SEC Enforcement Director Sets Aggressive Tone
Gurbir Grewal, the recently-appointed Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement, comes from a law enforcement background. Before joining the SEC, he served as New Jersey Attorney General, where he presided over cases against prominent companies alleging violations of state environmental law. Before that, he served as […]
Pleading Bad Faith Against Special Committee Members: A New Trend?
Special committees, by design, are created to address conflicts and to insulate the board of directors from liability for the very conflicts that may invite judicial scrutiny of the fairness of the board’s decision. A well-functioning special committee will also mitigate the risk of personal liability for a company’s fiduciaries, […]
DOJ Increases Efforts to Combat Cyber Breaches by Targeting Government Contractors
The US Department of Justice is increasing its arsenal to pursue cyber-related fraud by government contractors and grant recipients. The program, called the “Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative,” was announced by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco on Wednesday. The initiative – along with other recent steps taken by the federal government – […]
Ninth Circuit Rejects ‘Direct Listing’ Carve-Out from Securities Act Liability
On September 20, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued its much anticipated decision in Pirani v. Slack Technologies, Inc., which raised the novel question (a question of first impression, according to the panel) of whether shareholders lack standing to sue under Sections 11 and […]
SEC Charges Alternative Data Provider With Misrepresenting Data Sources
What happened Last week the SEC brought securities fraud charges against App Annie and its co-founder and former CEO and Chairman Bertrand Schmitt for engaging in deceptive practices and making material misrepresentations about how App Annie’s alternative data was derived. App Annie and Schmitt agreed to pay $10 million and […]
Plumbers & Steamfitters Local v. Danske Bank: Second Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Securities Class Action Arising from Money Laundering at Estonian Branch of Denmark Bank
Summary On August 25, 2021, the Second Circuit unanimously affirmed the lower court’s dismissal of a securities class action accusing Danske Bank and several of its former executives of downplaying a money-laundering scandal at Danske’s Estonian Branch. The court held that while the Estonian Branch’s failure to follow anti-money laundering […]
SEC Enforcement Targets Cybersecurity Disclosures Again
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler has pledged to bring a renewed focus to robust enforcement of the federal securities laws. As we observed in a recent blog post, under Chairman Gensler and Director Gurbir Grewal, the SEC’s Division of Enforcement will be more aggressive in several arenas—including public […]
Early SEC Enforcement Trends from Chairman Gary Gensler’s First 100 Days
Gary Gensler was sworn in as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 17, 2021. Chairman Gensler has promised to strengthen transparency and accountability in the financial markets. Under Chairman Gensler, we expect the SEC’s Division of Enforcement – led by Gurbir Grewal, who began work at the agency on July 26 – […]
Can Hypothetical Risk Factors Be Misleading?
In In re Alphabet Securities Litigation, the State of Rhode Island, as lead plaintiff, filed a Rule10b-5 action against Google LLC, its holding company Alphabet, Inc., and certain executives, alleging that the defendants failed to timely disclose certain cybersecurity defects and vulnerabilities. The district court granted defendants’ motion to dismiss the […]
Have Your Cake, and Closing Too: Invoking Prevention Doctrine, Delaware Chancery Court Grants Seller’s Request for Specific Performance in COVID-Related M&A Dispute
Chancellor McCormick’s opinion in Snow Phipps Group, LLC, et al. v. KCake Acquisition, Inc., et al. (Del. Ch. April 30, 2021) is 125 pages long, but she helpfully digests the holding in a single sentence on page 3: “Chalking up a victory for deal certainty, this post-trial decision resolves all issues in […]