Ilya Beylin

The Real but Exaggerated Threat of Financial Institution Mobility to Financial Regulation

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Where jurisdictions differ in how they regulate an activity, migration allows private parties to choose between regulatory regimes.  In the context of financial regulation, scholars assert that harmonization of regulation across jurisdictions is necessary to prevent institutions from opting into the laxest regulatory regime through relocation.[1]  This assertion relies on two assumptions: (1) financial institutions indeed move in response to burdensome regulations, and (2) unilateral regulation is insufficient to achieve regulatory objectives with respect to offshore institutions.  My recent project provides the first empirical evidence supporting that financial institutions relocate activities in response to derivatives regulation.  Charges that unilateral … Read more

Long Live the Editor

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After the July 4th weekend, Reynolds Holding will be taking over as the fourth editor-at-large of the CLS Blue Sky Blog.  It has been a remarkable year and a half, and I am confident our Blog will continue to grow in the coming years.  I am grateful to the faculty committee (Professors Jack Coffee, Ed Greene, Robert Jackson and Kate Judge), the student editors (Jennifer Barrows, AJ Farkas and John Knight) as well as Columbia Law School for providing opportunity and support.  I intend to continue writing as time allows and invite you to visit my webpage.  I believe … Read more

Twenty Most Cited Corporate Law & Securities Regulation Faculty in the United States, 2010-2014 (inclusive)

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Rank Name School Citations Age in 2016
1 John Coffee, Jr. Columbia University 1470 72
2 Lucian Bebchuk Harvard University 1130 61
3 Stephen Bainbridge University of California, Los Angeles 1010 58
4 Reinier Kraakman Harvard University   820 67
5 Stephen Choi New York University   780 50
6 Donald Langevoort Georgetown University   770 65
7 Ronald Gilson Columbia University   760 70
8 Lynn Stout Cornell University   750 59
9 Roberta Romano Yale University   730 64
10 Henry Hansmann Yale University   720 71
11 Bernard Black Northwestern University   630 63
12 James Cox Duke University   620 73
13 Mark Roe Harvard

… Read more

Notice of Opportunity: Have You Ever Thought of Entering Academia?

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Columbia Law School is looking for an Editor-at-Large to oversee and administer the Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog.  The Blog, now completing its third year, has grown rapidly and become one of the most read sources of current information and opinion on corporate law, securities law, and financial regulatory issues, including white collar crime, enforcement, antitrust, restructuring and kindred topics.  The Blog’s content presents legal developments and insights from a range of sources, including practitioners, academics and regulatory bodies.  A new post is generally published at least once every weekday and the Blog also highlights important news developments in … Read more

Millstein Governance Forum on December 10, 2015 at CLS

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On December 10th, Columbia Law School’s Millstein Center on Global Markets and Corporate Ownership will be hosting its 10th annual Millstein Governance Forum.

For the past decade, the Forum has served as one of the premiere venues for business leaders to engage in debate and dialogue on the effects of developments in the capital market on corporate governance. This year’s Forum will focus on the board-centric model of corporate governance functioning in an array of shareholders. Speakers and panels will explore how changing expectations and dynamics in the capital markets impact the way boards govern.

Along … Read more

A Debate on the Morality of Insider Trading

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Today, we host two pieces debating the potential for firm disclosed insider trading to occur without harm to the company, its investors and other market participants.  John P. Anderson, Associate Professor, Mississippi College School of Law, proposes that under some circumstances, insider trading may moral and William K.S. Wang, Professor, University of California Hastings College of Law, debates that view.
… Read more

Nominate Our Blog for the ABA 100

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To the friends of the CLS Blue Sky Blog: The ABA journal is conducting a poll to identify the top 100 legal blogs.  We would be honored by your nomination.  In addition to reprinting commentary from practitioners and regulators on legal developments in corporate law, securities and other financial regulation, antitrust, restructuring and kindred topics, we feature explanations of recent scholarship in these fields and debates on policy issues.  We select our content to provide readers with a rich and broad view, and do not shy away from technical topics.  I believe there are few if any other forums serving … Read more

More on Navinder Singh Sarao, the Alleged Market Manipulator with Responsibility for the Flash Crash

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For those interested in the allegations against Navinder Singh Sarao and Nav Sarao Futures Limited PLC, which implicate them in extensive market manipulation and the “Flash Crash” of 2010, here are the complaints from the DOJ and CFTC as well as an ex parte order obtained by the CFTC against the defendants: United States of America v. Navinder Singh Sarao; CFTC v. Navinder Singh Sarao and NAV Sarao Futures Limited PLC; and Ex Parte Statutory Restraining Order, Navinder Singh Sarao and NAV Sarao Futures Limited PLC.… Read more

Recap of Lynn Tilton’s Scuffle with the SEC

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Earlier this week, the SEC filed an administrative action against Lynn Tilton and her Patriarch Partners funds.  See In re Lynn Tilton et al.  CNBC has reported that the SEC is  “accusing Patriarch of hiding the poor performance of loans underlying three collateralized loan obligations, adding that it was able to collect almost $200 million in fees by failing to properly value the assets in the funds through the methodology described to investors.”  Today, Ms. Tilton fired back with a complaint drafted by Skadden and filed in the S.D.N.Y., claiming that the use of ALJs is unconstitutional.  See Lynn … Read more

A Shift in Proposed Margin Regulation May Unleash Restraints on Banks’ Activities

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A nuance in margin rules proposed by the CFTC and other federal financial regulators threatens to undermine a carefully struck balance in Dodd-Frank.  As background, Title VII of Dodd-Frank subjected U.S. derivatives markets to a host of new regulations.   Broadly speaking, regulations promulgated by the CFTC under Title VII require that certain types of swaps be centrally cleared through a clearinghouse and a subset of those swaps be executed on a swap execution facility (SEF) or designated contract market (DCM).[1] The clearing mandate helps mitigate credit risk in the derivatives market through interposing the credit … Read more

Today we talk about Fannie and Freddie…

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Today we feature three posts on the theme of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The first two posts — from David Min and Brad Miller, respectively — question assumptions about the proper role of government and markets in home mortgage securitization markets, arguing for restraint in privatization.  The third post, from Mark A. Calabria, looks to the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to draw lessons as to whether tools for resolution introduced by the Dodd-Frank Act are likely to be used in the event a major financial institution suffers distress.  All of these posts are based … Read more

Marketplace of Ideas: United States v. Newman

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Yesterday and today, we are running a number of posts related to the recent United States v. Newman decision in which the Second Circuit overturned the convictions for insider trading and conspiracy to commit insider trading of Todd Newman and Anthony Chiasson.  Messrs. Newman and Chiasson were hedge fund portfolio managers at Diamondback Capital Management, LLC and Level Global Investors, L.P., respectively.  The government alleged that a cohort of analysts at various hedge funds and investment firms obtained material, nonpublic information from employees of Dell and NVIDIA—two publicly traded technology companies—shared it amongst each other, and subsequently passed it on … Read more

Why Newman Leaves Me With a Queasy Feeling, or Deregulating the Demand for Insider Information

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Among several independent holdings stated by the court on its way to reversing the convictions of Todd Newman and Anthony Chiasson, the Newman court declared that: “in order to sustain a conviction for insider trading [against a remote tippee], the Government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that [the remote] tippee knew that an insider disclosed confidential information and that he did so in exchange for a personal benefit.”[1] My musings leave aside whether from a doctrinal standpoint, this statement is incorrect, within a range of holdings that the court could have come to, or simply necessitated by the … Read more