A federal jury in California agreed with the SEC that a corporate official engaged in insider trading when he purchased securities of a company based on material nonpublic information (“MNPI”) about a different company. The April 5, 2024 verdict for the SEC in SEC v. Panuwat (N.D. Cal.) could embolden the SEC to pursue more claims of “shadow trading,” which involves trading the securities of a public company that is not the direct subject of the MNPI but whose stock price allegedly would be affected by that news.
White Collar
Delaware Chancery Court Holds that High Standard for Oversight Liability Applies to Corporate Officers
By Jonathan Richman on
The Delaware Court of Chancery recently held that claims for breach of the fiduciary duty of oversight are not easier to plead against corporate officers than against corporate directors. The decision in Segway Inc. v. Cai emphasizes the high burden for pleading oversight claims against officers as well as directors, and it repeats the admonition that the oversight doctrine “is not a tool to hold fiduciaries liable for everyday business problems.”
U.S. FinCEN Extends Timeframe for Reporting Companies Created in 2024 to File Beneficial Ownership Information Reports
On November 29, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued a final rule aimed to ease compliance with certain aspects of the regulations promulgated under the Corporate Transparency Act. The final rule extends the deadline from 30 days to 90 days for entities created or registered during 2024…
Shining a Light on the Corporate Transparency Act: FinCEN’s Rules for Beneficial Ownership Reporting
On January 1, 2021, Congress enacted the Corporate Transparency Act as part of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 to “better enable critical national security, intelligence, and law enforcement efforts to counter money laundering, the financing of terrorism, and other illicit activity.” FinCEN issued the final rule on Beneficial Ownership…
First-of-its-Kind Crypto Insider Trading Conviction
By Julia Alonzo & Michael Guggenheim on
In the first insider trading case involving cryptocurrencies, a crypto trader was convicted of insider trading in federal district court and recently sentenced to 10 months in prison.
The defendant, Nikhil Wahi, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to illegally trading on information tipped by his brother, a former Coinbase product manager. According to his plea, Wahi used that information to trade on 40 different kinds of crypto assets were scheduled to be listed on the Coinbase platform between April 2021 and July 2022, when he was arrested. Prosecutors alleged that Wahi used those tips to sell crypto assets for a profit. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Wahi agreed to serve ten months in prison. Wahi’s brother, Ishan Wahi, has pleaded not guilty and is due to appear in court in March.
Second Circuit Questions Use of Criminal Insider-Trading Statute Without Proof of Receipt of Personal Benefit
By Jonathan Richman on
The Second Circuit held yesterday that a government agency’s nonpublic, pre-decisional regulatory information does not constitute “property” for purposes of the federal insider-trading and wire-fraud statutes. The decision in United States v. Blaszczak (2d Cir. Dec. 27, 2022) (“Blaszczak II”) effectively vacated convictions under those statutes for defendants who had traded on nonpublic, market-moving information that had been obtained from a government agency.
SBF Prosecution Raises Novel Issues for Asset Forfeiture and Victim Restitution
By Seetha Ramachandran on
The crimes charged against SBF are simple — old-fashioned fraud through a Ponzi scheme. His conviction seems inevitable. For the government, the challenging part of this case will be the forfeiture proceedings. Under the Mandatory Victim Restitution Act (MVRA), federal prosecutors have an affirmative obligation to use their “best efforts” to…
SEC Enforcement Director and SDNY/EDNY Officials Address Enforcement Priorities
By Jonathan Richman on
SEC Division of Enforcement Director Gurbir Grewal and several high-ranking officials from the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the FBI spoke on November 29, 2022 at a conference sponsored by Sandpiper Partners LLC concerning hot topics in SEC and DOJ enforcement. The panelists all made clear that the views they expressed were their own, but those views are worth hearing.