Paul S. Atkins was sworn into office today as the 34th Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Chairman Atkins was nominated by President Donald J. Trump on January 20, 2025, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 9, 2025. “I am honored by the trust and confidence President Trump and the Senate have placed in me to lead…
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced an award of approximately $6 million to joint whistleblowers who provided new information that led to the opening of an examination and provided a roadmap for an enforcement action that resulted in the covered action. “Today’s award illustrates that the agency can leverage whistleblower information in various ways, including by prompting an examination,”…
Another of the more controversial enforcement areas for the SEC—off-channel communications—is likely at an end. As perhaps a final act in this area, the SEC recently denied a motion by a number of firms that sought modifications to their settlement agreements with the SEC to bring those settlements in line with settlements the SEC reached in January 2025 that were…
Unicoin has rebuffed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) attempt to negotiate a settlement agreement to close an ongoing probe into the Miami-based crypto company, its CEO Alex Konanykhin revealed in a Tuesday letter to investors. In his letter, Konanykhin said Unicoin was given an “ultimatum” by the SEC to attend a settlement negotiation meeting last week, on April…
In a rare legal defeat for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the agency has formally dropped its fraud case against Richard Schueler, better known as Richard Heart, founder of the crypto projects HEX, PulseChain, and PulseX. On April 21, the SEC informed the Eastern District Court of New York it would not amend its complaint, effectively bringing the case…
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Ramil Palafox for orchestrating a fraudulent scheme that raised approximately $198 million from investors worldwide and for misappropriating more than $57 million of investor funds. According to the SEC’s complaint, Palafox’s company, known as PGI Global, claimed to be a crypto asset and foreign exchange trading company. From January 2020 through October 2021,…