Law Commons^™

Does Cryptocurrency Staking Fall Under Sec Jurisdiction?, Nicholas E. Gonzalez

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

Bitcoin, the first blockchain and cryptocurrency (crypto), launched in 2009 when the Bitcoin network opened to the public. A blockchain is a digital ledger technology where transactions are aggregated and permanently recorded into blocks of information. Maintenance of a blockchain is typically conducted by decentralized managers who own and operate network computers (“Nodes”) and serve the functions normally handled by central intermediaries to validate and confirm transactions. All Nodes follow a blockchain protocol. In Bitcoin’s and most cryptos’ cases, this protocol is known as a Proof- of-Work protocol which requires a large amount of energy consumption. Consequently, Proof-of-Stake protocols (“PoS”) …

The Cryptic Nature Of Crypto Digital Assets Regulations: The Ripple Lawsuit And Why The Industry Needs Regulatory Clarity, Jacqueline Hennelly

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

The tension and associated time lag between technology and regulation has been well documented. Paradigmatic of this phenomenon is the global evolution of blockchain technology and digital assets. Digital assets in the blockchain allow users to transact directly without financial intermediaries. However, the regulatory guidelines for the assets, their issuance, and the subsequent transactions are unclear. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed an action to apply its existing regulations and the judicial interpretations to Ripple’s issuance of XRP, its token, and Ripple’s control over subsequent user transactions of XRP. This Note uses SEC v. Ripple as a case …

The Twenty-First Annual A.A. Sommer, Jr. Lecture On Corporate, Securities & Financial Law At The Fordham Corporate Law Center, Matthew Diller, G. Jeffrey Boujoukos, Ben A. Indek, Allison Herren Lee

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Here To Stay: Wrestling With The Future Of The Quickly Maturing Spac Market, Matthew Diller, Rick Fleming, Stephen Fraidin, Aj Harris, Gregory F. Laufer, Mark Lebovitch, Gregg A. Noel, Hester M. Peirce, Usha R. Rodrigues, Mike Stegemoller, Verity Winship, Douglas Ellenoff

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Halliburton Ii At Four: Has It Changed The Outcome Of Class Certification Decisions?, Noah Weingarten

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Halliburton Co. v. Erica P. John Fund, Inc., 573 U.S. 258 (2014) (Halliburton II) appeared to give corporate defendants a new tool to defeat class certification in the context of securities fraud class action litigation: rebutting the requisite presumption of reliance by showing a lack of "price impact"-a term that Halliburton II used to describe whether the price of an allegedly affected company's stock went up or down. However, based on an empirical study of pre- versus post-Halliburton II class certification decisions, it appears that the outcomes of class certification decisions have become even …

Global Investor Protection: Securities Law Enforcement Around The World, Matthew Diller, Martin Gelter, Eugenio J. Cardenas, Merritt B. Fox, Geoffrey Jarvis, Pierre-Henri Conac, Todd Cosenza, Jill Fisch, Yuliya Guseva, Elad Roisman, Sean Griffith

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

From Value Protection To Value Creation: Rethinking Corporate Governance Standards For Firm Innovation, Roger M. Barker, Iris H-Y Chiu

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

A company’s pro-innovation needs are often met by the exploitation of its resources, widely defined. The resource-based theory of the firm provides immense empirical insights into how a firm’s corporate governance factors can contribute to promoting innovation. However, these implications may conflict with the prevailing standards of corporate governance imposed on many securities markets for listed companies, which have developed based on theoretical models supporting a shareholder-centered and agency-based theory of the firm. Although prevailing corporate governance standards can to an extent support firm innovation, tensions are created in some circumstances where companies pit their corporate governance compliance against resource-based …

An Overview Of The Sec's Whistleblower Award Program, Michael H. Hurwitz, Jonathan Kovacs

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

In 2010, Congress enacted the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in response to the stock market collapse and economic downturn as well as the Bernard Madoff scandal and other well-publicized frauds perpetrated against investors. Among its numerous provisions, the Dodd-Frank Act amended the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to add a new section—Section 21F—entitled “Securities Whistleblower Incentives and Protection.” The Dodd- Frank Act also directed the Securities and Exchange Commission to establish an Office of the Whistleblower to administer the provisions of the new section. The Commission subsequently adopted regulations that went into effect on August 12, …

