A new survey of 500 senior U.S. legal, compliance and risk executives finds widespread concern about rising corporate litigation, fragmented AI regulation, and cybersecurity threats, but significant gaps in organizational readiness to address them.
Released Wednesday by global consulting firm AlixPartners, the 2026 U.S. Risk Survey found that more than 60% of respondents expect corporate disputes to increase this year. The survey defines corporate disputes as commercial litigation and arbitration outside of government regulatory actions, and attributes the expected rise to economic volatility, AI-driven upheaval, and whipsawing trade policy.
Eight in 10 respondents said the federal government’s evolving—and increasingly permissive—approach to AI policy poses a strategic risk to their compliance programs as the regulatory landscape grows more fragmented.
Accounting and auditing enforcement actions at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board dropped sizably in 2025, falling to multiyear lows at both bodies, according to a report released Wednesday. The SEC brought 68% fewer accounting and auditing actions in 2025 than in 2024 and the PCAOB brought 27% fewer actions, according to two…
We assemble the first comprehensive sample of venture fraud cases involving 614 U.S. venture capital (VC)-backed startups founded since 2000. We find that VC-backed firms are 54% more likely to face fraud charges than comparable non-VC-backed firms within a subsample of newly public firms where detection likelihood is high and homogeneous. We then examine the role of governance in explaining…
Democratic institutions depend on public confidence to function effectively. Citizens comply with tax laws when they trust the IRS, cooperate with police when they view law enforcement as legitimate, and engage constructively with regulators they perceive as fair and effective. But does this principle extend to financial markets? When retail investors lose confidence in the SEC, do they pull back…
First, every case filed in district court alleged fraud. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court held that, when the SEC seeks civil penalties for securities fraud, the defendant is entitled to a jury trial. See SEC v. Jarkesy, 603 U.S. 109, 120-21 (2024). So, it is no surprise that the SEC now files all of its fraud cases in district…
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that, based on its preliminary results, it filed 200 total enforcement actions in the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, which ran from October through December 2024, including 118 standalone enforcement actions. The Division filed a total of 75 enforcement actions in October 2024 alone. The foregoing numbers represent the most actions filed…
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) initiated 80 enforcement actions against public companies and subsidiaries in fiscal year 2024, marking a 12% decline from FY 2023 but still up nearly 5% compared to the nine-year historical average, according to a report released today by Cornerstone Research and the NYU Pollack Center for Law & Business. Meanwhile, total monetary settlements…
Consumers lost more than $5.6 billion last year through cryptocurrency-related fraud, according to an estimate from the US Federal Bureau of Investigations — a 45% jump from 2022. The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center received nearly 69,500 complaints from consumers in the US and abroad last year, according to a report published Monday. While the number of cryptocurrency-related complaints represented…
The Congressional Black Caucus called on the biggest US businesses to maintain DEI programs and set measurable performance targets in the face of a growing backlash to the efforts. The group of Black lawmakers says companies should adhere to “consistent performance and reporting standards and metrics” to better track progress, collaborate on best practices and continue discussions about diversity, equity…
…In this alert, we briefly summarize the top seven securities enforcement and litigation developments from the last month, including: Two seismic Supreme Court decisions overruling Chevron deference and reshaping administrative law; The Supreme Court’s recent decision in SEC v. Jarkesy; The Fifth Circuit’s ruling vacating the SEC’s new private fund rules; A novel action applying Exchange Act Section 13(b)(2)(B) in…