What Trump’s Order Limiting FCPA Enforcement Means for Companies

By Alexander L.W. Snyder April 2, 2025 by renholding

On February 12^, President Trump issued an Executive Order and Fact Sheet ordering, among other things, that the U.S. Attorney General cease initiation of any new FCPA investigations or enforcement actions for 180 days. As CEOs and boards of …

Sidley Austin Discusses CFTC Advisory on Self-Reporting, Cooperation, and Remediation

By Casey Khan, Rebecca Lewis Tierney, Steven E. Sexton, Paul M. Tyrrell and Nathan A. Howell March 25, 2025 by ngodridge

On February 25, 2025, the Division of Enforcement (Enforcement Division) of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) released an Enforcement Advisory on Self-Reporting, Cooperation, and Remediation (Advisory). The Advisory is the Enforcement Division’s “sole policy on self-reporting, cooperation, and …

About Face: How Much of Current SEC Policy Will the Trump Administration Reverse?

By John C. Coffee, Jr. and Joel Seligman December 3, 2024 by renholding

The future of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) is currently uncertain. Given the Trump election, Republican majorities in both the House and Senate and soon at the SEC, we focus on what may happen next and, even more importantly, …

Paul Weiss Discusses Potential Merger Enforcement Changes in the Trump Administration

By Katharine R. Haigh, Scott A. Sher, Christopher M. Wilson, Mark R. Laramie and Sahil Sheth November 19, 2024 by renholding

With the change of administrations in January 2025, antitrust enforcement priorities are likely to shift next year. We expect the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the Trump Administration to continue to …

The Impending Financial Crisis

By Jeffrey N. Gordon November 13, 2024 by renholding

I teach a course on “Financial Crises/Regulatory Responses” with the economist Patrick Bolton. This course addresses the struggle to establish and maintain financial stability, an apex goal of the financial system. Last week, I told the students that by the …

Why Activist Investors Are Rooting for Donald Trump

By Kai Liekefett and Derek Zaba November 4, 2024 by renholding

Year after year, the world’s activist-investor community meets at the Active-Passive Investor Summit, the premier shareholder activist conference in New York City, organized by research and advisory service 13D Monitor. Yet at this year’s gathering, on October 22, the mood …

John C. Coffee, Jr. – What Would a Trump Administration Mean for Securities Regulation?

By John C. Coffee, Jr. August 5, 2024 by renholding

There can be no debate: The Administrative State has been scaled back. The rule-making powers of administrative agencies have clearly been curbed. Most blame the Supreme Court and particularly its decision in West Virginia v. EPA, 597 U.S. 697 …

John C. Coffee, Jr. – Boeing and the Future of Deferred Prosecution Agreements

By John C. Coffee, Jr. July 2, 2024 by renholding

The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) must make a decision on Boeing – and fast. It has only until July 7 to take action under the Deferred Prosecution Agreement (“DPA”) it signed with Boeing in 2021. Newspaper accounts disagree on what …

Why Criminal Recordkeeping Laws Are Justified, Including in the Case Against Trump

By Andrew Jennings April 9, 2024 by renholding

In March 2023, Donald Trump became the first former U.S. president to be charged with a crime. And barring any last-minute delays, next week he will become the first former U.S. president to stand trial as a criminal defendant. Trump’s …

John C. Coffee, Jr. – The Trump Civil Trial: Has Anyone Looked at the Statute?

By John C. Coffee, Jr. November 21, 2023 by renholding

The end is in sight for New York Attorney General Letitia James’ suit against Donald Trump, but the most important questions have still not been posed or addressed. Indeed, much has proceeded in the reverse of the usual order. The …

Calling Republicans’ Bluff on the Debt Ceiling – and Creating Contingency Plans

By Eric W. Orts May 16, 2023 by renholding

As Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently observed, the United States has not defaulted on its national debt since its founding in 1789, and we should not start now.[1] She also pointed out that Congress has raised the statutory ceiling …

The Cutting Edge Podcast, Episode 2 – “Special Counsel: Whose Interests Do They Serve?”

By Reynolds Holding September 28, 2022 by renholding

Here’s the second episode of The Cutting Edge, a podcast series that examines white collar crime and corporate governance. This episode, “Special Counsel: Whose Interests Do They Serve?” looks at the history and unique status of the special counsel …

Presidential Pendulums in Finance

By Christina Parajon Skinner November 11, 2020 by renholding

While much attention has been paid to President Trump’s deregulatory efforts and intentions, presidential involvement in the work of the administrative agencies is not new. Past presidents including Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama have acted up to – …

Do Share Buybacks Deserve More Regulatory Scrutiny?

By Georges Ugeux April 29, 2019 by renholding

In 2018, U.S. companies spent $1 trillion to buy back their shares, while they spent $4 trillion to do so between 2008 and 2017. This is raising strong criticism from different quarters in the political sphere. Not only do key …

Insider Trading and Executive Overreach

By Kevin R. Douglas March 22, 2019 by renholding

The recent controversy over President Donald Trump’s use of his emergency authority to fund a wall on the U.S. southern border has awakened many Americans to the problem of executive overreach. Yet, what few may appreciate is that executive overreach …

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. …

Quarterly Reporting and Market Liquidity

By Joshua R. Mitts August 27, 2018 by renholding

Trading in U.S. equity markets is fast and cheap. While proponents of ending quarterly reporting point to the dangers of short-termism, less frequent disclosure is also likely to lead to a decline in liquidity and to greater trading costs. The …

Cutting Disclosure Frequency Is the Wrong Solution to the Wrong Problem

By Charles K. Whitehead August 27, 2018 by renholding

President Trump has directed the Securities and Exchange Commission to study whether a public company’s reporting requirements should shift from a quarterly to semi-annual schedule. Doing so, according to the president, “would make business (jobs) even better in the U.S.” …

Skadden Discusses Latest Legislation to Expand Foreign Investment Review

By Pascal Bine, Michael E. Leiter, Ivan A. Schlager, Donald L. Vieira, Jonathan M. Gafni and Michelle A. Weinbaum July 9, 2018 by renholding

In large part as a response to China’s national industrial goals and subsequent Chinese acquisitions of U.S. and European companies that are technology leaders in key industries, the U.S. government and a number of European governments are seeking to expand …

SEC’s Jackson Calls for Curbing Executives’ Ability to Cash Out on Buybacks

By Robert J. Jackson, Jr. June 12, 2018 by renholding

Thank you so much, Neera [Tanden], for that very kind introduction. I’ve long admired all that you and everyone here at the Center for American Progress do to promote a progressive economic agenda. And I share your commitment to making

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