Today, the SEC announced charges against 13 defendants in four separate insider trading schemes: Garelick/Shvartsman/Shvartsman/Rocket One Capital LLC (for illegal insider trading in the securities of Digital World Acquisition Corporation); Dagar/Bhiwapurkar (for illegal insider trading in the securities of Pfizer Inc.); Dupont/Cronin/Mendoza/Kaplan/Feldman (for illegal insider trading in the securities of Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc.); and Meadow/Teixeira (for illegal insider trading in…
Those who practice before the SEC have seen a continued rise in its use of sweep investigations, and there is every indication that this practice will continue. In this Article, we will first discuss the differing purposes between sweeps initiated by the Division of Examinations as compared with the Division of Enforcement. Next, we will examine the SEC’s recent use…
The SEC this week announced a mass action against 34 defendants for alleged violations of federal securities laws regarding reporting of stock holdings. As the Wall Street Journal reported, the action “is part of the ‘broken windows’ strategy” – i.e., where “even the smallest infractions” are pursued – announced by SEC Chairman Mary Jo White in 2013. While that is…