By Mani Dabiri | Published December 15, 2018 | Posted in Civil Business Litigation and Investigations, Government Subpoenas and Investigations, White-Collar and Regulatory Defense | Tagged Tags: bankingandfinance, businessandcommerce, CFTC, licensingandregistration, mailbankwirefraud, SEC, securitiesandcommodities, whistleblowers |
Whistleblower Programs Booming at SEC and CFTC
The two federal regulators recently submitted their annual reports to Congress for the fiscal year that ended September 30. And, well, business is booming. In the last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission awarded more money to whistleblowers than it had in all prior years combined. Since 2012, it has awarded $326 million, and more than half Read More
Read MoreBuckets of Money
If you’ve lost a case against the SEC recently, and it was heard by an administrative law judge (or ALJ), you may want to call your lawyer. Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court sent back a case because the SEC hadn’t appointed the ALJ the way the Constitution required. The decision marked the culmination of years-long legal challenges to the Read More
Read MoreSCOTUS Says You Must Tell the SEC
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court settled an important question for the SEC’s whistleblower program. That program awards you money for reporting corporate misdeeds to the Commission. It also protects you from retaliation because you can sue to recover your position, double your back pay, and accrued interest, legal fees, and litigation costs. Well, the Court said you Read More
Read MoreSEC Chair Offers Advice on Bitcoin and Its Ilk
This week, the chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission weighed in on crypto-currencies as well as ICOs or initial coin offerings. With the price of bitcoin nearing $20,000, it probably comes at the right time. You may have been wondering yourself: What are the rules for this stuff? Are they being followed? And what are the risks Read More
Read MoreWhite-Collar to Blue-Collar in One Day
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two notable decisions on the same day. One was a civil white-collar case, the other a criminal drug-trafficking case, and in both cases, the Court reversed the lower-court ruling on appeal. In the civil case, the Court imposed a five-year statute of limitations on SEC cases that seek to disgorge profits. That’s Read More
Read MoreSEC Lights Up Another Cannabis Company
In what may be a sign of maturity for the industry, the Securities and Exchange Commission has sued another marijuana-related business for violating federal securities laws. Last month, the SEC charged a California-based company and two former executives with a classic pump-and-dump scheme. First, the Commission says, the defendants touted phony revenue to drive up the price of the company’s stock. Read More
Read MoreSecurities Fraud: But Was It Even A Security?
What is a security, anyway? The California Court of Appeal tackled that question recently in a case about a loan between friends. A good starting point is that the law considers a security to be an investment contract, but there’s more to it than that. You may be familiar with common examples like publicly-traded stocks and bonds, but Read More
Read MoreMuch Ado About Little
The U.S. Supreme Court decided its big insider-trading case of the term on Tuesday, and it turns out you still can’t toss a friend or family member a tip to trade on. Who knew? Here are the facts. The defendant’s brother-in-law was an investment banker who advised major healthcare companies on mergers and acquisitions. Over time, he shared inside information Read More
Read MoreSEC Reports Enforcement Results for 2016
As we wind down the calendar year, the Securities and Exchange Commission has already reported its enforcement results for the fiscal year that ended September 30. In case you missed it, here’s the press release. Naturally, there’s some self-patting on the back, but if the past predicts the future, the agency is looking to file cases. Its Read More
Read MoreWhat Are Your Intentions?
In most white-collar cases, the main driver at sentencing is the dollar amount of the victim’s loss, and in federal cases, the rule is that you’re responsible for either the actual loss or your intended loss, whichever is greater. We touched on the difference between actual and intended loss in this post from last spring. But recently, an Read More
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