On January 13, 2020, the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari to an appeal of a June 2019 order from the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that dismissed an action seeking to invalidate certain under the First Amendment, among other arguments. This denial leaves in place a ruling in favor of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) authority to prohibit pay-to-play practices in the investment management industry.
SEC Announces New Approach to Disqualification Waivers
On July 3, 2019, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton issued a “Statement Regarding Offers of Settlement” (the “Statement”), announcing important changes to how the SEC will consider future requests for waivers from disqualifications in settlements. The Statement may have been prompted by the Bad Actor Disqualification Act of 2019 recently proposed by Representative Maxine Waters. Regardless of the impetus, the Statement should provide settling parties with greater certainty regarding the waiver process. Importantly, the new policy effectively allows a settling party to condition its offer of settlement on whether the SEC grants a requested waiver – if the waiver is not granted, the respondent now is able to retract its offer of settlement.
SEC Enforcement Co-Director Gives Guidance for Wells Process, Part 2
On June 4, we posted a summary
of SEC Enforcement Co-Director Steven Peikin observations during his recent keynote address at the New York City Bar Association’s 7th Annual White Collar Crime Institute. Co-Director Peikin imparted a few suggested “do’s and don’ts” for effective communication with the SEC during the Wells