Appropriate Cautionary Language Leads to Dismissal of Investor’s Securities...
A California district court recently dismissed Mellanox Technologies Ltd. investors’ claims that the company made false statements about both its prominence in the interconnect market and its revenue...
View ArticleSixth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Securities Class Action for Failure to...
On March 28, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of a shareholder class action against BioMimetic Therapeutics Inc., finding that plaintiffs had failed to...
View ArticleCorporate and Financial Weekly Digest - Volume IX, Issue 19
In this issue: - FINRA Proposes to Amend Rule 11892 - SEC Approves FINRA Rule Change to Limit Self-Trading - FATCA Transitional Relief and Extension of Time for the Implementation of New Account...
View ArticleSEC Charges Five Co-Conspirators in Reverse Merger Scheme
On May 5, the Securities and Exchange Commission brought charges in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey against a Toronto-based consultant and four associates for running a scheme to...
View ArticleFEC Approves Bitcoin Political Donations While SEC Issues Investor Alert
On May 8, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) unanimously affirmed in an advisory opinion that political committees (including candidate campaigns and political action committees) could legally...
View ArticleSEC Charges Investment Adviser with Custody Rule Violations
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced that it had charged Professional Investment Management, Inc. (PIM), an investment adviser, and its president, Douglas E. Cowgill, with...
View ArticleCorporate and Financial Weekly Digest - Volume IX, Issue 24
In this issue: - Commissioner Kara M. Stein Calls for More Stringent Net Capital Requirements for Broker Dealers - US Marshals Service Announces Auction of Silk Road Bitcoins - Investment Adviser...
View ArticleUS Marshals Service Announces Auction of Silk Road Bitcoins
The US Marshals Service (USMS) announced that it will hold an online auction on June 27 to sell bitcoins contained in wallet files seized from the servers of Silk Road, the “deep web” black market shut...
View ArticleTrading Evidence Barred From Rengan Rajaratnam Trial
On June 10, a New York federal judge barred the government from introducing evidence of defendant Rajarengan “Rengan” Rajaratnam’s trading activities in Akamai Technologies, Inc. Prosecutors argued...
View ArticleInvestment Adviser Accused of $8.8 Million Fraud by SEC
On June 3, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed an emergency enforcement action in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York against Scott Valente, an investment adviser,...
View ArticleCorporate and Financial Weekly Digest - Volume IX, Issue 29
In this issue: - SEC Approves FINRA Rule Limiting Expungement - CFTC Issues No-Action Relief from Certain Ownership and Control Reporting Requirements - CFTC Releases Rule Enforcement Review of ICE...
View ArticleSEC Settles Third-Party Insider Trading Claim Against Investor Relations...
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced a settlement with a partner at an investor relations firm who allegedly traded on inside information obtained through his representation of two...
View ArticleDistrict Court Reaffirms Rule 10b5-1 Standard and Denies Motion to Dismiss...
The US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois denied a motion to dismiss a 16-count indictment for insider trading, finding the government adequately alleged each element of the...
View ArticleCorporate and Financial Weekly Digest - Volume IX, Issue 33
In this issue: - ISS Launches New Equity Plan Data Verification Portal - ISDA Publishes Protocol for 2014 Credit Derivatives Definitions - FinCEN Issues Advisories for US Financial Institutions - CFTC...
View ArticleJudge Rakoff Rules that Bitcoin Is Money in New York Federal Court
On August 19, Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a ruling in the case of Robert Faiella, holding that bitcoins are “money,” citing the plain...
View ArticleSEC Charges Colorado Woman and Her Two Companies with Offering Fraud
On August 15, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against Heidi Ann Gamer and two companies under her control, Gamer Economic Systems, LLC and Gamer Media Partners Corp. The SEC...
View ArticleTexas Court of Appeals Decertifies Class of Brigham Shareholders
On August 15, the Texas Court of Appeals decertified a class of Brigham Exploration Co. shareholders, holding that the trial court failed to comply with a state rule requiring rigorous analysis of...
