As the crypto industry continues to grow and market volatility remains high, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced its plan to increase its regulation of the area. The SEC’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit, which was created in 2017, will expand from thirty to fifty positions. The unit is tasked with protecting investors from crypto-related frauds and scams. The increase in staffing will allow for more investor protection focused on the areas of crypto asset offerings, crypto asset exchanges, crypto asset lending and staking practices, decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and stablecoins. The twenty additional positions will mostly consist of supervisors, investigative staff attorneys, trial counsels, and fraud analysts. Continue reading “The SEC Ramps Up Efforts to Police Crypto Industry”
Changes Are Coming to the SEC Enforcement Division – What Does It All Mean?
This week reports surfaced that a major shift in the SEC enforcement division had taken place – behind the scenes. The timing is quite interesting as the agency’s annual seminar and SEC Alumni dinner will occur at the end of the month. No doubt this will be a topic, among many, of the annual SEC cocktail regulars in DC.
The reports indicate that the Acting Chairman Michael Piwowar has centralized the power of the enforcement division to “issue subpoenas or formally launch probes,” as Reuters put it. The question that has been asked is – What does all of this really mean, really? Continue reading “Changes Are Coming to the SEC Enforcement Division – What Does It All Mean?”
Historic U.S., China Agreement on Auditor Access Announced: Is This a Crack in the Wall Separating The Cross-Border Enforcement Cooperation Impasse?
On May 15, 2013, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged CEO Dejun Zou and board chair Amy Qiu, husband-and-wife executives at China-based RINO International Corporation, alleging that they engaged in a scheme to overstate the company’s revenues and divert $3.5 million in proceeds from a securities offering for their personal use. This would be a routine case – except it involves a China-based company, a jurisdiction that the SEC has found difficult to regulate. For some time now, the SEC has been hamstrung in gaining access to information from China. Today’s historic announcement by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”) may be the first major step in alleviating such difficulties.
Foreign Traders Beware: Trading in US Markets Will Expose You to US Insider Trading Laws
On March 29, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the settlement of what appeared to be a routine insider trading case involving two traders. For foreign traders, the case is a wake-up call that the SEC is watching and will take action against violators, wherever they are in the world. Moreover, the case reveals the SEC’s patience in finding the insider traders and their courage in taking action. Indeed, the case may also serve as an investigatory template for the SEC’s global policing of U.S. securities laws in connection with insider trading violations by foreign traders.