Disruptive Technology And Securities Regulation, Chris Brummer

Fordham Law Review

Nowhere has disruptive technology had a more profound impact than in financial services—and yet nowhere do academics and policymakers lack a coherent theory of the phenomenon more, much less a coherent set of regulatory prescriptions. Part of the challenge lies in the varied channels through which innovation upends market practices. Problems also lurk in the popular assumption that securities regulation operates against the backdrop of stable market gatekeepers like exchanges, broker-dealers, and clearing systems—a fact scenario increasingly out of sync in twenty-first-century capital markets.

This Article explains how technological innovation “disrupts” not only capital markets but also the exercise of …

The Sum Of Its Parts: The Lawyer-Client Relationship In Initial Public Offerings, Jeremy R. Mcclane

Fordham Law Review

This Article examines the impact of the quality of a lawyer's working relationship with his or her client on one of the most important types of capital markets deal in a company's existence: its initial public offering (IPO). Drawing on data from interviews with equity capital markets lawyers at major law firms, and analyzing data from IPOs in the United States registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission between June 1996 and December 2010, this study finds a strong association between several measures of IPO performance and the familiarity between the lead underwriter and its counsel, as measured by the …

The End Of The Internal Compliance World As We Know It, Or An Enhancement Of The Effectiveness Of Securities Law Enforcement? Bounty Hunting Under The Dodd-Frank Act's Whistleblower Provision, Justin Blount, Spencer Markel

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

In the wake of Bernard Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme and the recent economic crisis stemming largely from loosely regulated subprime lending and mortgage-backed securities, President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act on July 21, 2010, signaling loudly and clearly that change is coming to Wall Street. But Wall Street is not the only one receiving a message. Buried deep within the 2,319 pages of the Dodd-Frank Act, companies can find Section 922, the whistleblower provision, which provides a bounty for whistleblowers who report securities violations to the Securities and Exchange Commission.These bounty provisions and …

Burning Down The House Or Simply Rolling The Dice: A Comment On Section 621 Of The Dodd-Frank Act And Recommendation For Its Implementation, Joshua R. Rosenthal

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

Section 621 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act modifies the Securities Act of 1933 to prohibit the underwriter, placement agent, initial purchaser, or sponsor, or any affiliate or subsidiary of any such entity of an asset-backed financial product from betting against that very product for one year after the product’s initial sale. The rule prohibits anyone who structures or sells an asset-backed security or a product composed of asset-backed securities from going short, in the specified timeframe, on what they have sold, and labels such transactions as presenting material conflicts of interest. This Comment discusses traces …

The Tenth Annual Albert A. Destefano Lecture On Corporate, Securities & Financial Law. Corporate Accountability: Governance And Compensation Issues, Stanley Sporkin, Todd Lang, Gary Naftalis, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Louise Story

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY: GOVERNANCE AND COMPENSATION ISSUES

Bankruptcy’S Protection For Non-Debtors From Securities Fraud Litigation, John M. M. Wunderlich

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

Given the recent economic climate, the judiciary faces an all too familiar challenge: navigate through the web that is bankruptcy and securities fraud. So far, bankruptcy has evolved into a tool to resolve mass tort litigation, like securities fraud. However, this Article explores bankruptcy as a tool to resolve securities litigation against non-debtors, those that never file for bankruptcy protection. The protection the Bankruptcy Code provides to non-debtors, like officers and directors, goes largely unnoticed, much to the detriment of securities fraud victims. Mindful that we now are in the midst of another financial crisis and that attention will slowly …

323 Non-Managing Underwriters’ Role In Securities Offerings: Just Eye Candy?, Elena Marty-Nelson

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

While there is considerable scholarship on the due diligence defense of lead underwriters in defective corporate securities offerings, there is surprisingly little analysis of the due diligence defense of non-managing underwriters. This article challenges the common perception that lead and non-managing underwriters necessarily “sink or swim” together for purposes of due diligence. An analysis of the statutory structure of Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 reveals that non-managing underwriters are not inextricably tethered to the lead. Rather, non-managing underwriters who actively question the lead’s due diligence investigation should be able to meet their own affirmative defense even when …

