Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has landed at the US Securities and Exchange Commission one day after President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the agency, Paul Atkins, appeared before the Senate Banking Committee for his nomination hearing. A group of Musk advisers arrived Friday at the agency, according to communications from the agency sent to staff and reviewed by…
Yesterday the Commission stipulated to the dismissal of the Kraken case with no explanation. The initial complaint was a virtual litany of violations of the federal securities laws…. The complaint goes on for about 90 pages detailing the wrongful conduct Defendants were alleged to have engaged in that harmed market and investors. None of the issues cited in the initial…
The SEC and a private financial industry regulator both lacked the authority to impose sanctions in a case seeking civil penalties, a targeted financial consultant told the Sixth Circuit. The appeals court should set aside a Securities and Exchange Commission order sustaining the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s decision to impose a securities industry ban and $130,000 in restitution, consulting firm…
At his nomination hearing Thursday, the former Republican SEC commissioner and founder of consulting firm Patomak Global Partners met with stiff opposition from Democratic lawmakers over his potential conflicts of interest and support of deregulation. Senator Elizabeth Warren, speaking just before his Banking Committee hearing, said she’s concerned that Atkins is “thinking about his past and future clients” rather than…
President Trump moved on Thursday to punish the law firm WilmerHale, where Robert S. Mueller III worked before and after he served as special counsel in the Trump-Russia investigation, expanding his widespread campaign of retribution. In an executive order, Mr. Trump hit the elite firm with many of the same penalties that he had applied to its competitors who had…
US President Donald Trump’s “tweet-driven” uncertainty is imposing extra costs on commodity traders, slowing their investment plans and even prompting some European houses to consider changing their working hours to align with Trump’s social media output. Trump’s frequent messages on X and his own Truth Social platform — often sent at odd hours — have sparked volatility in commodities markets…
Spencer Fane LLP is pleased to announce Michael MacPhail joined the firm’s Denver office as a partner in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice group. Mike is a securities industry defense lawyer who represents investment advisors, broker-dealers, publicly traded corporations, transfer agents, accounting firms, law firms, and licensed individuals in a wide variety of high-stakes civil and criminal investigations, enforcement…
The breadth and depth of my combined experiences over the decades will inform my approach if I am fortunate to be confirmed by the Senate. It takes industry experience and focused application to ensure that customers and investors of financial-services firms benefit from efficient, effective, and well-designed regulation. Our goal at the SEC should be to facilitate those efforts, analyze…
The Securities and Exchange Commission today voted to end its defense of the rules requiring disclosure of climate-related risks and greenhouse gas emissions. […] States and private parties have challenged the rules. The litigation was consolidated in the Eighth Circuit (Iowa v. SEC, No. 24-1522 (8th Cir.)), and the Commission previously stayed effectiveness of the rules pending completion of that…
Disgraced cryptocurrency tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried has been removed from the federal jail in New York City where he has been held since August 2023, after officials started the process of transferring him to a prison where he will continue serving his fraud sentence. The Federal Bureau of Prisons website showed early Thursday that Bankman-Fried was at a transit facility in…