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‘Enforcement 40’ for 2020
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Join the Securities Litigation and Enforcement Group on LinkedIn“God Mode” – Bloomberg
One account had that flag set, says the presentation: Alameda. To the tune of $65 billion. Setting the borrow flag to $65 billion and the can_withdraw_below_borrow flag to true is functionally equivalent to “Alameda can take as much of FTX’s customer money as it wants, remove it from the exchange, and spend it on whatever.” […]
‘They’re boiling the frog’: SEC’s new crypto crackdown roils industry – POLITICO
In the meantime, the SEC has made clear that it believes there are exchanges offering trading in unregistered securities, said Tyler Gellasch, a former agency attorney who pointed to Coinbase as an example. The SEC filed insider trading charges in 2022 against a former Coinbase employee, alleging at the time that seven unregistered securities were […]
SEC Comes for Gemini Too Late – Bloomberg
This is easy stuff. People in crypto don’t like it, but that’s because they are wrong. More specifically, they have an intuition like “if a crypto platform pays you interest on your crypto deposits and uses them to make loans, that is like a bank account, and a bank account is not a security.” But that’s because IT’S A […]
A Proposed SEC Rule is Roiling the VC World – Bloomberg
A potential new rule from the US Securities and Exchange Commission is unsettling the venture capital class. The change would make it easier to sue investors for negligence, and could make VCs more culpable for failures at the startups they back. The rule, designed to address “lack of transparency, conflicts of interest” and other problems in the private markets, could […]
Debevoise Adds Philip A. Fortino to Its White Collar and Regulatory Defense Group
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP announced today that Philip A. Fortino has rejoined the firm’s New York office as counsel and a member of the firm’s White Collar & Regulatory Defense Group. Mr. Fortino will advise clients facing major investigations or enforcement actions by the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and other federal regulators, as well […]
FTX Collapse Puts Focus on Ripple Case for Who Should Regulate Crypto – Bloomberg
In the wake of the implosion of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, one urgent question keeps resurfacing: Who should regulate the industry? An upcoming ruling in New York federal court could help determine the answer, along with the fates of numerous crypto investors and companies. The case hinges on whether a prominent digital token should be treated as a […]
McDonald’s, SEC Saga Creates Reporting Headaches for Companies
The SEC’s unprecedented finding that McDonald’s didn’t disclose enough information about a CEO firing is prompting questions about whether companies have sufficiently clear guidance on what to tell investors in similar situations. The fast food giant deemed its 2019 firing of Steve Easterbrook—for having a relationship with a subordinate—as termination “without cause.” That allowed Easterbrook […]
Winklevoss Twins Deflect Blame as Gemini Faces Lawsuit – Bloomberg
As crypto experiences its version of the Great Comeuppance, the tidal wave of schadenfreude I wrote about two weeks ago, everyone is blaming everyone else but themselves. Even so, the deflections of the Winkelvii are especially rich, given that the brothers spent years telling anyone who would listen that they would never, ever do anything […]
Crypto is back — in Davos, at least — as redemption tour rolls on – The Washington Post
After a year of massive losses, arrests and unfolding legal troubles, many of the world’s largest cryptocurrency and blockchain companies are back in Davos this year, hoping to shore up — or resuscitate, if necessary — the industry’s image and attract new investors. *** “We’re coming in with guns blazing,” said Dante Disparte, chief strategy […]
A Crypto Magnate Saw the Risks and Still Was Hammered – WSJ
A year ago, Barry Silbert’s 40% stake in Digital Currency Group Inc., or DCG, was valued at more than $3 billion. A crypto conglomerate, with tentacles in nearly every corner of the industry from lending to bitcoin mining, DCG worked out of plush Connecticut offices featuring a marble-countertop kitchen with a coffee barista and a […]