I don't hear many securities lawyers talking about "ecosystems". Indeed, I think of the word as being more the province of environmental lawyers. The word itself is an amalgamation of two Greek words - οἶκος, meaning house, and σύστημα, meaning a...
coin offerings, Enforcement & Investigations, Howey test, ICO, investment contract, Munchee, DOA, Section 21(a), Section 8(a)
Planning for a congregational picnic this Sunday past, a local Lutheran church sought permission to use the neighboring Catholic church's parking lot. The Catholic church graciously agreed to allow the use of its lot provided that the Lutherans...
Enforcement & Investigations, Michael King, office of investor education and Advocacy, 95 Theses, Martin Luther, Martin Luther King Jr., Wittenberg
"Nothing but blue skies From now on"
The North American Securities Administrators Association recently released its annual enforcement report. The report is based on a survey of the 50 state members of NASAA. The states report data based on either...
Enforcement & Investigations, Nasaa, binary options, enforcement actions
Recently, I enjoyed watching My Name is Bill W., a 1989 movie that starred James Woods, JoBeth Williams and James Garner. The film tells the story of Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder William Griffith Wilson (aka Bill W.). In telling his story, the...
Enforcement & Investigations, Salman v. U.S., tippee, Securities Litigation, 463 U.S. 646, Dirks, fiduciary duty, Insider Trading, tipper, William Griffith Wilson
Insider trading cases remind me of the following joke attributed to stand-up comic Steven Wright:
I bought a dog the other day. I named him Stay. It's fun to call him. "Come here, Stay! Come here, Stay!" He went insane.
Regulation of insider...
Enforcement & Investigations, Salman v. U.S., bassam salman, Insider Trading
In Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), the Supreme Court held that the prosecution has a duty under the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause to disclose evidence to a criminal defendant. The former Chief Executive Officer of IAR Systems...
Enforcement & Investigations, Brady v. Maryland, corporate attorney, IAR Systems Software, Superior court, victim
After a two week trial in 2013, a jury convicted Mitchell J. Stein, a lawyer, of mail, wire, and securities fraud based on evidence that he fabricated press releases and purchase orders to inflate the stock price of his client Signalife, Inc., a...
Enforcement & Investigations, policy exclusion, conventicle, criminal conviction, defense costs, D&O, Henry VI, willful misconduct
A lot of ink has been spilt on the United States Supreme Court's decision in Salman v. United States, 137 S. Ct. 420 (2016). In that case, the Supreme Court upheld the criminal conviction of Mr. Bassam Salman who received lucrative trading tips...
Enforcement & Investigations, Salman, Salman v. U.S., Blue Chip Stamps v. Manor Drugs, Insider Trading, Milton Freeman, Rule 10b-5, Section 25402
Last week, I noted that Judge Gorsuch has expressed a certain skepticism of Chevron deference. The next day, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Securities and Exchange Commission's interpretation of Section 19(d)(2) of the Securities...
Enforcement & Investigations, Cheveron deference, Consuelo Maria Callahan, finra, Section 19(d), Sharemaster v. SEC
Earlier this week, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced awards to three whistleblowers totaling more than $7 million. That is about all anyone can say about the awards. The SEC's order is only 448 words long, including numerous...
Enforcement & Investigations, Rule 240.21F-7, confidentiality, Dodd-Frank, Section 21F(h)(2), Section 922, whistleblower, Whistleblowers
Keith Paul Bishop
