What Were They Thinking? State Of Mind Puzzles In Insider Trading,
2023
Georgetown University Law Center
What Were They Thinking? State Of Mind Puzzles In Insider Trading, Donald C. Langevoort
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
Insider trading law is famously incoherent, the well-recognized product of its piecemeal creation by the judiciary rather than Congress or (with exceptions) SEC rulemaking. Asking what the insider or tippee was thinking is both a doctrinal inquiry and an expression of exasperation aimed at those whose trading doesn’t seem worth the risk. This essay seeks to situate state of mind questions as they address both reasons for asking, and to show that the case law on the subject is even more puzzling than generally thought.
Conflicts Of Interest At An Organization’S Highest Authority: How The District Of Columbia’S Rules Of Professional Conduct Can Fail To Protect Private Organizations,
2023
Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete LLP
Conflicts Of Interest At An Organization’S Highest Authority: How The District Of Columbia’S Rules Of Professional Conduct Can Fail To Protect Private Organizations, Christopher Deubert
Catholic University Law Review
This Article examines how the District of Columbia’s incomplete incorporation of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct into its own Rules of Professional Conduct has created a scenario in which wrongdoing inside a private organization can flourish. In 2002, following the Enron scandal, the American Bar Association (ABA) revisited and revised its Model Rules of Professional Conduct. The ABA nevertheless took a conservative route, rejecting rules long proposed by experts which would have permitted attorneys aware of corporate crimes, fraud, and other wrongdoing to report their concerns to individuals or entities outside the organization’s reporting structure. Additional scandals unfolded contemporaneous …
Fraud-On-The-Market Liability In The Esg Era,
2023
William & Mary Law School
Fraud-On-The-Market Liability In The Esg Era, Kevin S. Haeberle
Popular Media
No abstract provided.
When Does A Non-Fungible Token (Nft) Become A Security?,
2023
University of West Florida
When Does A Non-Fungible Token (Nft) Become A Security?, Brian Elzweig, Lawrence J. Trautman
Georgia State University Law Review
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) gained prominence in the news cycle during March 2021 when $69 million was paid in a cryptocurrency known as Ether for a unique digital art piece titled Everydays: The First 5000 Days. Regulating NFTs is complicated because the technology encompasses varied applications. Therefore, it is the particular use of a given NFT that will determine its appropriate regulatory regime. For example, NFTs may take the form of collectibles, data associated with a physical item, financial instruments, or permanent records associated with a person, such as marriage licenses or property deeds. Just like digital art in the form …
The Evolution Of Chapter 11: How Corporate Restructuring Has Evolved And Its Important Role In The Recovery Of A Struggling Economy,
2023
DePaul University
The Evolution Of Chapter 11: How Corporate Restructuring Has Evolved And Its Important Role In The Recovery Of A Struggling Economy, Eduardo Cervantes
DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal
No abstract provided.
Covid-19 Vs. Constitution; Limited Government's Unlimited Response,
2023
DePaul University
Covid-19 Vs. Constitution; Limited Government's Unlimited Response, John A. Losurdo
DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal
No abstract provided.
The "No License, No Chips" Policy: When A Refusal To Deal Becomes Reasonable,
2023
DePaul University
The "No License, No Chips" Policy: When A Refusal To Deal Becomes Reasonable, Sheng Tong
DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal
No abstract provided.
The Dark Triad: Private Benefits Of Control, Voting Caps And The Mandatory Takeover Rule,
2023
DePaul University
The Dark Triad: Private Benefits Of Control, Voting Caps And The Mandatory Takeover Rule, Jorge Brito Pereira
DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal
No abstract provided.
Critiquing The Sec's Ongoing Efforts To Regulate Crypto Exchanges,
2023
William & Mary Law School
Critiquing The Sec's Ongoing Efforts To Regulate Crypto Exchanges, Carol R. Goforth
William & Mary Business Law Review
Despite the so-called “Crypto Winter” in the spring of 2022, which saw a deep plunge in global crypto markets, interest in the appropriate way to develop, use, and regulate cryptoassets and crypto-based businesses continues to be high. In the United States, a Presidential Executive Order and multiple bills that seek to tackle various issues of crypto regulation are regularly highlighted in the news, suggesting the appropriate treatment of crypto is a growing national priority. Despite these discussions, which tend to focus on finding a balanced way to regulate those within the industry without stifling the technology, the Securities and Exchange …
Bearer Negotiable Instruments: Addressing A Financial Intelligence Gap And Identifying Criminogenic Weaknesses,
2023
The Graduate Center, City University of New York
Bearer Negotiable Instruments: Addressing A Financial Intelligence Gap And Identifying Criminogenic Weaknesses, Hollis B. Kegg
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Bearer Negotiable Instruments (BNI) are a long-standing category of financial instruments used to transfer large amounts of money in ways that may not be subject to regulation, reporting, tracking, review, or oversight. There is limited information available on BNIs, and no evidence that any studies have been undertaken on BNIs alone, much less reported. Increasingly, BNIs are being used for illegal purposes including money laundering. This study gathers information about their characteristics, nature, purpose, legal status, and numbers. It also focuses on the crime risks associated with BNIs, the crime opportunities they facilitate, and the criminal weaknesses in the financial …
Shareholder Inspection Rights: From Credible Basis To Rational Belief,
2023
University of Cincinnati College of Law
Shareholder Inspection Rights: From Credible Basis To Rational Belief, Lin (Lynn) Bai
Faculty Articles and Other Publications
Jurisdictions are split on the standard of proof for shareholder inspection lawsuits when inspections are for the purpose of investigating managerial misconduct. Delaware and its followers apply a credible basis standard that calls for extrinsic evidence, beyond mere suspicion, curiosity, or disagreement with management, to permit an inference of misconduct. A minority of jurisdictions require shareholders to show merely a rational belief that mismanagement likely happened. Rational belief can be satisfied by sound logic without referencing extrinsic evidence. The Delaware Supreme Court rejected rational belief for fear that a permissive standard would lead to a cascade of frivolous inspections, although …
Total Return Meltdown: The Case For Treating Total Return Swaps As Disguised Secured Transactions,
2023
Pepperdine University
Total Return Meltdown: The Case For Treating Total Return Swaps As Disguised Secured Transactions, Colin P. Marks
Pepperdine Law Review
Archegos Capital Management, at its height, had $35 billion in assets. But in the spring of 2021, in part through its use of total return swaps, Archegos sparked a $30 billion dollar sell-off that left many of the world’s largest banks footing the bill. Mitsubishi UFJ Group estimated a loss of $300 million; UBS, Switzerland’s biggest bank, lost $861 million; Morgan Stanley lost $911 million; Japan’s Nomura lost $2.85 billion; but the biggest hit came to Credit Suisse Group AG which lost $5.5 billion. Archegos, itself lost $20 billion over two days. The unique characteristics of total return swaps and …
Angels And Devils: The Early Crypto Entrepreneurs,
2023
William & Mary Law School
Angels And Devils: The Early Crypto Entrepreneurs, Darian M. Ibrahim
Popular Media
No abstract provided.
