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‘Enforcement 40’ for 2020
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Join the Securities Litigation and Enforcement Group on LinkedInCoinbase, FTX, Binance get inquiries from Congress on crypto scams
In its first foray into the crypto sector, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform is dialing up the pressure on federal agencies and crypto exchanges to protect Americans from fraudsters. In a series of letters sent Tuesday morning, the committee asked four agencies, including the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Trade Commission, the […]
A New Plan to Fight Back Against SEC Overreach – From Agency Alumni
The four argued that the SEC was violating defendants’ First Amendment rights by essentially imposing gag orders that bar them from discussing the facts of cases. Though it was ultimately part of a losing effort (the high court declined to take the case a couple of months later), the critics’ decision to join forces captivated […]
Musk’s ‘Hardcore’ Tesla Litigation Team Adds Manhattan Lawyer
Tesla Inc. has hired New York trial lawyer Adam Mehes, three months after its top executive Elon Musk vowed to build an in-house litigation team for the electric vehicle manufacturer. Mehes joined Tesla this month as an associate general counsel for litigation in Austin, Texas, according to his LinkedIn profile and registration with the New […]
Crypto Fans Flock to New Hampshire’s GOP Congressional Campaigns
An outsized number of Republican candidates for federal or statewide offices this year in the Granite State are either personally or politically invested in cryptocurrencies, setting New Hampshire apart from other battlegrounds ahead of the midterms. Like the assets they’re boosting, these federal candidates are underdogs against establishment favorites in the Sept. 13 primaries. But […]
Arthur Andersen’s Legacy, 20 Years After Its Demise, Is Complicated – WSJ
Two decades after Arthur Andersen LLP’s downfall, the firm that audited Enron Corp.’s financial statements remains a punchline for many, though some prefer to remember it as an influential institution deserving of respect. The accounting firm stopped auditing public companies on Aug. 31, 2002, and wound down its operations. Its demise turned the Big Five […]
‘Cyclops Blink’ Shows Why the SEC’s Proposed Cybersecurity Disclosure Rule Could Undermine the Nation’s Cybersecurity – Lawfare
On March 9, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a new rule intended to enhance and standardize disclosure requirements for cybersecurity risks. Among other things, the rule requires all publicly traded companies to report all “material” cybersecurity incidents within four business days of determining the event’s materiality. But shockingly, this notice requirement does not […]
Criminal Crypto Use Is Growing on the Dark Web, but That’s Just Half the Story
Chainalysis, for example, releases an annual Crypto Crime Report that outlines the use of cryptocurrency across several types of crimes like ransomware, scams, violations of broad countrywide sanctions and terrorism financing. We dove into the 2021 report, which was published in February, to figure out how much truth there was in the notion that crypto […]
SEC Charges Hedge Fund Portfolio Manager with Fraud
According to the SEC’s Complaint, from at least November 2016 through February 2018, Lee A. Bressler served as portfolio manager for the Carbon Master Fund, L.P. The SEC alleges that Bressler represented to investors that the fund followed a conservative investment strategy emphasizing capital preservation and low risk. The SEC further alleges, however, that while […]
The Sex Club, Tokenized
Some things simply don’t translate into the digital space. You might believe a sex club is one of them, but Daniel Saynt is on a mission to prove that’s just not true. When the COVID-19 pandemic ushered in an era of lockdowns and a national fear of close contact, he seamlessly took his members-only club, […]
Can Privacy-Focused Bitcoin Projects Avoid OFAC Sanctions?
But OFAC’s action against Tornado Cash raises the stakes. Rather than sanctioning an individual or an organization tied to terrorism or drug trafficking, the agency has made it a crime for otherwise law-abiding users to use privacy-enhancing software to cover their tracks on the Ethereum blockchain. What if OFAC similarly sanctioned one of Bitcoin’s decentralized […]