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Securities Regulation
Cleary Gottlieb Discusses SEC’s Financial Reporting and Accounting Unit Within Enforcement Division
On August 5, 2026, the SEC announced the creation of a new Financial Reporting and Accounting Unit within the Division of Enforcement “to provide the dedicated expertise, focus, and capacity to pursue accounting and financial reporting cases as well as …
How Does the SEC Respond to Reputation Shocks?
In April 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission found itself in headlines no regulator wants. The agency’s Office of Inspector General revealed that 33 SEC employees and contractors had been regularly viewing pornography on government computers during work hours. More …
Shadow SEC Statement No. 12: The SEC’s Retreat from Enforcement (and the Special Case of Mandatory Arbitration Clauses)
Since the Securities Act of 1933, Congress has created and carefully maintained a two-track enforcement system that relies on both public enforcement and private enforcement to prevent fraud and protect investors. Congress has at times adjusted the balance of advantage …
When Is Information Public Under the European Market Abuse Regulation?
The Court of Justice of the European Union (the “ECJ”) recently delivered an important judgment on the interpretation of inside information under Article 7(1)(a) of the Market Abuse Regulation (“MAR”): Brännelius. The judgment addresses what should be understood as …
Skadden Discusses Second Circuit Decision Expanding Loss Causation Pleading Requirements
Executive Summary
- What’s new: The Second Circuit affirmed dismissal of a securities fraud complaint, expanding loss causation pleading requirements when no immediate price decline follows corrective disclosure.
- Why it matters: The ruling appears to increase lead plaintiffs’ burden and district
Insider Trading in Connected Firms During Trading Bans
Corporate insiders can earn abnormal returns by trading on private information about their firms. Because this informational advantage is especially pronounced before major releases of information—such as earnings announcements—regulators and firms impose trading bans, known in the UK as close …
Sullivan & Cromwell Discusses Second Circuit Decision on Breadth of PSLRA Stay
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act’s (“PSLRA”) automatic stay during the pendency of a motion to dismiss is one of the most important procedural protections for defendants in a securities action. The stay, which applies to “all discovery and other …
SEC Commissioner Peirce Warns Crypto Activities May Trigger Securities Laws
The Commission, the Crypto Task Force, and staff across the Divisions have done tremendous work in the past year and a half to provide clarity to crypto markets as to when a certain asset or activity is subject to the …
Should Directors Control Reporting Frequency?
On May 5, 2026, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed amendments that would permit U.S. domestic issuers to file financial reports semiannually rather than quarterly. Under the proposal, the choice would rest with the firm alone—that is, with its board …
SEC Chair Atkins Speaks at the Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee Meeting
I should like to begin by extending a warm welcome to the Committee’s new members—Anya Coverman, Joseph Lucosky, Andrew Prystai, Rodrigo Seira, and Erik Syvertsen. I am certain that your collective expertise and many contributions will prove invaluable as we …
Shadow SEC Statement No. 11: The SEC Offering Reform Proposals
Why We Need Mutual Fund Boilerplate
Mutual fund disclosures read, unsurprisingly, like the legal documents they are—full of terms of art, legalese, and stock language about performance, fees, and investment risk. It is tempting to dismiss disclosures as “boilerplate”—a four-letter word in the law, belittling the …
SEC Commissioner Peirce Discusses Proposed Regulation E-Delivery
Today [July 16], in a long-awaited move, the Commission proposed Regulation E-Delivery to make electronic delivery the default under the securities laws for issuers, investment advisers, investment companies, and broker-dealers. This rulemaking focuses on the default delivery method; not the …
Cleary Gottlieb Discusses SEC’s 2026 Rulemaking Agenda
The SEC’s 2026 rulemaking agenda and statement of regulatory priorities recently went public as part of the federal governments overall 2026 Regulatory Plan. The agenda lists 38 potential SEC rulemakings and reflects Chairman Atkins’s broadly deregulatory orientation, with proposals …
Skadden Discusses SEC Plan to Amend Investment Adviser Pay-to-Play Rule
On July 3, 2026, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released its updated regulatory agenda for 2026. The agenda, which is required to be updated semiannually under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, includes an ambitious 38 items. Notably, as part …
Stock as Currency
In April 2026, SpaceX announced an agreement giving it the right to acquire the AI coding company Cursor for $60 billion in SpaceX stock after SpaceX went public. If that stock transaction did not occur, the agreement called for a …
SEC Chair Speaks at Society for Corporate Governance Conference
Before I offer a few reflections, I must note that the views I express here today are my own as Chairman and do not necessarily reflect those of the SEC as an institution or of my fellow Commissioners.
Of course, …
Sullivan & Cromwell Discusses Parallel DOJ and SEC Spoofing Actions Against Fund Founder and Investment Manager
On June 25, 2026, the Department of Justice announced the guilty plea of Mingran Wang, the alleged founder and investment manager of Greenroots Capital Management, for an alleged multi-year securities-fraud scheme involving more than 3,000 instances of “spoofing.” Wang pleaded …
SEC Chair Comments on Commission’s 2026 Regulatory Agenda
The 2026 Regulatory Agenda reflects the robust rulemaking we are pursuing under my chairmanship. Now that we are just over one year into my tenure, we have made significant progress in returning the agency to its core mission of protecting …