DOJ and SEC Probing Rule 10b5-1 plans

US Probes Insider Trading in Prearranged Executive Stock Sales

US authorities are investigating whether executives have been gaming prearranged stock-sale programs designed to thwart the possibility of insider trading.

The Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission are using computer algorithms in a sweeping examination of preplanned equity sales by C-suite officials, according to people familiar with the matter. Investigators are concerned that some people are manipulating the stock-sale programs, which are intended to shield executives from misconduct allegations by letting them schedule transactions in advance and on preset dates.

U.S. SEC levied $6.4 bln from enforcement in fiscal 2022 -chair

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) levied $6.4 billion in enforcement actions, including $4 billion in penalties, in fiscal 2022, the agency’s chair Gary Gensler said on Wednesday.

The large number of fines, fees and penalties from about 700 enforcement actions marks a record and underscores the Wall Street regulator’s more aggressive stance against corporate wrongdoing under Democratic leadership.

El Salvador’s Bitcoin ‘Revolution’ Is Failing Badly

A year in, it’s clear the move is failing. Almost no one in the country is using Bitcoin, and the few who bought after Bukele made it legal tender would’ve lost big: Bitcoin has dropped 61% since September 2021. In a country where many live on less than $10 a day, he spent hundreds of millions of dollars to turn himself into a crypto influencer just in time for the crypto crash. Behind the debacle was a small group of evangelists from wealthier countries—startup CEOs, influencers, grifters. They enlisted an entire country in a publicity stunt and cheered on Bukele even as he ordered mass arrests and packed the Supreme Court, which subsequently ruled he could run for reelection despite a constitutional ban. Salvadorans are still dealing with the consequences.

Founder Of Cyberfraud Prevention Company Sentenced To Five Years In Prison For Defrauding Investors Out Of Over $100 Million

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that ADAM ROGAS, the co-founder and former CEO, CFO, and member of the board of directors of a Las Vegas-based cyberfraud prevention company NS8, Inc. (“NS8”), was sentenced today in Manhattan federal court to five years in prison for engaging in securities fraud by creating and using fraudulent financial data to obtain over $123 million in financing for NS8, of which he personally obtained approximately $17.5 million. ROGAS pled guilty on March 16, 2022, before United States District Judge John P. Cronan, who imposed today’s sentence.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Adam Rogas took the ‘fake-it-till-you-make-it’ saying to a criminal extreme. While claiming to be in the fraud prevention business, Rogas himself faked nearly all of his company’s customers, revenue, and assets. In doing so, he defrauded investors out of over $100 million. Now Rogas will report to prison to be held accountable for his fraudulent scheme.”

Elsewhere in tweeting through it

Do Kwon’s Twitter account remains really good? Kwon is the founder of Terra, the crypto blockchain that blew up in a stablecoin meltdown in May. He is now wanted by South Korean prosecutors, and depending on who you believe he is either “not on the run” (his view) or “obviously on the run” (prosecutors’ view). In any case he is not in custody and very much tweeting through it. Today he tweeted “Strangely, these last few weeks have been one of the most creative periods of my life.” I suppose it takes a lot of creativity to escape an arrest warrant, an Interpol red notice and some decentralized crypto vigilantes? I am glad he is having fun.

Goldman Sachs unveils crypto classification system, aimed at institutional investors

The new service is called Datonomy — a play on the word taxonomy, which is the branch of science concerned with naming and classifying the natural world — and can be accessed as a subscription-based data feed or through Marquee, which is Goldman’s digital storefront for institutional investors.

New product from Goldman Sachs, MSCI and CoinMetrics called datonomy. It is a classification system for the digital assets market. Source: Goldman Sachs The three companies have divided the digital assets world into classes, sectors and subsectors, depending on how the tokens or coins are used, Darling said.

Doing so will allow money managers at hedge funds and asset management companies to be able to think about crypto in a more granular way, similar to how equities can be discussed as industry sectors like finance or technology, or themes like growth versus value stocks, she said.

Fidelity Opens Waiting List for Retail Crypto Product

Financial services giant Fidelity Investments has opened the waiting list for Fidelity Crypto, its crypto product aimed at retail customers.

The upcoming product launch is another sign of the investment giant’s interest in crypto. Fidelity Digital Assets, a unit of the firm, already offers crypto investing to institutional clients.

According to Fidelity’s website, the new product will offer commission-free bitcoin and ether trading, although it notes that a spread of up to 1% will be charged.