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It is already well understood that there has been a change in direction at the SEC under the current Trump Administration and SEC Chair Paul Atkins. In a speech earlier this week at the New York Stock Exchange entitled “Revitalizing America’s Markets at 250,” Atkins described the ways in which he thought the agency in recent times has lost its direction, particularly with respect to its public company disclosure requirements. With the stated aim of restoring its original mission, Atkins identified two main public company disclosure reform goals for the agency. He also set out “three pillars” to “make IPOs great again.” Atkins’s IPO-related remarks include brief but noteworthy comments about securities class action litigation reform that have largely been overlooked in the press coverage of his speech.Continue Reading SEC Chair Paul Atkins and Public Company Disclosure Reform

Form PF (here) is a reporting form that requires private fund advisers to report regulatory assets under management to the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC). On February 8, 2024, the SEC and the CFTC announced amendments to the Form PF disclosure requirements (as reflected here and here). In the following guest post, Geoffrey Fehling, Scott Kimpel, and Evan M. Holober of the Hunton Andrews Kurth law firm review the new disclosure requirements and consider the potential liability exposures and possible insurance implications. A version of this article previously was published as a Hunton Andrews Kurth client alert (here). I would like to thank the authors for allowing me to publish their article as a guest post on this site. 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 authors’ article.Continue Reading Guest Post: Insurance Implications of SEC and CFTC’s New Form PF Requirements

Sarah Abrams

In the following guest post, Sarah Abrams, Head of Professional Liability Claims at Bowhead Specialty, discusses the updated compliance rules for Private Equity Firms and Hedge Funds, which the SEC released on August 23, 2023. I would like to thank Sarah for allowing me to publish her article 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: New SEC PE and Hedge Fund Disclosure Rules Winners? The Lawyers

Now that the Presidential election has been called for Joe Biden, it is time to start asking what a Biden Presidency may mean, including in particular what SEC enforcement and regulatory activity might look like under a Biden Administration. As discussed below, the likelihood is that we will see a more active SEC enforcement division and a shift back toward a more active regulatory approach.
Continue Reading What Does the Biden Victory Mean for the SEC?

If you have not yet seen SEC Commissioner Allison Herren Lee’s speech delivered last week to the PLI’s annual Institute on Securities Litigation, you should take a few minutes and read what she had to say. In her November 5, 2020 speech, which can be found here, Lee warns that climate change represents a “systemic risk” to markets, the financial system, and our economy. After noting that climate change presents an even greater risk of “grave human and economic costs” than we experienced in the pandemic — and urging that we should learn the lessons that the pandemic presents — she calls for a coordinated effort to create uniform climate change reporting and disclosure standards to ensure that investors and markets are better informed about the risks that climate change represents.
Continue Reading Climate Change as a “Systemic Risk”: Markets, Regulation, and Disclosure

Readers of this blog well know that in recent years there has been unprecedented levels of securities class action litigation activity, and that even in the midst of the current global health crisis plaintiffs’ lawyers have filed what one law firm has characterized as a “wave” of COVID-19-related securities litigation. The heightened pace of securities filings over the last several years has already triggered calls for another round of securities litigation reform. Now, organizations representing business interests have filed a petition with the SEC seeking to have the agency implement a number of reforms to protect businesses from “unjustified COVID-19 lawsuits.”
Continue Reading Petition to SEC Seeks Protection for Companies from Pandemic-Related Securities Suits

David H. Topol

In the following guest post, David H. Topol of the Wiley law firm takes a look at the recent decision by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to amend the agency’s operative definition of the term “accredited investor.” A copy of the agency’s final rule incorporating the revised definition can be found here. The agency’s August 26, 2020 press release about the change can be found here. I would like to thank David for allowing me to publish his article as a guest post on this site. 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 David’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: SEC Definition of “Accredited Investor”: A Step Forward or Backward?

When the U.S. Senate recently passed legislation that would bar access to U.S. securities exchanges to any foreign company whose auditor is not subject to the same regulatory inspections as domestic U.S. companies, it was the culmination of a series of moves by regulators, market authorities, and legislators to try to “level the playing field” and subject the foreign companies to the same scrutiny U.S. companies and their auditors face. The recently passed Senate legislation, Senate Bill 945, known as the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, was promoted by its co-sponsor, Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, as a bill that would “kick deceitful Chinese companies off U.S. exchanges.” As discussed below, in addition to the recent Senate bill, efforts by regulators and market authorities with respect to rights to inspect and supervise auditors of foreign companies with securities listed on U.S. exchanges, are continuing.
Continue Reading Senate Acts to Enforce Audit Oversight on Foreign (Especially Chinese) Companies

John Reed Stark

One of the most significant recent developments in the financial world has been the sudden proliferation of cryptocurrencies. The quick rise of digital currencies seemingly caught regulators by surprise; regulatory action and involvement was slow to develop. But as John Reed Stark, President of John Reed Stark Consulting and former Chief of the SEC’s Office of Internet Enforcement, documents in the following guest post, U.S. regulators have heard the bell and are now rising to action, and for good reason. A version of this article previously appeared on Cybersecurity Docket. I would like to thank John for his willingness to allow me to publish his 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 and article. Here is John’s guest post.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Why the Crypto-Enforcement Onslaught by U.S. Regulators Has Just Begun

According to the latest update on the Coinschedule website (here), there have been a total of 228 initial coin offerings so far this year through mid-October, raising a total of over $3.6 billion. At least five of this year’s ICOs have raised over $100 million. This burgeoning activity notwithstanding, ICOs are at the center of controversy. Among other things, China and South Korea have banned ICOs. The SEC has already shown its willingness to pursue enforcement actions against ICO sponsors, as discussed further here. And now a high-profile statement by one of the country’s leading securities regulation experts suggests even greater scrutiny may lie ahead. In the meantime, as discussed below, ICO and cryptocurrency-related litigation appears to be proliferating.
Continue Reading ICO Enforcement Actions Threatened, ICO Lawsuits Proliferate