SEC: "Give Me an S!!!"

SEC’s Brings an “S”-Related ESG Enforcement Action Based on Alleged Human Capital Control Violations

The SEC’s enforcement action against Activision Blizzard in interesting and has important implications. For starters, as the Akin Gump law firm put it in its memo about the SEC’s action, the action “indicates that the SEC views its ESG mandate to include the ‘S’ as well as the ‘E’”. The Katten Muchin firm, in its memo about the case, said that the action not only represents an “exceptionally broad interpretation” of the securities laws, but it also shows the agency’s “increasing willingness to investigate and charge alleged violations of all ‘ESG’ elements, not just the environmental disclosures that have attracted the most public scrutiny.”

The resolution of this case, as the Akin Gump memo puts it, “marks the first time the SEC has imposed disclosure control violations on a public company that are related entirely to workplace-specific issues.” Moreover, the size of the settlement, at $35 million, sends a “clear signal” that the SEC is taking an “aggressive approach to enforcing workplace-related disclosures.”

‘Transparency for thee, not for me’: Study shows SEC mounting secrecy about whistleblower program

The nation’s leading financial regulator is facing a transparency crisis of its own. According to a new study by a University of Kansas law professor, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is becoming increasingly secretive regarding some of its own activities – even as it is increasingly aggressive in demanding disclosures from private actors.

The study by Alexander Platt, associate professor of law at KU, shows how the SEC’s most recent annual report on its whistleblower program is the least transparent in the history of the program.

The Final Countdown: Rule 10b5-1 Changes Kick in Next Week

Time flies when you are having fun – it seems like we were just taking down the holiday decorations, and now the end of February is rapidly approaching! That means that the SEC’s amendments to Rule 10b5-1 will be effective next Monday, February 27, 2023. While there is a longer compliance period for the disclosure elements of the SEC’s rulemaking, the major changes to the conditions in Rule 10b5-1(c) will be effective next week. As a result, new (or substantially modified) Rule 10b5-1 plans adopted next week will be subject to the following additional conditions….

Elon Musk $258 billion Dogecoin lawsuit expands

The $258 billion racketeering lawsuit accusing Elon Musk of running a pyramid scheme to support the cryptocurrency Dogecoin has expanded, adding seven new investor plaintiffs and six new defendants including his tunnel construction business Boring Co.

According to an amended complaint filed on Tuesday night in Manhattan federal court, Musk, his electric car company Tesla Inc, his space tourism company SpaceX, Boring and others intentionally drove up the price of Dogecoin more than 36,000% over two years and then let it crash.