Columbia Law School
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fraud
Gauging Share-Price Response to News in Securities Litigation
Courts handling shareholder class actions and other types of securities litigation have expressed different views about how often stocks should respond to material news. Despite the importance of this issue in determining whether shares trade in an efficient market, these …
Latham & Watkins analyzes Court Ruling on Bitcoin Sales and Crime
In State of Florida v. Espinoza, a trial court in Miami recently dismissed all charges against an individual Bitcoin exchanger, who was arrested in a sting operation after agreeing to sell bitcoins to an undercover detective who purported to …
Insider Trading Penalties: An International Study
Insider trading is a serious form of misconduct and can result in defendants receiving lengthy prison sentences and significant monetary sanctions. Our working paper, ‘Sanctions Imposed for Insider Trading in Australia, Canada (Ontario), Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, the …
Shearman & Sterling’s 2016 Mid-Year Review of Securities Enforcement
Executive Summary[1]
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) brought over 400 enforcement actions in the first half of fiscal year (FY) 2016, and is on pace to surpass its record of 807 enforcement actions in a single …
Weil Gotshal provides Practical Tips for “Self-Correcting” Non-GAAP Disclosure in Light of the SEC’s Updated Guidance
In the wake of its release on May 17, 2016 of updated Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (“CDIs”) relating to the disclosure of non-GAAP financial measures, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance has indicated in no uncertain terms that now is …
PwC discusses Preventing the Next $100 Million Bank Robbery
Attackers last February reportedly stole $81 million from the Bangladesh Central Bank by obtaining and exploiting the bank’s credentials for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) network.[1] The attack – one of the biggest bank robberies in …
Salman v. United States and Insider Tipping: What Could be Decided?
Davis Polk discusses Appellate Reversal of $1.3 Billion Penalty Against Countrywide, Based on Appellate Finding of Lack of Intent
On May 23, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed a $1.3 billion civil penalty imposed against Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., Bank of America, N.A., and related defendants (collectively, “Countrywide”) under the Financial Institutions Reform, …
Uncertainty as Litigation Strategy
Why do sophisticated parties litigate under clouds of (easily resolvable) jurisdictional uncertainty?
In our recent essay available here, we argue that some sophisticated litigants do not raise obvious jurisdictional defects so that they can use jurisdictional uncertainty as a …
Bad Hustle
“And we played the Hustle music. There were, you know, printed materials passed out,” with dance steps so “ideally we could all perform the Hustle in precision,” recalled the former Countrywide first vice president. “There was a lot of excitement. …
Proskauer explains Supreme Court’s Clarification of Jurisdiction Under Securities Exchange Act
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on May 16, 2016 that the provision of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 granting federal district courts exclusive jurisdiction over suits brought to enforce the Exchange Act is subject to the same jurisdictional test …
Cleary Gottlieb explains SEC’s New Guidance on Non-GAAP Financial Measures
On May 17, 2016, the Division of Corporation Finance of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) released new and updated Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations (“C&DIs”) on the use of non-GAAP financial measures (“NGFMs”). The release of the C&DIs follows …
Do Executives Behave Better When Dishonesty is More Salient?
In recent decades, it seems the only reason one flavor of corporate or financial misbehavior falls out of the public discourse is because a newer one has taken its place. Following the widespread corporate frauds of the 1990s, the unscrupulous …
PwC discusses Protecting Elderly Customers: CFPB and FINRA Step In
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released recommendations in March for how banks and credit unions can better protect elderly customers from financial exploitation. The CFPB issued its recommendations as the elderly population continues to rapidly grow, positioning banks and …
Volkswagen and the Culture of Silence
Since the Volkswagen story first broke in September 2015, most observers have just scratched their heads and muttered to themselves in amazement: “What were they thinking? How could you place ‘defeat devices’ in 11 million cars worldwide and expect that …
Is Cross-listing on U.S. Markets still Beneficial to Foreign Firms?
U.S. capital market has long been an attractive destination to foreign companies. Cross-listing by foreign firms on U.S. exchanges has been associated with major benefits such as increase in value, easier access to external finance, and lower cost of capital. …
Putting the Fall of LendingClub in Perspective
On Monday, LendingClub Corp., a leader in the growing online lending space, announced the surprise resignation of its founder and CEO, Renaud Laplanche. Laplanche resigned in response to a board investigation that revealed a number of internal control failures, including …
The Ever-Expanding 10-K: Why Are 10-Ks Getting So Much Longer (and Does It Matter)?
Recently, there has been concern among investors, preparers, regulators, and standard setters that corporate disclosure (in particular the annual report, Form 10-K) is becoming increasingly lengthy, redundant, complex, and onerous. In December 2013, the SEC began a comprehensive review of …
Information Processing Costs and Corporate Tax Aggressiveness: Evidence from the SEC’s XBRL Mandate
In 2009, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) mandated all registrants to file their 10-K and 10-Q in an interactive format using the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL). The SEC adopted a phase-in implementation policy: the first phase started …