View ArticleCorporate and Financial Weekly Digest - Volume IX, Issue 39
In this issse: - ISS Publishes Results of Annual Global Voting Policy Survey - FINRA Requests Comment on a Rule Proposal to Implement the Comprehensive Automated Risk Data System - NFA Issues Notice...
View ArticleSEC Settles Insider Trading Case, Finding Roommate Relationship Created Duty...
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently accepted an offer of settlement submitted by Filip Szymik, in anticipation of a cease-and-desist proceeding resulting from the purported insider trading...
View ArticleCFTC Settles Fraudulent Trading Violations with Forex Trader
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission accepted an offer of settlement submitted by the owner of Peak Capital Group, Inc., Scott Beatty, in anticipation of an administrative proceeding resulting from...
View ArticleCorporate and Financial Weekly Digest - Volume IX, Issue 44
In this issue: - SEC Sanctions 10 Companies for Disclosure Failures Surrounding Financing Deals and Stock Dilution - Delaware Court of Chancery Rejects Entire Fairness Review in Absence of Conflicted...
View ArticleSEC Charges Former Pharmaceutical Executive and Close Friend With Insider...
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently charged a former pharmaceutical company executive and his longtime friend with insider trading, alleging that the friend generated more than $1 million...
View ArticleRaj Rajaratnam Appeals $92 Million Civil Fine to Second Circuit Court of Appeals
Convicted investment fund founder Raj Rajaratnam filed an appeal of his Securities and Exchange Commission case in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, arguing that the district...
View ArticleCorporate and Financial Weekly Digest - Volume IX, Issue 48
In this issue: - Recent Developments Relating to Rights to Exclude Shareholder Proposals from Proxy Statements - SEC Approves MSRB Best Execution Rule - SEC Sanctions Operator of Unregistered Virtual...
View ArticleSEC Sanctions Operator of Unregistered Virtual Currency Exchanges
On December 8, the Securities and Exchange Commission sanctioned a computer programmer for operating two online exchanges that traded securities using virtual currencies without registering them as...
View ArticleSecond Circuit Clarifies a Heightened Standard for Insider Trading Convictions
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently held that, in order to convict a tippee for insider trading under Section 10(b) of the Securities Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5, the government must...
View ArticleDeputy Treasury Secretary Discusses Cybersecurity Checklist for Banks
Deputy Treasury Secretary Sarah Raskin, who recently spoke at the Texas Bankers’ Association Executive Leadership Cybersecurity Conference, provided bank executives and boards some guidance on...
View ArticleNYS Department of Taxation and Finance Issues Tax Guidance on Virtual...
On December 5, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance (DTF) issued the memorandum “Tax Department Policy on Transactions Using Convertible Virtual Currency.” The memorandum clarified...
View ArticleCorporate and Financial Weekly Digest - Volume X, Issue 4
In this issue: - SEC Division of Corporation Finance Issues New C&DI Related to Resales Under Regulation S - SEC Announces Proxy Voting Roundtable - CFTC Staff Issues No-Action Relief From Certain...
View ArticleStudy Finds Executive Compensation Clawback Provisions Do Not Eliminate...
Academics in Hong Kong have found that companies that have adopted executive compensation clawback provisions tend to substitute one type of earnings manipulation for another, and that this trend is...
View ArticleBharara Appeals Second Circuit’s Decision Vacating Insider Trading Convictions
Preet Bharara, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, has petitioned the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit for a rehearing en banc of last month’s landmark...
View ArticleCorporate and Financial Weekly Digest - Volume X, Issue 9
In this issue: - Meeting of the SEC Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies - Financial Action Task Force Publishes Updated List of Deficient Jurisdictions - CFTC to Host Roundtable on...
View ArticleBanker Settles with SEC for Role in Olympus Scandal
The Securities and Exchange Commission agreed to a settlement with Hajime Sagawa related to his alleged role as the principal and minority owner of a broker-dealer that assisted Japan based Olympus...
View ArticleSupreme Court Limits Scope of SOX Anti-Shredding Provision
The US Supreme Court recently reversed the conviction of a commercial fisherman, John L. Yates, accused of violating 18 U.S.C. § 1519, also known as the anti-shredding provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley...
