On February 10, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority issued Regulatory Notice 21-03 urging member firms to review their policies and procedures with respect to red flags of potential securities fraud involving low-priced securities.
Friday, February 12, 2021
On February 8, the staff of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance (the Staff) published a sample comment letter that the Staff might send to companies that conduct securities offerings during periods of extreme stock price volatility. In its statements accompanying the sample comment letter, the Staff acknowledged the necessity of capital formation, even when the financial markets and stock prices are volatile, while also cautioning that unpredictability in the market can prove hazardous to investors and companies alike. The Staff noted the risks are “particularly acute” when companies attempt to raise capital during times of “recent stock run-ups or recent divergences in valuation ratios relative to those seen during traditional markets,” “high short interest or reported short squeezes,” and “reports of strong and atypical retail investor interest (whether on social media or otherwise).” The Staff indicated that those risks
Thursday, February 11, 2021
As has been widely reported, President Biden has nominated Gary Gensler to be the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. After becoming one of the youngest partners at a leading Wall Street investment bank, Gensler transitioned into government service as a senior official in President Clinton’s Treasury Department and as the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission under President Obama. While at the CFTC, Gensler was the principal architect of the sprawling Dodd-Frank Act’s provisions regulating the swaps markets, and he worked tirelessly to implement new CFTC rules regulating the space. He has deep experience both in the financial markets and as a regulator.
Monday, February 8, 2021
On February 1, 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it had brought charges against several individuals involved in an alleged scheme to induce investors to transfer more than $11 million to buy into an unregistered initial coin offering (ICO) of B2G tokens, which the SEC claimed was merely an elaborate sham. (
SEC v. Krstic, No. 21-0529 (E.D.N.Y. Filed Feb. 1, 2021)). The complaint, filed in the Eastern District of New York, alleged that Kristijan Krstic (“Krstic”), John DeMarr (“DeMarr”), and Robin Enos (“Enos”) (collectively, “Defendants”) conspired, in violation of securities laws, to defraud over 460 investors of $11.4 million with promises of large returns on investments from its offerings, including for B2G tokens that the defendants claimed were genuine digital assets for a mining and trading platform.
Monday, February 8, 2021
The dust has settled on the 2020 election, and the Biden administration has begun pressing forward with its policy objectives. Critical to achieving such objectives is the Democrats’ control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, albeit by the narrowest of margins after the Democratic senatorial candidates won their run-off elections in Georgia. As a result of the Georgia elections, Vice President Harris will be able to cast the tie-breaking vote in the case of a deadlock in the Senate. What does the change in administrations mean for SEC enforcement?
SEC Leadership
As part of the transition, Chairman Jay Clayton has already left the Commission, and President Biden has nominated Gary Gensler to replace him. Mr. Gensler, who served as chairman of the Commodity Future Trading Commission (“CFTC”) under the Obama Administration, was widely perceived as an aggressive CFTC chairman during the financial crisis. At that time, this agg