The best advice for SEC trend watchers might be summarized using the golf interjection, “fore!” The developments are happening so rapidly, one of the best things to do is to be aware that these shifts are incoming and stay alert to the changes.
The federal judiciary’s electronic case management system, known as CM/ECF, was hacked in large-scale cyberattacks this summer. Although court officials are mum on the possible perpetrators, news reports have said investigators suspect that the hacking could possibly have been perpetrated by Russian state-linked actors. The far-reaching breach has exposed the identities of cooperating witnesses and victims.
The financial and human cost on individuals of arguable “overcriminalization” is enormous, and defense counsel certainly wonder whether that damage can be justified in light of the ultimate legal outcomes of the white-collar dramas we witness.
U.S. companies face a massive wave of wiretapping law class action lawsuits and regulatory enforcement actions over online “tracking technologies.” With this backdrop, the article below identifies some trends and new directions concerning tracking technology legal exposure and highlights some potential solutions for mitigating legal impact.
'Confidential witnesses' can offer plaintiffs a strategic advantage in the early stages of a securities fraud case. Courts must accept well-pleaded allegations at the motion to dismiss stage, even if they are anonymous. A critical task for any court reviewing a complaint with confidential witness allegations is to scrutinize the reliability of these claims.
On Sept. 1, 2025, the UK’s new ‘Failure to Prevent Fraud’, introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA), takes effect, representing a decisive shift in corporate criminal liability. For legal and compliance teams, the challenge is moving from reactive response to proactive prevention, backed by demonstrable procedures.
Two recent U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decisions illustrate lower courts’ differing approaches to the U.S. Supreme Court’s running rebuke of overly expansive interpretations of the mail and wire fraud statutes.
Subscription businesses may have breathed a sigh of relief when a federal appeals court blocked the Federal Trade Commission’s “click-to-cancel” rule in July, but legal experts say they should scale back their compliance efforts only modestly, or perhaps not at all.
The SEC recently created the Cybersecurity & Emerging Technologies Unit, which is responsible for rooting out fraud schemes related to AI, including fake social media sites, and blockchain and crypto fraud. As a result, SEC whistleblowers will have an opportunity to play a key role in providing the SEC original information leading to investigations and prosecutions of AI cases, commonly known as “AI washing.”
As geopolitical tensions escalate and global sanctions regimes become more aggressive, the Ovsiannikov case serves as a stark warning: checkbox compliance is no longer sufficient. EDD must become the operational standard — not just in banking, but across every sector involved in high-risk transactions.
