The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Brian Sewell and his company, Rockwell Capital Management, agreed to settle fraud charges in connection with a scheme that targeted students taking Sewell’s online crypto trading course known as the American Bitcoin Academy. The SEC alleges that the fraudulent scheme cost 15 students $1.2 million. According to the SEC’s complaint, from at…
The legal actions threaten to undermine the agenda of one of President Joe Biden’s most aggressive regulators and come as the agency tries to push out a number of measures before the November elections. The Chamber of Commerce recently convinced a court to knock down a stock-buyback reporting rule — handing Gensler his first major defeat — and is targeting…
In a move fueling the strategic growth of its national White Collar Defense and Business Litigation practice, Thompson Coburn LLP welcomes former Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri Thomas Rea as a partner in St. Louis. This quickly follows the firm’s Washington, D.C. office addition earlier in January of partner and former U.S. Attorney for the…
Crypto lender Genesis Global has settled a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit over its defunct Gemini Earn lending program, agreeing to a $21 million fine that will be paid only if Genesis is able to fully repay customers in its bankruptcy. The deal will help Genesis avoid the costs and risks of defending itself from an SEC lawsuit that…
The Administration strongly opposes passage of S.J. Res. 50, a joint resolution to disapprove of the SEC rule relating to informing investors about cybersecurity incidents and establishing uniform standards for corporate disclosures for oversight and governance of cyber risks. Ransomware attacks are up 45 percent year over year. The lack of transparency by public companies about cyber incidents impacting their…
Following the financial crisis of 2008, the federal government faced harsh criticism for not bringing enough cases against individuals. Since then, government lawyers have consistently crooned the same tune. It doesn’t change much from year to year: A Department of Justice (DOJ) or Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) leader says individual accountability is extremely important, makes some policy tweaks, and…
Equally important is the question of whether the approval of spot bitcoin ETPs is a harbinger of opportunities for other crypto assets that least resemble securities—for example, could an ETP holding spot or ETH futures be next?—or whether the SEC will try to hold the line here. Chairman Gensler noted that the SEC is “merit neutral” and doesn’t take a…
As the Commission under then-Chair Bill Casey said at the time of the adoption: “a refusal to admit the allegations is equivalent to a denial, unless the defendant or respondent states that he neither admits nor denies the allegations.” Entering into a settlement is a consequential choice for both the SEC and the defendant. The Commission, in agreeing to settle…
Comedian Larry David was self-effacing when asked this week about his infamous Super Bowl commercial for Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which collapsed months after the ad. “I asked people, friends of mine who were well-versed in this stuff, ‘Should I do this ad?’” he told the Associated Press in an interview this week. “They said, ‘Yeah, this is totally…
The U.S. federal government on Wednesday charged three people with a yearslong phone hacking conspiracy that culminated in the infamous theft of $400 million from FTX as Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange was collapsing. In an 18-page indictment filed in D.C. court, prosecutors accused Robert Powell, Carter Rohn and Emily Hernandez with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and identity theft in…