insider trading

“Shadow Trading” Becomes Insider Trading

By Stephen J. Crimmins March 28, 2022 by renholding

On January 14, 2022, the U.S. District Court in San Francisco denied a motion to dismiss charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission under an expansive new theory of insider trading liability. In a matter of first impression, the …

Time for a Broad Prophylactic against Congressional Insider Trading  

By John P. Anderson March 15, 2022 by renholding

In 2011, Peter Schweizer published a book, Throw Them All Out, exposing some questionable means by which politicians manage to increase their personal wealth 50 percent faster than the average American does.

Schweizer suggested that trading on material nonpublic …

Latham & Watkins Discusses Stricter SEC Requirements for the Rule 10b5-1 Affirmative Defense

By Joel H. Trotter, Stephen P. Wink, Naim Culhaci and Deric Behar January 24, 2022 by renholding

On December 15, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a set of proposed amendments (the Proposal) regarding the adoption of trading plans that qualify for the affirmative defense against liability for trading on the basis of material non-public …

Informed Options Trading Before FDA Approves Drugs May Be Growing Problem

By Zekun Wu, Paul Borochin and Joseph H. Golec January 11, 2022 by renholding

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) appoints drug experts to drug advisory committees (ACs) that make approval or rejection recommendations for about half of all new drugs (usually the unique ones, such as Covid vaccines). The experts receive nonpublic technical …

SEC Considers Amendments to Rule 10b5-1

By Reynolds Holding December 16, 2021 by renholding

It was a very busy day at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday, with the commission weighing in on several proposed rule changes. For starters, the commission considered proposed amendments to Rule 10b5-1 and new disclosure requirements designed to …

When Should You Abstain? A Call for a Global Rule of Insider Trading

By Ido Baum and Dov Solomon November 9, 2021 by renholding

The core concepts of securities regulation tend to be similar across jurisdictions. However, there are differences that may seem small and insignificant at first glance but in fact generate the potential for arbitrage by the kind of sophisticated actors that …

The Supreme Court and the Fraud on the Market Class Action

By Richard D. Freer November 4, 2021 by renholding

The class action is indispensable to private enforcement of SEC Rule 10b-5, which prohibits fraudulent practices in the secondary securities market.  Though Rule 10b-5 is a criminal provision, courts have long inferred a private civil right of action, allowing defrauded …

Top Justice Department Official on Stepping Up Corporate Enforcement

By John Carlin October 26, 2021 by benzonenshayn

I think these events [the Global Investigations Review conference: New York] are an important opportunity for discussion of trends and really this area is one where your work, your advice to clients, changes the way that people behave. And it …

Wachtell Lipton Discusses a New Variation in SEC Insider Trading Enforcement

By John F. Savarese and Wayne M. Carlin August 23, 2021 by renholding

Earlier last week, the SEC filed a complaint in the Northern District of California alleging insider-trading charges that may signal a more aggressive approach to enforcement under the agency’s new leadership.  In SEC v. Panuwat, the SEC charged a …

SEC Chair Speaks at Meeting of Investor Advisory Committee

By Gary Gensler June 14, 2021 by renholding

Good morning. Thank you Jennifer, Heidi, and all the committee members for having me. I enjoyed meeting with members of the Executive Committee yesterday and am thrilled to meet the whole committee for the first time. I’m grateful for the

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Congress and the Insider Trading Prohibition Act: “Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?”*

By John C. Coffee, Jr. May 25, 2021 by renholding

Last week, the House of Representatives passed the “Insider Trading Prohibition Act” (“ITPA”).[1] Proponents are hailing it as a triumph of bipartisan cooperation. Conversely, critics are calling it the “Insider Trading Protection Act.” This is because the bill codifies …

Securities Regulation and Class Warfare

By Jonathan R. Macey March 2, 2021 by renholding

In a new article, I examine the regulatory goals of creating “fair, orderly, and efficient” securities markets in light of the recent issues involving trading in the shares of GameStop Corp. (GME) through the broker-dealer firm Robinhood Financial LLC.  The …

Gibson Dunn Offers 2020 Year-End Securities Litigation Update

By Robert F. Serio, Brian M. Lutz, Monica K. Loseman, Jefferson E. Bell and Mark H. Mixon, Jr. February 23, 2021 by renholding

Notwithstanding the ongoing spread of COVID-19 and unprecedented changes in daily life and the economy, the second half of 2020 marched on to the steady drumbeat of securities-related lawsuits we have observed in recent years, including securities class and stockholder …

The Duty to Disclose Inside Information: The Subtle Relationships Within the European Market Abuse Regulation

By Mathijs Giltjes and Arnoud Pijls February 11, 2021 by renholding

In our recent paper we discuss the European regime governing the disclosure of inside information. In particular, we try to find an answer to the question of which duties of the disclosure regime have been violated in two situations: where …

Insider Trading and Strategic Disclosure

By Joshua Mitts December 9, 2020 by renholding

With COVID-19 cases rising rapidly around the world, Pfizer’s announcement on November 9, 2020, that its coronavirus vaccine was highly effective in early trials offered a rare bright spot for the coming winter.[1] But the news was soon dampened …

The Deterrent Effect of Whistleblowing on Insider Trading

By Jacob Raleigh October 23, 2020 by renholding

One of the many significant reforms enacted in The Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 was the creation of a whistleblower bounty program within the SEC. The program increased monetary rewards for whistleblowing and provided protections …

How SEC Enforcement Affects Insider Leakage

By Sid Ghoshal, Martin Bengtzen and Stephen Roberts October 20, 2020 by renholding

In 2012, Mary L. Schapiro, the chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission,  argued that market participants had “short memories” and that the SEC as a result had to take regular enforcement actions “so that people don’t forget that they …

Insider Trading and Geographic Proximity: Evidence from Covid-19

By Erin Henry, George A. Plesko and Caleb Rawson September 1, 2020 by renholding

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed how businesses operate, resulting in unprecedented stock market effects. While the U.S. stock market has historically shown little to no reaction to an infectious disease outbreak, COVID-19 precipitated a global stock market downturn now …

The Problem with Insider Giving

By Andrew Verstein August 31, 2020 by renholding

For a brief moment last month, Kodak Corporation’s stock soared from $2 a share to more than $33 a share on news that it might obtain substantial government financing. At that peak, Kodak director George Karfunkel unloaded shares then worth …

Marginal Benefits of the Core Securities Laws

By Kevin S. Haeberle August 10, 2020 by renholding

To many, the core securities laws on disclosure, fraud, and insider trading are desirable from an investor-protection perspective. But the dominant law and economics view is dubious of this thinking. Under this view, securities prices are discounted to reflect obstacles …