SEC Reportedly Investigating Boeing Safety Claims Following 737 Max 9 Panel Incident

Boeing Crisis: Safety Claims Probed by SEC After Panel Blew Off 737 Max 9

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is scrutinizing statements that Boeing Co. made about its safety practices following a near-tragic January accident aboard one of its 737 Max 9 planes.

The SEC investigation is focused on whether comments by the company or its executives misled investors in violation of the Wall Street regulator’s rules, according to three people with knowledge of the probe. The probe is examining statements before and after a panel blew off during an Alaska Airlines flight shortly after takeoff on Jan. 5., leaving a gaping hole in the side of the plane, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing the confidential investigation

Trump Media investor Bruce Garelick convicted of insider trading

A financial executive was convicted Thursday of enabling his boss and others to make over $22 million illegally by trading off his tips ahead of the public announcement that an acquisition firm was taking former President Donald Trump’s media company public.

An agitated Bruce Garelick dropped his head and repeatedly wiped his face with his hands after a jury convicted him of all charges in Manhattan federal court.

Garelick, who had testified in his defense, was convicted of tipping others in 2021 to news that the special purpose acquisition company, Digital World Acquisition Corp., or DWAC, was merging with Trump Media & Technology Group. Garelick sat on DWAC’s board.

More Regulators Eye Whistleblower Award Programs Hoping for Insider Tips

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission received 18,354 tips and awarded nearly $600 million in fiscal year 2023, the highest annual amount in the program’s history. An SEC spokesman said the agency has given out $35.8 million to whistleblowers so far this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission received 1,530 whistleblower tips and awarded nearly $16 million in fiscal year 2023.

The success of the two highest-profile U.S. whistleblower award programs, established by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, are influencing how the new director of the Serious Fraud Office, Nick Ephgrave, thinks about motivating tipsters. At an event hosted by think tank Royal United Services Institute in London in February, Ephgrave pointed out that more than 700 whistleblowers from the U.K. have engaged with U.S. law enforcement since 2012.

The Smartest People in the Room Are All Listening to the Same Podcast

It’s a wonky podcast about business history and strategy with four-hour episodes that drop once a month. And people from Silicon Valley to Wall Street are completely obsessed with it.

Acquired is the unlikely hit show hosted by Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal, whose ability to understand companies deeply enough to describe them simply makes listeners want to spend time with them. Lots and lots of time.

By turning case studies into cinematic spectacles, they have built the business world’s favorite podcast.

Kraken Asks Court to Dismiss SEC Claims to Avoid ‘Significant Reordering’ of U.S. Financial Structure

Kraken’s latest reply to the SEC’s motion to dismiss hinges on the extent to which one can interpret the SEC’s jurisdiction by using the Howey test which determines what is and is not a security. It does so by determining whether four criteria are met – an investment of capital, in a common enterprise, with the expectation of profit, driven by the efforts of others.

“The SEC cannot satisfy Howey’s additional requirements that there be investments of money in a common enterprise with a reasonable expectation of profits based on the efforts of others,” Kraken’s lawyers wrote. “This would gut Howey by significantly expanding the SEC’s jurisdiction to a host of investment activities that were never delegated to the agency. Such a significant reordering of the U.S.’s financial regulatory structure should be debated in Congress, not in the courts.”

Musk Judge Rejects Idea Billionaire Is Too Busy for SEC Probe

A federal judge in San Francisco seemed unpersuaded by arguments that Musk shouldn’t have to devote more of his time meeting with the SEC because he already spent two partial days in earlier rounds of questioning.

“Are you saying then that Mr. Musk, because he’s a very important, busy person, that the SEC can’t investigate him?” US District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley said during a hearing Thursday.

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Musk previously sat for two partial days of testimony in July 2022, which Corley said she views as just one deposition split over two days.

Exclusive: In Tesla Autopilot probe, US prosecutors focus on securities, wire fraud

U.S. prosecutors are examining whether Tesla, opens new tab committed securities or wire fraud by misleading investors and consumers about its electric vehicles’ self-driving capabilities, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems assist with steering, braking and lane changes – but are not fully autonomous. While Tesla has warned drivers to stay ready to take over driving, the Justice Department is examining other statements by Tesla and Chief Executive Elon Musk suggesting its cars can drive themselves.