From Morgan Lewis, a monthly summary of securities enforcement developments from January 2026.
Here is a concise, integrated summary of the points you provided:
During this period, the SEC continued its enforcement activity with public company accounting and disclosure issues. It maintained a focus on the life sciences sector. Additionally, it brought several insider trading cases.
The SEC also demonstrated heightened scrutiny of investment advisers, liability disclaimers and addressed custody rule violations and conflicts of interest.
In parallel, multiple litigated cases sought to test the scope of the Supreme Court’s decision in SEC v. Jarkesy, particularly regarding the right to a jury trial in actions seeking civil penalties. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in the SEC’s favor. This ruling occurred in closely watched litigation addressing the limits of the Commission’s authority to seek disgorgement.
Separately, FINRA continued its robust enforcement, issuing fines for anti-money-laundering compliance failures and off-channel communications.
https://www.morganlewis.com/pubs/2026/02/securities-enforcement-roundup-january-2026
Mark Astarita is a nationally recognized securities attorney, who represents investors, financial professionals and firms in securities litigation, arbitration and regulatory matters, including SEC and FINRA investigations and enforcement proceedings.
He is a partner in the national securities law firm Sallah Astarita & Cox, LLC, and the founder of The Securities Law Home Page - SECLaw.com, which was one of the first legal topic sites on the Internet. It went online in 1995 and is updated daily with news, commentary and securities law related links.
