On May 4, 2026, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced three settlements involving alleged violations of the beneficial ownership reporting requirements under the federal securities laws. These cases are notable in the current SEC enforcement environment because they involve non-fraud violations – what some might call “technical violations” – yet the SEC saw
On December 2, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York approved a settlement between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a broker-dealer for policy and procedure violations and a $2.5 million penalty. As part of the settlement, the SEC also abandoned negligence-based fraud claims against the broker-dealer and
On September 5, 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought enforcement actions against a public company and one of its executives for materially misleading statements. Although disclosure fraud cases are nothing new for the SEC, they have been a rarity thus far during the tenure of Chairman Paul S. Atkins. So, these cases
On August 11, 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought two settled administrative proceedings against a broker-dealer and one of its registered representatives for violations of Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI). Reg BI generally requires a broker-dealer, when making a recommendation of a securities transaction to a retail customer, to act in the
In May 2025, we summarized the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Enforcement activity during the first quarter of the new presidential administration. With the second quarter now concluded, and Paul S. Atkins hitting his stride as the new Chairman of the SEC, we summarize below the types of SEC enforcement
On June 6, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for certiorari in Navellier & Associates, Inc. v. SEC, declining to resolve a circuit split regarding the circumstances under which the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may obtain disgorgement. The Navellier petition, which arose from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Yesterday, as part of the annual “SEC Speaks” program, the leadership of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Enforcement publicly discussed the enforcement priorities under new Chairman Paul S. Atkins. A panel of SEC enforcement personnel, including Acting Director of Enforcement Samuel Waldon and others, shed light on the current focus of
On September 9, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced settlements with seven public companies relating to their use of separation agreements that the SEC says violate whistleblower protection rules by preventing the employees from claiming any monetary reward for future whistleblowing. The companies agreed to pay over $3 million combined to settle the
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) in-house enforcement proceedings violate the Constitution, teeing up a decision that could curtail securities law enforcement and broadly undermine the power of the entire administrative state.
The Supreme Court agreed last month to review a Fifth Circuit ruling that struck down the