Category Archives: SEC Investigation

Supreme Court Rules SEC Administrative Judges Are Unconstitutional, But Special Counsel Mueller is Safe

Posted on June 22, 2018 by

By Dan Portnov Yesterday, the Supreme Court decided Lucia v. SEC, holding that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s five-member commission must appoint the agency’s Administrative Law Judges (“ALJs”), as these in-house judges are “inferior officers” under the Constitution’s appointments clause. … Continue reading →

Posted in SEC Investigation, SEC policy and practice | Leave a comment

Surviving Parallel Proceedings

Posted on June 19, 2018 by

  By Dan Portnov Late last week the other shoe finally dropped for Theranos founder and ex-CEO Elizabeth Holmes, as she and fellow executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani were indicted on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Following … Continue reading →

Posted in Criminal Investigation, DOJ policy and practice, SEC Investigation, SEC policy and practice, Wiretaps | Leave a comment

Initial Coin Offerings and SEC Enforcement: Protecting Investors (Part I)

Posted on May 30, 2018 by

  By Dan Portnov The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (“OIEA”) came in hot last week with its HoweyCoin initial coin offering pre-sale – a mock ICO designed to teach cryptocurrency-hungry investors the lesson that some ICOs may … Continue reading →

Posted in CFTC case, Due Diligence, Investor fraud, SEC Investigation, Securities fraud | 1 Comment

Bring in the SEC Taint Team

Posted on March 19, 2018 by

by Dan Portnov Let’s say that you or your company find yourselves in the unfortunate position of receiving a document request by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with limited resources for representation. You’ve retained a moderately-priced, hyper-efficient securities enforcement … Continue reading →

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SEC Charges Firm with Not Snitching Enough

Posted on July 5, 2017 by

Regular readers of this blog know that I resent when the government forces private industry to do the government’s job. Internal investigations are a good example. Companies spend millions conducting them into possible wrongdoing—hoping for leniency—and then turn over the … Continue reading →

Posted in SEC Investigation, Securities fraud, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

That Time the SEC Got It Right

Posted on April 28, 2016 by

The NewYorker recently published an interesting article, “Why the SEC Didn’t Hit Goldman Sachs Harder.” The article posits that the SEC let individual executives on Wall Street off the hook for securities fraud after the financial crisis. The article offers … Continue reading →

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The SEC Finally Surrenders in Insider Trading Case

Posted on October 20, 2015 by

The SEC finally gave up the ship in its insider trading case against former hedge fund managers Anthony Chiasson and Todd Newman. After the Second Circuit reversed their convictions and the Supreme Court denied cert, the SEC decided not to … Continue reading →

Posted in Appeal, Insider Trading, SEC Investigation | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Problem With Perks – SEC Cracks Down on Disclosure of Executive Compensation

Posted on April 21, 2015 by

There’s no question that corporate executives enjoy certain perks. They come with the job, right? The government can’t outlaw corporate perks, but the SEC has cracked down on the proper disclosure of them. It recently sued the former CEO of … Continue reading →

Posted in SEC Investigation, Securities fraud | Leave a comment

A Look-Back Review Gone Wrong – SEC Charges Wells Fargo Compliance Consultant with Altering Records Related to Insider Trading

Posted on October 24, 2014 by

The SEC has charged Judy Wolf, a former compliance consultant for Wells Fargo Advisors, with falsifying records that were submitted to the SEC during the investigation of a registered Wells Fargo representative. Ms. Wolf allegedly falsified her internal investigation logs … Continue reading →

Posted in Insider Trading, Obstruction, SEC Investigation | Tagged | Leave a comment

Why Is It So Hard To Defend Against Insider Trading Charges? Qualcomm Employees Face SEC and Criminal Charges

Posted on May 28, 2014 by

In February 2014, Chinese antitrust regulators announced that they suspected wireless technology company Qualcomm Inc. of overcharging its customers and abusing its powerful market position. According to reports, Qualcomm could face fines of up to $1 billion (cue Austin Powers-like … Continue reading →

Posted in Indictment, Insider Trading, SEC Investigation, Securities fraud, Uncategorized | Tagged | 2 Comments