On August 24, 2023, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued its much-anticipated decision in Kirschner v. JP Morgan Chase Bank, holding that the syndicate term loans at issue were not securities. As noted in our earlier blog post, the SEC declined the court’s request to file an amicus brief, forgoing the opportunity to provide its views on the issue and influence the outcome of the appeal.[1]

Last week, the Second Circuit upheld a criminal conviction for insider trading, holding that signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with a target company created a sufficient duty of trust and confidence to support a conviction. The defendant in United States v. Chow, an executive at a foreign private equity