View ArticleCorporate & Financial Weekly Digest - Volume X, Issue 14
In This Issue: - NFA Updates BASIC to Assist With Bylaw 1101 Diligence on Delegating CPOs - Second Circuit Refuses to Rehear Groundbreaking Insider Trading Case - SEC Secures Victory on Fraud...
View ArticleSecond Circuit Refuses to Rehear Groundbreaking Insider Trading Case
On April 3, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit denied the request of Preet Bharara, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, for an en banc hearing after the court issued a ruling...
View ArticleSEC Secures Victory on Fraud Allegations Against Technology Executive
The US District Court for the District of Columbia took the unusual step of granting summary judgment against a technology company executive who the Securities and Exchange Commission accused of...
View ArticleCorporate & Financial Weekly Digest - Volume X, Issue 19
In This Issue: - FINRA's NAC Strengthens Sanction Guidelines Related to Fraud and Suitability - CFTC Revises Interpretation on Forward Contracts with Embedded Volumetric Optionality - CFTC Requests...
View ArticleDistrict Court Dismisses Data Breach Class Action Against eBay
The US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana recently dismissed a data breach class action against eBay Inc. for lack of standing because the named plaintiff did not allege an actual...
View ArticleDepartment of Justice Settles Virtual Currency Enforcement Action
The US Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of California recently settled an enforcement action against Ripple Labs Inc., a Delaware corporation providing virtual currency exchange services....
View ArticleCorporate & Financial Weekly Digest - Volume X, Issue 24
In This Issue: - SEC Denies Motion to Stay Regulation A+ - SEC Requests Public Comment on ETPs - CFTC Further Extends Valuation Data Reporting Relief for SDs and MSPs - Eleventh Circuit Upholds Wire...
View ArticleCalifornia Brokers Plead Guilty to Insider Trading of Ardea Biosciences, Inc....
On June 9, Chad Wiegand and Akis Eracleous, two San-Diego based brokers, pled guilty in California district court to trading in Ardea Biosciences, Inc. stock with inside information. Mr. Wiegand and...
View ArticleEleventh Circuit Upholds Wire Fraud Conviction of Defendant Who Did Not...
On June 9, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a Florida district court’s refusal to acquit Linda Deavers, an Indianapolis real estate broker, of four counts of wire fraud. In...
View ArticleCorporate & Financial Weekly Digest - Volume X, Issue 28
CFTC Extends Designation of DTCC-SWIFT as Provider of Legal Entity Identifiers - On July 20, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued an order extending the designation of the Depository Trust...
View ArticleClaiming Tipper Received No Benefit, Defendant Invokes Newman in Seeking to...
A defendant in an insider trading case who allegedly profited from his inside knowledge recently filed a motion to dismiss in the US District Court for the District of Rhode Island to drop him from a...
View ArticleSEC Chair Attempts to Reassure Compliance Officers That They Will Not Be...
Demonstrating the effect recent enforcement efforts have had on the industry, in remarks given in Washington, DC at a Compliance Outreach Program for broker-dealers, Securities and Exchange Commission...
View ArticleAML Enforcement Continues to Trend in 2021
Federal regulators are increasing their scrutiny of companies' compliance with Anti-Money Laundering and Bank Secrecy Act Obligations, and if January is any indication, 2021 will be a record year for...
View ArticleBusinesses Must Prepare For Expansive AML Reporting of Beneficial Ownership...
As covered in our earlier advisory, "AML Enforcement Continues to Trend in 2021," the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2021 included the Anti-Money Laundering Act of...
View ArticleAgencies and Regulators Focus on AML Compliance for Cryptocurrency Industry
This year, regulators, supported by a slate of new legislation, have focused more of their efforts on AML violations and compliance deficiencies than ever before. As we have written about in the "AML...
View ArticleSentencing Guidelines Amendment Would Preclude Acquitted Conduct from Being...
In what may come as a surprise to many, lawmakers across the political spectrum actually agree on at least one thing: the practice of sentencing federal defendants based on acquitted conduct has gone...
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