Insider Trading

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Seventeen years ago this month, the SEC instituted Rule 10b5-1 to permit company insiders – who often hold a significant portion of their wealth in company stock – to sell their shares without incurring liability under the federal securities laws. The Rule permits insiders who have traded in company shares to rebut the inference of scienter by showing that the trades were pre-scheduled and not suspicious. Over time, questions have been raised about the ways that some company executives have tried to use the plans. As discussed in an August 10, 2017 memo by the Simpson Thacher law firm on the CLS Blue Sky Blog entitled “Combatting Securities Fraud with 10b5-1 Trading Plans” (here), “sales made under 10b5-1 plans can substantially assist a company in getting such a claim dismissed by helping to rebut the inference of scienter that normally results when plaintiffs present evidence of insider stock sales during the class period.”

However, as discussed further below, while the plans can provide a substantial defensive boost, there are a number of steps companies should take in order to improve the likelihood that the existence of the plan will provide the intended protection.
Continue Reading Rule 10b5-1 and the Defense of Securities Fraud Claims

sup ct 5In the D&O insurance world, private company liabilities, exposures, and insurance are viewed as categorically distinct from public company liabilities, exposures, and insurance. There are completely separate and distinct insurance policy forms for each of the two categories of companies. In this traditional view, one of the key distinctions between two kinds of companies is the potential liability of public companies and their directors and officers under the federal securities laws. However, it has recently become apparent to me that this perceived difference between the two categories of companies may be less distinct than I had perceived. For example, as I noted in a recent post, the SEC has recently made it clear it is watching private companies, and is particularly concerned with so-called “unicorns” (private start-up firms with valuations greater than $1 billion).

This issue of the potential private company liabilities under the federal securities laws came up again for me recently when I read about a petition for a writ of certiorari that a securities claim plaintiff has filed in the U.S. Supreme Court. As discussed in a June 8, 2016 post on Jim Hamilton’s World of Securities Litigation (here), the petition asks the Court to address the question whether a privately held corporation trading in its own stock has an Exchange Act duty to disclose all material information or abstain from trading. As discussed below, the petition and the underlying claim raise important questions about the potential liabilities of private companies under the federal securities laws. The May 31, 2016 cert petition in the case of Fried v. Stiefel Laboratories, Inc. can be found here.
Continue Reading Supreme Court Asked to Clarify Private Company’s Federal Securities Law Stock Purchase Disclosure Duties

sec sealThe SEC promulgated Rule 10b5-1 nearly 16 years ago to allow executives (whose wealth often is entirely locked up in company shares) to trade in their company’s stock without incurring possible liability under the securities laws. The Rule provides an affirmative defense against allegations of improper trading. In many cases defendants have  relied on the existence of a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan in order to have the securities claims against them dismissed (for example,  here and here). However, the Rule has also been subject to criticism, and some have questioned whether corporate executives are abusing their plans in order to shield questionable trading.

A recent academic study corroborates the view that the plans “are being abused to hide more informed insider trading.” The study, by Gothenburg University Professor Taylan Mavruk and  University of Michigan Business School Professor H. Nejat Seyhun and entitled “Do SEC’s 10b5-1 Safe Harbor Rules Need to Be Rewritten?” (here) concludes that “safe harbor plans are being abused to hide profitable trades made while in possession of material non-public information.” The authors suggest a number of revisions to the Rule in order to “prevent further abuse.” The authors summarized their findings in a short June 2, 2016 post on the CLS Blue Sky Blog (here).
Continue Reading Does Rule 10b5-1 Need Revision to Prevent Improper Insider Trades?

paul weiss largeThe U.S. government’s petition for writ of certiorari in the case of United States v. Newman had been very closely watched. The government hoped to have the Supreme Court set aside the Second Circuit’s 2014 decision in the case (here), which had overturned the convictions of two hedge fund managers accused of insider trading. In an unexpected development, on the first day of the Supreme Court’s 2015-16 term, the Court declined take up the case.

The following guest post from the Paul Weiss law firm takes a look at this development and analyzes the implications. I would like to that the authors for their willingness to publish their article on this blog. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is the Paul Weiss firm’s guest post.

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Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the petition for a writ of certiorari (the “Petition”)  filed by the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) in United States v. Newman, 773 F.3d 438 (2d Cir. 2014), a landmark decision that dismissed indictments against two insider trading defendants.  By declining to hear the Petition, the Supreme Court ensured that the Second Circuit’s decision in Newman will remain binding in the Second Circuit and influential across the country.

As we explain below, two of Newman’s holdings are particularly important: first, that the government must prove that a remote tippee knew or should have known of the personal benefit received by a tipper in exchange for disclosing nonpublic information; and second, that the benefits alleged by the government in United States v. Newman were not sufficient to support a conviction, as they were not sufficiently “consequential.”
Continue Reading Guest Post: Supreme Court Declines To Consider Second Circuit’s Landmark Insider Trading Ruling

pwIn the following guest post, Susanna Buergel, Charles Davidow, Andrew Ehrlich, Brad Karp, Daniel Kramer, Richard Rosen and Audra Soloway, all of whom are litigation partners at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP who are members of the Firm’s Securities Litigation Practice group explain the significance of the Second Circuit’s decision United States v. …

As reflected in the most recent dismissal motion rulings in the Countrywide subprime securities lawsuit, the proper use of a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan can provide a substantial defense to allegations of securities law violations. In her April 6, 2009 opinion (here), Central District of California Mariana Pfaelzer dismissed the insider trading allegations…