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies: Wall Street’S Latest Shell Game,
2023
Gonzaga University School of Law
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies: Wall Street’S Latest Shell Game, Daniel J. Morrissey
Arkansas Law Review
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (“SPACs”) have been called “Wall Street’s biggest gold rush of recent years.” In reality, they are just another version of an old strategy to exploit a loophole in the federal securities laws that issuers of stock have used to avoid full registration with the SEC, the federal agency set up to administer and enforce the securities laws. The SPAC process circumvents that important protection for investors by taking private firms public through the back door—merging them into shell corporations. Those are companies whose shares are widely held but have no operations or assets.
Blacking Out Congressional Insider Trading: Overlaying A Corporate Mechanism Upon Members Of Congress And Their Staff To Curtail Illegal Profiting,
2023
Fordham University School of Law
Blacking Out Congressional Insider Trading: Overlaying A Corporate Mechanism Upon Members Of Congress And Their Staff To Curtail Illegal Profiting, Nicholas Gervasi
Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law
Congressional insider trading involves members of Congress or their staff trading on material, nonpublic information attained while executing their official responsibilities. This type of private profit-making, while in a government role, casts doubt on the efficacy and impartiality of lawmakers to regulate companies they hold shares of. Egregious acts of illegal profiting from insider trading based on information entrusted to the government escape prosecution and liability due to fundamental gaps in the common law and the Congress specific statutes lack enforcement. Recent calls on Congress by the public and multiple bipartisan proposed bills in both chambers have begun to address …
Stakeholderism Silo Busting,
2023
Indiana University Maurer School of Law
Stakeholderism Silo Busting, Aneil Kovvali
Articles by Maurer Faculty
The fields of antitrust, bankruptcy, corporate, and securities law are undergoing tumultuous debates. On one side in each field is the dominant view that each field should focus exclusively on a specific constituency—antitrust on consumers, bankruptcy on creditors, corporate law on shareholders, and securities regulation on financial investors. On the other side is a growing insurgency that seeks to broaden the focus to a larger set of stakeholders, including workers, the environment, and political communities. But these conversations have largely proceeded in parallel, with each debate unfolding within the framework and literature of a single field. Studying these debates together …
The Exit Theory Of Judicial Appraisal,
2023
St. John's University School of Law
The Exit Theory Of Judicial Appraisal, William J. Carney, Keith Sharfman
Faculty Publications
For many years, we and other commentators have observed the problem with allowing judges wide discretion to fashion appraisal awards to dissenting shareholders based on widely divergent, expert valuation evidence submitted by the litigating parties. The results of this discretionary approach to valuation have been to make appraisal litigation less predictable and therefore more costly and likely. While this has been beneficial to professionals who profit from corporate valuation litigation, it has been harmful to shareholders, making deals costlier and less likely to be completed.
In this Article, we propose to end the problem of discretionary judicial valuation by tracing …
Legal Guardrails For A Unicorn Crackdown,
2023
University of Kansas School of Law
Legal Guardrails For A Unicorn Crackdown, Alexander I. Platt
Michigan Law Review Online
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is undertaking a historic effort to redraw the boundary between public and private companies. After years of watching—and sometimes encouraging—the explosive growth in less tightly regulated private markets and the proliferation of so-called “unicorns,” the agency is now reasserting its authority.
A key arrow in the agency’s regulatory quiver is its authority under section 12(g) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) to force private companies to “go public” when they reach a certain size. The provision requires any company whose shares are “held of record” by more than 2,000 persons to …
Constraining Corporate Law Principles In Affiliate World,
2023
Emory University School of Law
Constraining Corporate Law Principles In Affiliate World, Anita K. Krug
Emory Law Journal
No abstract provided.
Giving Shareholders The Right To Say No,
2023
University of Michigan Law School
Giving Shareholders The Right To Say No, Albert H. Choi, Adam C. Pritchard
Articles
When a public company releases misleading information that distorts the market for the company’s stock, investors who purchase at the inflated price lose money when (and if) the misleading information is later corrected. Under Rule 10b‑5 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, investors can seek compensation from corporations and their officers who make materially misleading statements that the investors relied on when buying or selling a security. Compensation is the obvious goal, but the threat of lawsuits can also benefit investors by deterring managers from committing fraud.
