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Bonfire of the Vanities–2018 Style: The Case of Elon Musk

By John C. Coffee, Jr. October 2, 2018 by renholding

Elon Musk came close to doing something truly unique. No, not his electric car. Rather, he was about to roll the dice with his shareholders’ equity.

Securities analysts estimate that somewhere between 25 and 35 percent of the value of …

Resolving the Tension Between Efficiency and Inclusivity in Crowdfunding

By Andrew Abraham Schwartz September 27, 2018 by renholding

There’s a contradiction at the core of securities crowdfunding, a form of Internet-based public stock market modelled on Kickstarter and its ilk. On the one hand, crowdfunding seeks to create an inclusive system where entrepreneurs, regardless of where they are …

Latham & Watkins Discusses Principles Guiding FINRA Enforcement Action

By John J. Sikora, Jr., Stephen P. Wink and Gregory Mortenson September 27, 2018 by renholding

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) relies on a framework of core principles in deciding whether to bring an Enforcement action in response to a given set of facts, and the key consideration is an assessment of “risk.” These core …

SEC Commissioner Airs Her Beef With Stakeholders

By Hester M. Peirce September 26, 2018 by renholding

Last time I flew to California, the skies were so clear that I was able to keep an eye on the changing landscape below all the way across the country. The vastness and great variety was striking. Having grown up

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Cleary Gottlieb on Government Scrutiny of Cryptocurrencies and ICOs

By Alexis Collins, Grace Kurland and Adam Motiwala September 25, 2018 by abirvarma

On Tuesday, September 11, 2018, Judge Raymond J. Dearie of the Eastern District of New York issued a decision holding that Initial Coin Offerings (“ICO”) may qualify as securities offerings and therefore be subject to the criminal federal securities laws. …

The Market for Lead Plaintiffs

By John C. Coffee, Jr. September 24, 2018 by renholding

A drama is playing out in Boston federal court before a respected judge that could prove to be a legal “Watergate,” one that could reshape class action practice.[1] Combining elements that are both sordid and comic, this litigation has …

SEC’s Co-Director of Enforcement Talks About Her Division’s Impact

By Stephanie Avakian September 21, 2018 by renholding

My speech today [1] happens to fall a little less than two weeks before the close of Steve Peikin’s and my first full fiscal year as Co-Directors of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. In many respects, a year is an

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SEC Commissioner Jackson on the State of America’s Stock Markets

By Robert J. Jackson, Jr. September 20, 2018 by renholding

Thank you so much, J.W. [Verret] and Ty [Gellasch], for that incredibly kind introduction. It’s a real honor to be here with you both today at George Mason, talking about the only issue you two have ever agreed on.[*

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Sullivan & Cromwell Discusses SEC’s Withdrawal of Proxy Advisory Guidance

By Marc Treviño, Misha Patel and Amanda Toy September 19, 2018 by renholding

On September 13, the SEC’s Division of Investment Management withdrew two interpretive letters issued in 2004 to Egan-Jones Proxy Services (“Egan-Jones”) and Institutional Shareholder Services, Inc. (“ISS”). The letters described some of the guidelines under which an investment adviser could …

Did Deregulation End the “Quiet Period” of Low-Risk Banking?

By Paul G. Mahoney September 18, 2018 by renholding

From the New Deal until the 1970s, banks were on a tight leash. Regulators controlled the rate of interest they could pay on deposits. Banks could not underwrite or deal in corporate securities. With some exceptions, they could not expand …

Was Glass-Steagall’s Demise Both Inevitable and Unimportant?

By Arthur E. Wilmarth, Jr. September 18, 2018 by renholding

The financial crisis of 2007-09 caused the Great Recession, the most severe global economic downturn since the Great Depression. The financial crisis began with the collapse of the subprime mortgage market in the U.S. and spread to financial markets around …

The Deregulation Debate: The Challenge of Using Static Rules to Govern a Dynamic System

By Kathryn Judge September 18, 2018 by renholding

In their lively disagreement about the role of deregulation in contributing to the 2007-2009 financial crisis, professors Arthur Wilmarth and Paul Mahoney inadvertently illuminate why the processes through which finance is regulated are so ill-suited to that purpose. Finance is …

How Credit Default Swaps Affect Managers’ Voluntary Disclosure

By Jae B. Kim, Pervin K. Shroff, Dushyantkumar Vyas and Regina Wittenberg Moerman September 17, 2018 by renholding

Credit Default Swaps (CDSs) enable lenders to distribute credit risk to parties more willing and able to bear it, thereby enhancing the liquidity and flexibility of individual lenders and the financial system (Greenspan 2004). However, empirical evidence suggests that CDSs …

SEC Commissioner Jackson Issues Statement on Shareholder Voting

By Robert J. Jackson, Jr. September 14, 2018 by renholding

Today, the Office of the Chairman and the Division of Investment Management at the Securities and Exchange Commission suddenly raised questions about long-resolved issues regarding shareholder voting.[1] Because the Investor Advisory Committee’s critical work in this area is ongoing, …

How Private Equity Enhances the Market for Corporate Control and Capitalism

By Edward Peter Stringham and Jack Vogel September 13, 2018 by renholding

In this age of firebrand political rhetoric and sniping from the right and the left, Wall Street has taken more than its fair share of criticism. One of the most significantly misplaced criticisms, however, derives from a gross misunderstanding of …

Disclosure Regulation in the Commercial Banking Industry: Lessons from the National Banking Era

By João Granja September 12, 2018 by renholding

In the aftermath of the 2007—2009 financial crisis, policymakers around the globe responded to calls for greater transparency in the financial system by adopting new rules and institutions that required more and better information disclosure by financial institutions. For example, …

Insider Trading Ahead of Cyber Breach Announcements

By Zhaoxin Lin, Travis R.A. Sapp, Jackie Rees Ulmer and Rahul Parsa September 4, 2018 by renholding

On March 14, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged a former chief information officer of Equifax with insider trading. The complaint alleged that he profited from selling stock ahead of the September 2017 public announcement of a major cybersecurity …

SEC Chair Clayton Talks Capital Formation

By Jay Clayton August 30, 2018 by renholding

I am delighted to participate in the 36|86 Entrepreneurship Festival here in Nashville, Tennessee. I would like to speak for about 25 minutes about key capital formation initiatives at the SEC.[1] After my remarks, I will be joined by

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What Really Drives “Short-Termism”?

By John C. Coffee, Jr. August 27, 2018 by renholding

Earlier this month, the CEO of Pepsi Co. suggested to President Trump that eliminating quarterly reporting (and shifting to biannual reporting) would reduce the pressure on managers to focus on the short-term. As impulsive as Elon Musk, the president bought …

Thinking Holistically Before Dropping Quarterly Reporting

By James D. Cox August 27, 2018 by renholding

Robust capital markets are widely believed to signal economic vitality, and a reliable barometer of such vitality was historically a rising number of IPOs and listings. Yet, as we are experiencing record setting economic expansion, that barometer has failed us. …

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