"Every Major White-Collar Group is Concerned That There Will Be a Significant Slowdown"

Trump Administration Retreats From White-Collar Criminal Enforcement

“The bar is very concerned there is going to be a cutback in these kinds of investigations,” said Bob Tarun, a former prosecutor and retired partner at global law firm Baker & McKenzie. “Firms that have a huge litigation practice and devote a lot of resources to internal investigations are going to be impacted.”

Defending clients enmeshed in overseas bribery investigations has become a lucrative business for lawyers, forensic accountants and document-retention firms.

“Every major white-collar group is concerned that there will be a significant slowdown,” said a partner at another large firm.

Another lucrative source of work for lawyers—monitoring corporate compliance with laws that companies admitted to violating—also looks to be in jeopardy.

Last month, the Justice Department told compliance monitors assigned to cases handled by the criminal division to pause their work and justify why it should continue, people familiar with the matter said.

The heat is on for newly confirmed SEC chairman Paul Atkins to crack down on Chinese companies

Paul Atkins, President Trump’s nominee as the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, faced a key question just as he was to be grilled during his confirmation this past week.

Would the long-time securities lawyer and regulator investigate Chinese companies for what one senator believes are wanton and blatant violations of US disclosure laws that have gone unchecked for years?

Atkins said he would, which helped him squeeze by in the confirmation process with just 52 votes. […]

Scott said his confirmation vote was contingent on Atkins ramping up scrutiny on Chinese companies — “delisting” and removing those suspected of violating US laws from US exchanges — as soon as he got into office.

The crackdown would be significant, probably one of the biggest the SEC has undertaken in its history. Nearly 300 Chinese companies, representing more than $1 trillion in market value, trade on US markets, namely the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Composite.

Many or maybe all of them, depending on whom you speak with, could be delisted.

US congressional watchdog to probe changes at the SEC, letter says

The U.S. Government Accountability Office plans to scrutinize changes at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including any led by the White House or Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, according to a letter sent to Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

The GAO, Congress’ nonpartisan research arm, told senators Elizabeth Warren and Mark Warner it will review the SEC’s recent efforts to cut staff, end leases and consolidate its work, according to a copy of the April 8 letter seen by Reuters.

Tech Exec Charged with AI Washing-Related Securities Fraud

But while I have no hesitation in characterizing the government’s parallel actions as AI-related, at another level this situation is basically just a garden-variety fraud. Saniger allegedly sought to deceive investors with what is basically a hoax. The kind of investor deception alleged here was always going to attract the attention of prosecutors and regulators, regardless of whether or not the deception happened to involve AI-related misrepresentations. For that reason, I am wary of interpreting these actions as indicative of the Trump administration’s approach to AI. […]

There is one aspect of this case that is worth noting, and that is the fact that Nate was a private company. Saniger engaged in fund raising from investors, but what he sought was investment in his private company.

I emphasize this because it illustrates a point I think deserves to be highlighted from time to time, and that is that there is nothing about the federal securities laws that limits their application to companies whose shares trade on public stock exchanges. As this case demonstrates, private company executives can also be the target of securities fraud allegations under the federal securities laws. This feature of potential private company executive liability is often overlooked or misunderstood, but it should not be disregarded.

Paul Weiss, Assailed by Trump, Quietly Scrubs ESG From Website

Law firm Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison has long held itself up as a trailblazer on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. It launched one of the legal industry’s early standalone ESG advisory practices in 2020 to guide clients on things like climate disclosures and labor practices. A year later, it created the ESG and Law Institute, a “thought leadership forum” that partnered with universities and convened conferences to further the industry’s grasp of these topics.

All of this has recently vanished. Just weeks after the law firm’s deal to stave off an attack from the Trump administration, the ESG and Law Institute’s website is no longer functioning. Paul Weiss has also quietly removed its ESG advisory practice from its website, along with a slew of reports and webinars touching on this subject.