SEC

Prosecuting Securities Fraud Under Section 17(a)(2)

By Wendy Gerwick Couture March 20, 2019 by renholding

Traditionally, securities fraud has been civilly enforced under Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, and criminally prosecuted under Section 32 of the Exchange Act. Recently, however, the SEC has increasingly asserted claims under Section 17(a)(2) …

SEC Commissioner Discusses the Proxy Process

By Elad L. Roisman March 20, 2019 by renholding

Today, I will talk about the proxy process. But, before I segue into any substance, this is a good time for me to provide my first standard disclaimer: My views and remarks are my own, and do not necessarily represent …

Short Selling and the New Market Manipulation

By John C. Coffee, Jr. and Joshua Mitts March 18, 2019 by renholding

Stock market manipulation has been around since shortly after stock markets were invented. Everyone is familiar with the methodology in the standard “pump and dump” scheme: False rumors are circulated, the stock is bid up by the manipulators, supply might …

The Effect of SEC Comment Letters on M&A Outcomes

By Bret A. Johnson, Ling Lei Lisic, Joon Seok Moon and Mengmeng Wang March 14, 2019 by renholding

Recent research on the effectiveness of the SEC’s filing review and comment letter process has focused almost exclusively on reviews of Forms 10-K and other periodic filings. Reviews of filings involving transactions such as mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have received …

Equity Market Structure 2019: Looking Back and Moving Forward

By Jay Clayton and Brett Redfearn March 12, 2019 by renholding

Chairman Clayton

Thank you, Dean Rapaccioli, for your kind introduction and for the invitation to Director Redfearn and me to speak about equity market structure.[1]

I’m delighted that my good friend Craig Phillips was able to take time to

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SEC Commissioner Speaks to Council of Institutional Investors

By Hester M. Peirce March 11, 2019 by renholding

Thank you, Mary [Francis], for that kind introduction and for the opportunity to be here today. Before I begin, I will give my standard disclaimer. The comments I make today represent my own views and not necessarily those of the

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How to Enhance the Value of Shareholder Voting Recommendations

By Bernard S. Sharfman March 8, 2019 by renholding

In a new article, I discuss how investment advisers like Blackrock, State Street, and Vanguard, can become adequately informed prior to voting their proxies without having to read massive amounts of information about the hundreds or thousands of companies …

ISS Takes an Early Look at 2019 Shareholder Proposals

By Kosmas Papadopoulos March 5, 2019 by renholding

In the U.S., shareholder proposal filings have historically played an important role in advancing corporate governance and in highlighting key risks related to environmental and social issues. Some of the major shifts in governance practices during the past two decades …

Sullivan & Cromwell Discusses SEC Guidance on Director Diversity Disclosure

By Melissa Sawyer and Heather Coleman February 27, 2019 by pss2150

On February 6, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance released Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations 116.11 and 133.11, which address the disclosure of self-identified diversity characteristics with respect to board members and nominees under Items 401 …

Does Public Ownership and Accountability Increase Diversity?

By Rembrand Koning and John-Paul Ferguson February 25, 2019 by renholding

For two generations, U.S. companies, regulators, and activists have grappled with how to increase employment diversity in large firms. Quotas and other explicit hiring targets have tended to fare poorly in the courts. Instead, diversity policies have come to focus …

Sullivan & Cromwell Discusses Key Considerations for Annual SEC Filings

By Robert E. Buckholz, Catherine M. Clarkin, Robert W. Downes, James M. Shea Jr. and Danielle B. Abada February 25, 2019 by renholding

As issuers prepare their Form 10‑K and 20‑F filings for fiscal year 2018, they should consider the guidance provided in some recent speeches from officials of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), which highlight a number of considerations relating to …

Arnold & Porter Discusses Insider Trading’s Personal Benefit Test After Martoma, Gupta, and Other Recent Cases

By Andrew Bauer, Jonathan Green and Daniel Hawke February 19, 2019 by renholding

On January 24, former SAC Capital Advisors portfolio manager Mathew Martoma petitioned the Supreme Court to review his 2014 conviction for insider trading.  Martoma’s conviction stems from activity in 2008 when he paid a doctor from the University of Michigan …

Debevoise & Plimpton Discusses SEC’s Nissan Inquiry and Non-U.S. Issuers of ADRs

By Kara Brockmeyer, Andrew J. Ceresney, Alan Kartashkin and James C. Scoville February 14, 2019 by abirvarma

It was reported on January 27 that Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (“Nissan”) had received an inquiry from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), regarding alleged disclosure violations involving payments to its former Chairman, Carlos Ghosn. The reported …

SEC Commissioner Offers Inside View of the Regulation Machine

By Hester M. Peirce February 13, 2019 by renholding

I had high expectations when I picked up Thom [Lambert’s] book on regulation shortly after it first came out several years ago.[1] Those expectations were exceeded by the clear and compelling way in which the book wrestles with the

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Deal Initiation in Mergers and Acquisitions

By Ronald W. Masulis and Serif Aziz Simsir February 12, 2019 by renholding

Contrary to common belief, M&A transactions are not overwhelmingly initiated by acquirers. Target managers frequently put their firms up for sale before receiving any unsolicited bids. In fact, in our sample of U.S. domestic M&A deals completed between 1997 and …

SEC Chair Discusses Shareholder Proposals Seeking Mandatory Arbitration Provisions in Bylaws

By Jay Clayton February 12, 2019 by renholding

The issue of mandatory arbitration provisions in the bylaws of U.S. publicly-listed companies has garnered a great deal of attention.  As I have previously stated, the ability of domestic, publicly-listed companies to require shareholders to arbitrate claims against them arising

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Securities Disclosure As Soundbite: The Case of CEO Pay Ratios

By Steven A. Bank and George S. Georgiev February 11, 2019 by renholding

Since 2018, U.S. public companies have had to calculate and report a new, unconventional statistic—a CEO pay ratio—which links CEO pay to the pay of rank-and-file workers. Based on a last-minute addition to the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, the disclosure …

Double Trouble: An Analysis of IRS Attention and Financial Reporting

By Zackery D. Fox and Ryan J. Wilson February 7, 2019 by renholding

Existing research provides limited insight into what draws the attention of tax authorities to public information and how that information is used in the process of examining corporate tax positions.  For publicly traded firms in the U.S., the Internal Revenue …

Wachtell Lipton Discusses Mergers and Acquisitions — 2019

By Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz January 22, 2019 by renholding

As a whole, 2018 proved to be another strong year for M&A.  Total deal volume reached almost $4.2 trillion globally, higher than the $3.7 trillion volume of 2017, but still less than the record of over $5 trillion set in …

SEC Chair Discusses EDGAR-Hacking Enforcement Action

By Jay Clayton January 16, 2019 by renholding

In August 2017, shortly after my arrival at the Commission, I was informed that an intrusion into the SEC’s Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval (“EDGAR”) system took place in 2016.   We immediately initiated a series of review and response

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