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On April 21, 2025, Paul Atkins, President Trump’s nominee, was officially sworn in as the 34th Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Atkins, who previously served as an SEC Commissioner from 2002 to 2008 during the George W. Bush administration, brings extensive prior SEC experience to his new post. In many ways that are already in evidence at the SEC in the early days of the Trump administration, the new leadership is likely to result in many significant changes in direction at the agency.Continue Reading Paul Atkins Chair Sworn In as SEC Chair

In parallel actions last week, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the SEC charged a tech exec with securities fraud in connection with fundraising for his company based on misrepresentations about the company’s AI capabilities. The exec, Albert Saniger, allegedly raised over $42 million by misrepresenting to investors that his company’s app used AI technology to complete online shopping purchases, when in fact the purchases were completed manually by contract workers located in the Philippines and elsewhere. As discussed below, there are several interesting features to these AI-related allegations.Continue Reading Tech Exec Charged with AI Washing-Related Securities Fraud

In prior posts (most recently here), I have noted the ways the new Trump administration’s policies and actions could affect the D&O liability and insurance arena. In the current rapid-fire environment, with daily developments that threaten to overturn established practices and norms, just trying to keep up – much less understand the significance of events – can be a challenge. In an effort to try to keep the scoreboard up to date, I have noted below some of the most recent key developments and tried to describe their significance for the D&O environment.Continue Reading Trump 2.0: The Latest D&O Update

Paul Atkins, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as SEC Chair, has not even yet assumed his new office – his nomination apparently is scheduled to go before the relevant Senate committee on March 27 – but big changes are already underway at the agency under Mark Uyeda, the agency’s acting Chair. Indeed, based on the changes so far, a group of five leading academics including Columbia Law Professor John Coffee Jr. and calling themselves the “Shadow SEC” has already raised the alarm, warning in a March 13, 2025 post on the CLS Blue Sky Blog  that as a result of current and proposed staffing and budget cuts,  the agency is well on the way to becoming a “shell of its former self,” as it “becomes an agency with little power, capacity, or independent judgment.”Continue Reading Big Changes are Already Underway at the SEC

It was no secret that the crypto enforcement approach was going to change under the Trump administration. Indeed, one of Trump’s first acts upon returning to the White House in January was to sign an executive order calculated to try to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world.” The SEC has likewise made it clear that under the new administration the agency will also be taking a new approach to crypto. The acting SEC leadership has already made a number of crypto-friendly moves – among other things,  the new leadership disbanded the agency’s Crypto Enforcement Task Force. The SEC has also dismissed pending cases against Binance (here) and Coinbase (here). As discussed below, the agency recently has taken even further crypto friendly actions – all of which has at least one observer to ask whether the SEC crypto pull back has gone too far?Continue Reading Sounding the Alarm on the SEC’s New Crypto Approach

Last month, when I assembled my list of the Top D&O Stories of 2024, I not only designated the November 2024 election of Donald Trump to a second Presidential term as last year’s top story but I also suggested that the advent of his second administration would likely be the top story of 2025 as well. We are now just four weeks into the Trump’s second term, and it is clear that my prognostication about the impact of the new Trump administration is truer than I ever imagined and in ways that I never foresaw.

The purpose of this post is to try to compile in one place a list of the ways in which – at least so far and at least as far as we know – the early actions of the new Trump administration has already impacted or will impact the world of D&O liability and insurance. Continue Reading Trump 2.0 and D&O (So Far)

It was already understood that the SEC under the new Trump administration would be taking a different approach to cryptocurrency enforcement, but the announcement on January 21, 2025 that the agency under Acting Chair Mark Uyeda was forming a cryptocurrency task force “dedicated to developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets” certainly underscores the fact that the SEC will treating crypto differently than was the case during the Biden administration. But while we look ahead to what may be in store for crypto under the new administration, it is also worth looking back at what the agency’s approach to crypto enforcement has been up to this point. A new Cornerstone Research report entitled “SEC Cryptocurrency Enforcement: 2024 Update” (here) provides a comprehensive overview of the agency’s crypto enforcement so far.Continue Reading Cornerstone Research: Crypto Enforcement at the SEC

In what may be the SEC’s first AI-washing enforcement action against a reporting company, on January 14, 2025, the agency brought a settled enforcement action against Presto Automation, a restaurant services technology company, based on the company’s alleged misrepresentations “regarding critical aspects of its flagship artificial intelligence (“AI”) product, Presto Voice.” A copy of the SEC’s January 14, 2025 press release about the action may be found here. The agency’s January 14, 2025 Order in the proceeding can be found here.Continue Reading SEC Files AI-Washing Enforcement Action Against Restaurant Technology Company

In what seems is likely to be the last cybersecurity-related enforcement action by the SEC under outgoing chair Gary Gensler, the agency has brought a settled enforcement action against asset management firm Ashford, Inc., alleging that the company made misrepresentations in its periodic reporting documents about a cybersecurity-related incident at the firm. As discussed below, the action raises questions about what may come next as far as SEC cybersecurity-related enforcement under the new administration. A copy of the SEC’s January 13, 2025, complaint in the enforcement action can be found here. The SEC’s January 13, 2025, press release about the action can be found here.Continue Reading SEC Files Cyber Disclosure Enforcement Action Against Asset Manager

The directors’ and officers’ liability environment is always changing, but 2024 was a particularly eventful year, with important consequences for the D&O insurance marketplace. The past year’s many developments also have significant implications for what may lie ahead in 2025 – and possibly for years to come.  I have set out below the Top Ten D&O Stories of 2024, with a focus on future implications. Please note that on Wednesday, January 15, 2025 at 11:00 AM EST, my colleagues Marissa Streckfus, Chris Bertola, and I will be conducting a free, hour-long webinar in which we will discuss The Top Ten D&O Stories of 2024. Registration for the webinar can be found here. I hope you can join us for the webinar.Continue Reading The Top Ten D&O Stories of 2024