March 31, 2014
‘Big Short’ Case Tests the Reach of the SEC’s Administrative Forum
Labaton Sucharow
Posted March 31, 2014 On March 21, Wing Chau – a subprime CDO manager who featured prominently in Michael Lewis’s best-selling book “The Big Short” – sued the SEC, claiming that the SEC violated his constitutional rights by choosing to bring its fraud claims against him in its own administrative forum, rather than in federal...
Articles & Perspectives
March 26, 2014
Why Do People Commit Securities Fraud? SEC Speech Probes for Answers
Labaton Sucharow
One of the most vexing questions in securities enforcement – and in life more generally – is “why do otherwise good people end up doing bad things?”. Why do once promising professionals risk their careers, integrity and freedom for a few more dollars, or to shore up their company’s stock price?These questions were recently the...
Articles & Perspectives
March 25, 2014
Madoff Verdicts Show the Risks of Staying Silent
Labaton Sucharow
After the revelation in 2008 that Bernard Madoff’s “wealth management” business was actually a colossal Ponzi scheme, Madoff’s victims and the public immediately asked: “Who else in the Madoff organization knew and, if they knew, why didn’t they come forward?” On Monday, that question was answered, at least in part, by a jury considering criminal...
Articles & Perspectives
March 20, 2014
Focus on the FCPA: SEC Enforcement Trends
Labaton Sucharow
This is the first in an ongoing series of posts focusing on current trends in SEC enforcement actions, and how those trends impact current and potential whistleblowers. We’ve chosen to highlight actions brought under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) first, because the FCPA continues to be a top priority for the Enforcement Division and,...
Articles & Perspectives
March 19, 2014
Ethics at Work: 2013 Survey Finds Positive Trends; Some Troubling Findings
Labaton Sucharow
Last month, the Ethics Resource Center (ERC) released its biennial National Business Ethics Survey (NBES). I was honored to serve on the NBES Advisory Panel this year, particularly given its reputation as a definitive barometer of workplace ethics. As we’ve seen in prior years, the survey shows some very positive trends as well as causes...
Articles & Perspectives
March 18, 2014
SEC Brings New Charges Against SAC Analyst, Highlighting Risks to Employees
Labaton Sucharow
On Thursday, the SEC announced another set of insider trading charges against an employee of CR Intrinsic, an affiliate of the now-infamous hedge fund advisor SAC Capital Advisors. According to the SEC complaint, CR Intrinsic analyst Ronald A. Dennis received multiple non-public tips about Dell, Inc. and Foundry Networks, Inc. from a friend, which he...
Articles & Perspectives
March 14, 2014
The SEC’s New Policy on Admissions: What Does It Mean for Whistleblowers?
Labaton Sucharow
When SEC Chair Mary Jo White took the reins of the agency last year, one of her first and most highly publicized initiatives was to re-examine the SEC’s policy on “no-admit, no-deny” settlements, meaning settlements in which the defendant neither admits nor denies liability for the alleged securities violations. Prior to Chair White’s tenure, the...
Articles & Perspectives
March 12, 2014
New Reports Suggest the SEC is Cracking Down on Confidentiality Agreements
Labaton Sucharow
In our practice as counsel for SEC whistleblowers, one of the troubling practices we frequently see on the part of companies is the use of confidentiality agreements that purport to prevent employees or former employees from sharing any information – including information about potential violations of law – with any outside parties, including the SEC...
Articles & Perspectives
March 10, 2014
The SEC’s Charges Against Former Dewey Executives: Securities Violations in Unexpected Places
Labaton Sucharow
Like many in the legal community, we’ve been closely following the ongoing saga of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP- the once venerable international law firm that was forced to declare bankruptcy in May 2012 amid accusations of financial mismanagement. On Thursday, the SEC and the New York County District Attorney’s office brought respective civil and criminal...
Articles & Perspectives
March 7, 2014
National Law Journal Names [Jordan Thomas][‘s][Prior Firm] Top Plaintiffs Firm for the Ninth Straight Year
I am proud to report that, for the 9th year in a row, [Jordan Thomas][prior firm][‘s] has been named to The National Law Journal’s Plaintiffs’ Hot List. Among other things, The National Law Journal reported on our recent successes in a class action against Schering-Plough Corp., which recovered $473 million for investors, and in a...
Articles & Perspectives
March 4, 2014
A Supreme Court Win for Whistleblowers
Labaton Sucharow
The Supreme Court gave corporate whistleblowers a significant victory today in a crucial decision that will help ensure that whistleblowers employed by contractors of public companies, such as accounting firms, law firms and consulting firms, are protected from unlawful retaliation. The case, Lawson v. FRM LLC, available at http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/12-3_4f57.pdf, specifically involved the anti-retaliation provisions of...
Articles & Perspectives
April 19, 2013
Hedge Funds Are Losing Investors’ Trust
FundFire
Even in the most regulated environments, rules and restrictions are not a panacea. Trust matters, and that definitely applies to asset managers of all kinds, including hedge funds. When managers lose trust, they start losing mandates. Within our financial markets, there are all kinds of trust models – between employers and employees, between clients and...
Articles & Perspectives