Geopolitics

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I am sure that many of you, like me, when you heard the news about Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s extramarital affair with a woman who may have been a Chinese spy, immediately thought, “Well, that could make for an interesting D&O claim.” It certainly didn’t take long for the first lawsuit related to the circumstances to be filed. On November 9, 2026, a plaintiff shareholder filed a securities class action lawsuit against the company and Huang, with allegations relating to Huang’s supposed affair. The securities class action complaint can be found here.

Continue Reading Nvidia CEO’s Chinese Spy Affair Leads to Securities Suit

When I first heard the news last week that the U.S. Department of Treasury and other federal agencies had imposed penalties and settlements against Bank of America totaling more than $1.2 billion for anti-money laundering and trade sanctions violations, I told colleagues that we would not have to wait long for a follow-on D&O lawsuit. Sure enough, just days after the Treasury Department announcement, a plaintiff shareholder filed a securities class action lawsuit against the Bank and certain of its executives based on the defendants’ alleged misrepresentations concerning the bank’s compliance and internal controls. This type of lawsuit following in the wake of regulatory enforcement actions raises important and interesting issues, as discussed further below.

Continue Reading AML Penalties-Related Securities Suit Hits Bank of America
Nessim Mezrahi
Stephen Sigrist

In the following guest post, Nessim Mezrahi and Stephen Sigrist present their view that U.S. securities litigation risk is increasing significantly, driven by geopolitical instability and weakening investor confidence in the AI investment proposition, and that growing market capitalization losses, increased shareholder scrutiny, and the potential for an AI-related market correction are creating heightened securities litigation exposure. Nessim Mezrahi is co-founder and CEO, and Stephen Sigrist is a senior vice president, at SAR LLC. Our thanks to Nessim and Stephen for allowing us to publish their article on our site.

Continue Reading Guest Post:  Increasing Deterioration in U.S. Securities Litigation Risk

As The D&O Diary has emphasized in numerous posts in recent months (most recently here), geopolitical issues represent an increasing source of D&O risk. The geopolitical issues include, among other things, sanctions, tariffs, and export controls. Another geopolitical issue that can have an impact on D&O risk is the enforcement of anti-money laundering (AML) laws. In the latest example of AML enforcement translating into D&O risk, in late July a plaintiff shareholder filed a securities class action lawsuit against British money transfer technology company Wise Group, a company whose U.S. bank charter application was denied due to AML concerns. A copy of the July 31, 2026, complaint can be found here.

Continue Reading Anti-Money Laundering Enforcement and Securities Litigation Risk
Evan Bundschuh
Burkhard Fassbach

In the following guest post, Evan Bundschuh and Burkhard Fassbach share and analyze their research into the geopolitics-related Form 10-K disclosures of 26 large-cap U.S.-listed public companies, as well as 52 small-cap and mid-cap companies, in order to assess the level and significance of public companies’ disclosure statements pertaining to geopolitics. Evan is Vice President at GB&A, a retail insurance brokerage in New York, and Burkhard is a D&O lawyer in private practice in Germany. My thanks to Evan and Burkhard for allowing us to publish their article on this site. Here is their article.

Continue Reading Guest Post: Geopolitical Risk Mapping in the 2025 Filing Season

In the immediate aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that President Trump lacked authority to impose tariffs under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA), the President defiantly issued an Executive Order imposing new global 10% tariffs (later raised to 15%) in reliance on the Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. No President previously has used Section 122 to impose tariffs. Now a coalition of 24 states’ Attorneys General and Governors has filed a lawsuit in the United States Court of International Trade against the President and certain of administration officials challenging the President’s Section 122 tariffs. The plaintiffs argue that the circumstances under which the President has authority under Section 122 to impose tariffs not only does not exist now, but has not existed for over 50 years following changes in the global monetary exchange system in the 1970s. The likelihood is that the President will have to find yet another basis on which he can impose tariffs – which he seems likely to continue to try to do.

Continue Reading State AGs Challenge President’s Trump’s Section 122 Tariffs
Sarah Abrams

As I have noted in previous post on this site (most recently here), the Trump Administration’s tariff and trade policies not only pose potential operating and financial challenges to many businesses, but they may also present companies with corporate liability exposures as well. In the following guest post, Sarah Abrams, Head of Claims Baleen Specialty, a division of Bowhead Specialty, considers the liability risks that companies may face under the current tariff regime. I would like to thank Sarah for allowing me to publish her article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this site’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Sarah’s article.

Continue Reading Guest Post: Whiplash