The Law of the Financial Markets from Top Securities Lawyers
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
From my post on LinkedIn today: The SEC’s rescission of its gag rule is a welcome event, as forcing settling respondents to remain silent about the allegations they have denied is manifestly unfair. However, as detailed in this Cleary Gottlieb post, the issues surrounding an SEC settlement remain. What struck […]
What Is the SEC’s “Gag Rule”? For decades, the SEC has used a settlement condition that most defendants learn about only when they are negotiating with the agency: if you settle, you cannot publicly deny the allegations. Formally embedded in Rule 202.5(e), the policy requires settling parties to agree that […]
SEC Charges 21 Individuals in Alleged Decade-Long Insider Trading Scheme The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged 21 individuals for their alleged roles in a wide-ranging insider trading scheme involving confidential information allegedly stolen from multiple global law firms. According to the SEC, the scheme ran for years and generated […]
Look, we understand, it was not fraud, it is a reporting violation, but what is the point of financial penalties if they do not have any impact on the defendant, or have no relationship to the amount of benefit he received? Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion in a leveraged buyout […]
The SEC released its FY 2025 enforcement results, marking a shift away from the prior Commission’s emphasis on headline-driven case volume and toward a more traditional, fraud-centered enforcement philosophy. Chairman Paul S. Atkins and Commissioner Mark Uyeda emphasized a return to Congress’s original intent by prioritizing cases that directly protect […]
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that David Woodcock has been appointed Director of the Division of Enforcement, effective May 4, 2026. Mr. Woodcock is currently a partner in the Dallas and Washington, D.C. offices of Gibson, Dunn… SEC Press Release For more information, contact the securities lawyers at […]
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, […]
The SEC alleges that improper accounting practices inflated reported operating profit within the Nutrition segment during fiscal years 2019, 2021, and 2022.
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation today published and delivered to Congress its 2025 staff report that serves as a comprehensive and data-rich resource on capital-raising dynamics nationwide. The report presents data across three company lifecycle stages to provide a fulsome picture of […]
One of the most consequential developments in securities litigation has been the SEC’s shift toward permitting companies to issue stock conditioned on mandatory arbitration of investor disputes. If broadly adopted, this approach could fundamentally reshape the enforcement landscape. It provides issuers with a powerful mechanism to sidestep class actions. At […]
