Bruce Carton

The SEC has named Robert Cohen and Joseph Sansone as the new Co-Chiefs of the Division of Enforcement’s Market Abuse Unit, filling the position recently vacated by Dan Hawke.

Welcome to the “Enforcement Action Art Gallery,” this blog’s collection of the finest SEC and securities enforcement-related art available anywhere.

Nearly four months after SEC Commissioner Daniel Gallagher announced his intention to depart the SEC, no successor has been nominated by the White House. Today, Commissioner Gallagher issued a short statement indicating that his offer to stay on as a commissioner now has an expiration date: Friday, October 2, 2015.

Things looked like they couldn’t get much worse for an Apple day-trader sued by the SEC in February 2015 for a scheme that was allegedly quite audacious. But they just did.

A litigation release announcing the SEC’s headline-generating case against former JPMorgan analyst Ashish Aggarwal for insider trading included an interesting note: The Enforcement Division’s Market Abuse Unit was able to detect the insider trading “through trading data analysis tools in its Analysis and Detection Center.” This marks the first time the center has been referenced in an SEC news bulletin. Inside, CW’s Bruce Carton discusses its background and what the center has done so far.

Nearly six years after the scandal unfolded, HBO is moving forward with a film on the Madoff scandal based on Wizard of Lies, a book by NYT reporter, Diana B. Henriques. Robert De Niro will play the role of Bernard Madoff and Henriques will play herself in the movie.

Recently, respondents challenging the SEC’s ability to bring administrative proceedings have had success in two cases in federal district court. Last week, the Seventh Circuit became the first appellate court to weigh in on this issue and found in favor of the SEC. The Seventh Circuit held in Bebo v. SEC that the district court did not have jurisdiction to hear such a challenge. More inside.

An unusual insider trading prosecution brought under a provision of SOX (rather than Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act) suggests that prosecutors are seeking a “Plan B” in the wake of the Second Circuit’s disruptive decision in U.S. v. Newman.

Transparency International released its 11th annual OECD progress report last week. TI found that of the 41 countries that have agreed to make foreign bribery a crime for which individuals and enterprises are responsible, there is active enforcement in only four countries and little or no enforcement in 20 countries.

The SEC is understandably loath to file subpoena enforcement actions. Such actions are basically a waste of time and resources, and involve getting a court to order people to do what they are already required to do. Sometimes, however, the SEC has no choice but to wield the “stick” of subpoena enforcement when people simply won’t comply.