Breaking Past The Parallax: Finding The True Place Of Lawyers In Securities Fraud, Marianne C. Adams

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Lawyers often play an integral part in business transactions and securities offerings. This puts lawyers on the sidelines of not only great business successes, but also, every so often, tremendous failures. Because they are viewed by many as gatekeepers, and in that role provide a degree of assurance (with their reputational capital) that gross illegalities will not occur, a series of questions arise in the minds of many when illegalities do happen on attorneys’ watch. This Note analyzes the legal standards that are in play and those that should be imposed when lawyers aid or abet a fraud. Part I …

The Tenth Annual A. A. Sommer, Jr. Lecture On Corporate, Securities, & Financial Law, Elisse B. Walter

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

The Rule 10b-5 Suit: Loss Causation Pleading Standards In Private Securities Fraud Claims After Dura Pharmaceuticals, Inc. V. Broudo, Evan Hill

Fordham Law Review

In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Dura Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Broudo. The Court held that a plaintiff alleging securities fraud must prove that a defendant’s misrepresentation caused actual economic loss. The Dura decision put to rest the loss causation standard applied by several U.S. courts of appeals, which allowed plaintiffs to merely plead that a misrepresentation caused an artificially inflated purchase price. However, in Dura’s wake, the circuit courts have fashioned divergent standards with respect to pleading loss causation. The courts currently apply pleading standards ranging from the lenient and generally applicable Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a) to …

Meet Two-Face: The Dualististic Rule 10b-5 And The Quandry Of Offsetting Losses By Gains, Samuel Francis

Fordham Law Review

The challenge of calculating damages in securities litigation is often compounded by the phenomenon of investors that have accrued both gains and losses as a result of the defendant company’s same fraudulent misrepresentations. This Note traces the opposing damages approaches and accounting methods courts have adopted in these instances to the dual origins and objectives of the Rule 10b-5 private right of action. Underscoring the shortcomings in these damages calculations founded predominantly upon either deterrent or compensatory grounds, this Note instead strives for a measure that not only balances both imperative ends but also yields a more sensible and equitable …

Securities Class Actions, Cafa And A Countrywide Crisis: A Call For Clarity And Consistency, Denise Mazzeo

Fordham Law Review

The unfolding of the credit crisis raises novel issues in securities litigation. This Note explores the conflict between the nonremoval provision of the Securities Act of 1933 (’33 Act) and the removal provisions of the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA), and their interplay in the context of class actions involving mortgage-backed securities. Circuits are currently split over whether or not such class actions are removable under CAFA. The Seventh Circuit and the Southern District of New York have held that class actions asserting only ’33 Act claims are removable under CAFA unless they fall within one of CAFA’s …

Panel Discussion: Subprime Mortgage Meltdown And The Global Financial Crisis, William Michael Treanor, Constantine N. Katsoris, Jill E. Fisch, Stuart Kaswell, Steven M. Cohen, Harvey Miller, Gretchen Morgenson, Richard Neiman, Giovanni Prezioso, Muriel Siebert

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Securities Arbitrators Do Not Grow On Trees, Constantine N. Katsoris

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Approaching Comparative Company Law , David C. Donald

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Fin Rah!...A Welcome Change: Why The Merger Was Necessary To Preserve U.S. Market Integrity, Yesenia Cervantes

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

A "Tic"Ing Time Bomb: Rule 506 Meets Section 1031, Elizabeth A. Whitman

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Stock Exchanges At The Crossroads, Andreas M. Fleckner

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

The How And Why Of The New Public Corporation Tax Shelter Compliance Norm, Susan Cleary Morse

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

An International Train Wreck Caused In Part By A Defective Whistle: When The Extraterritorial Application Of Sox Conflicts With Foreign Laws, Ian L. Schaffer

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Fifth Annual A. A. Sommer, Jr. Lecture On Corporate, Securities & Financial Law, William Michael Treanor, John F.X Peloso, Jill E. Fisch, Richard G. Ketchum

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Understanding Anti-Dilution Provisions In Convertible Securities, Michael A. Woronoff, Jonathan A. Rosen

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.