Trump Plan Lowers SEC Exam Funding, Pitches CFTC Fee Offsets
President Trump's FY2027 budget proposal trims the SEC’s examination budget while modestly increasing enforcement funding. The examination allocation drops by $3 million, bringing the total SEC budget to $2.08 billion, down from $2.2 billion spent last year. Enforcement spending is projected to rise to $634 million from an estimated $607 million in FY2026. The plan also suggests offsetting the cuts with higher user fees collected by the CFTC.
SEC Charges Former Executive and His Friend with Insider Trading
The SEC has filed civil charges against Michael A. Smith, former President and COO of PetIQ, and his associate Douglas Joshua Dalton for insider trading ahead of the August 7, 2024 announcement that Bansk Group LP would acquire PetIQ. Smith...
Trump Wants the SEC to Relax Quarterly Reporting. Wall Street Could Be a Problem. – POLITICO
President Trump is urging the SEC, led by Chair Gary Atkins, to relax the mandatory quarterly reporting requirement for public companies. Business leaders argue that the current cadence forces a short‑term profit focus and generates costly legal compliance burdens. The SEC...
Musk-Targeted Judge Uses Scrabble Tiles to Reassign Two Cases
Delaware Chancery Court chief judge Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick, accused of bias by Elon Musk and Tesla attorneys, used a board‑game method to reassign two pending cases. Lawyers blindly selected Scrabble tiles from a bag, each tile representing one of...
Kentucky Set to Tax Event Prediction Markets in First for States
Kentucky is poised to become the first U.S. state to levy a tax on event‑prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket. The measure is embedded in HB 757, an omnibus tax bill that cleared the Republican‑controlled General Assembly and now awaits...
It’s Time for a Prediction Markets MNPI Policy | Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
Debeoise & Plimpton urges firms to extend material non‑public information (MNPI) policies beyond traditional securities to include prediction‑market contracts. Current insider‑trading rules often omit these platforms, leaving a compliance blind spot. The firm recommends revising firm‑wide codes of conduct to prohibit...
Legal Quants on Wall St: Why I Have 50 Attorneys From Top Firms Writing Code in the World Trade Center...
Norm has assembled 50 attorneys from elite firms to write code for its AI-driven legal platform, branding them as "Legal Engineers." These lawyers, many with no prior programming experience, undergo a rigorous certification to embed deep legal expertise into AI...
Reading Between the Lines: The New SEC SOX Enforcement Group | Foley & Lardner
The SEC has launched a new Sarbanes‑Oxley (SOX) Enforcement Group, marking a rare expansion of its enforcement staff after a year of reductions. The move underscores Chairman Gary Gensler’s focus on financial and accounting fraud as a top priority. Analysts...
FINRA’s Constitutional Wake-Up Call | LinkedIn
Federal courts this week dismissed two long‑standing FINRA and SEC doctrines, ruling that FINRA enforcement participants must not endure the full internal disciplinary process and SEC appeals before seeking judicial relief on constitutional grounds. The decisions also questioned FINRA's authority...
Prediction Market Prosecutions May Be Curbed by Decades-Old Case
Federal prosecutors are signaling a crackdown on insider trading in prediction markets, but applying the Commodity Exchange Act presents factual and legal complexities not seen in traditional markets. To sidestep these hurdles, authorities may pursue wire‑fraud charges anchored in violations...
Insider-Trading Scheme Born of Romance Snags Another Broker – Bloomberg
A second former Spartan Capital Securities broker, Ronald Smith, was indicted on securities fraud and conspiracy charges after allegedly profiting by hundreds of thousands of dollars from insider tips. The tips originated from Jordan Meadow, another ex‑Spartan broker who stole...
From Foe to Ally: The S.E.C. Is Now Writing Crypto-Friendly Policies – The New York Times
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has pivoted from a skeptical stance to actively drafting crypto‑friendly policies, with senior officials like Gary Gensler’s deputy, Mr. Atkins, and CFTC’s Mike Selig touring industry events nationwide. Their appearances in venues from...
White House Insiders Put on Notice as Federal Prosecutors Look Into Insider Trading – Raw Story
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York’s securities and commodities fraud unit met with Polymarket to discuss how existing laws might apply to a possible insider‑trading case. The probe focuses on lucrative trades that occurred around...
SEC Shakeup Renews Dispute Over Wall Street, Crypto Enforcement
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement chief abruptly resigned, sparking speculation over his successor amid a backdrop of historically low enforcement activity. Recent data show SEC actions against public companies and recoveries from fraud are at their weakest levels in...
Mississippi Man Pleads Guilty To Insider Trading | DOJ
Gerard Ryan, a Mississippi resident, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to insider trading using confidential drug‑approval information obtained from a family member employed at a pharmaceutical firm. The scheme involved Ryan and an associate executing thousands of illegal trades...
