Bruce Carton

Yesterday, the SEC and the DOJ separately announced significant cases against three Chinese traders who made nearly millions in illegal profits by hacking into the computer networks of two “prominent New York-based law firms.”

In late November, the SEC announced the departure of Matthew C. Solomon, the Chief Litigation Counsel for the SEC’s Enforcement Division. This week, law firm Cleary Gottlieb announced that Solomon will join the firm’s Washington, D.C., office as a partner in January 2017.

The SEC announced today that Enforcement Director Andrew J. Ceresney will leave the agency by the end of this month. Ceresney has served as Enforcement Director (or Co-Director) since joining the SEC in April 2013. Deputy Director Stephanie Avakian will serve as Acting Director upon Ceresney’s departure,.

Bruce Carton reports on the SEC’s case against United Airlines, which reportedly reinstated a money-losing non-stop flight “solely to curry favor with a public official.”

Following its victory last week in an insider trading case in California, the SEC is off to a 1-0 start in its FY 2017 federal court trials.

For the second straight year, the SEC litigated six federal court trials. This year, however, the SEC finally lost a trial — albeit with an asterisk.

There had been some discussion recently that perhaps SEC Chair Mary Jo White might stay on as chair until President-elect Trump found a new head for the agency, but no more. White announced today that she intends to depart the SEC at the end of the Obama Administration.

The United States has voted in Donald Trump as the next president. What does this mean for the SEC and financial regulation? The short answer, says Bruce Carton, is that while it is still far too early to know at this time, we do know a couple of things.

Bruce Carton looks at former SEC enforcement attorney David Smyth’s “The Insider Trading Cartoon Series,” a 10-part (and counting!) cartoon series of interesting lessons about the intriciacies of insider-trading law.