knowledge useful and accessible to others, says Kara Du at Sheppard.

• Inside SEC Crypto Vault Statement's Securities Law Warning

  

  Although the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's posture toward crypto products and activities has been more favorable under the current administration, Commissioner Hester Peirce's recent statement on crypto vaults highlights why that posture does not eliminate the need for careful securities law analysis, say attorneys at Skadden.

• Deposit Contracts Do Heavy Lifting As Fraud Moves Upstream

  

  As courts increasingly find that upstream parties are best positioned to detect red flags in fraud disputes, most recently in Yangtze v. Ohio Valley Trackwork, companies should tighten treasury and deposit agreement verification protocols, indemnity terms, and insurance coordination to reduce exposure, says Nadine Dorsht at Stinson.