Securities Law

Two UK Partners at Dorsey and McDermott Face Insider Trading Charges

A current and a former partner at the London offices of two U.S.-based law firms—Dorsey & Whitney and McDermott Will & Emery—face charges of insider trading by the U.K. Financial Services Authority. Legal Week and Bloomberg report that the two lawyers are Dorsey & Whitney partner Andrew Rimmington and former…

May 20, 2009 4:43 PM CDT

Ark. Lawyer Expected to Plead Guilty in Alleged $9M Escrow Shortfall

Prominent Arkansas plaintiffs securities lawyer Gene Cauley is expected to plead guilty for failing to pay clients $9.3 million in settlement funds he was supposed to be holding as their escrow agent. Cauley will plead guilty to wire fraud and criminal contempt for failing to safely hold the money, the…

May 19, 2009 2:23 PM CDT

Holland & Knight Sued over Legal Work for Alleged Ponzi Schemer

Holland & Knight is facing another lawsuit over its legal work for alleged Ponzi schemer Arthur Nadel. Several investors who lost about $4.5 million in funds overseen by Nadel claim in a state court lawsuit filed last week that offering documents prepared by the firm failed to mention important information,…

May 19, 2009 11:40 AM CDT

High Court to Decide if SOX Board Is Illegal ‘Fifth Branch’ of Government

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether an oversight board created by the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate oversight law is an unconstitutional “fifth branch” of government. At issue is whether the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board violates separation of powers principles and the appointments clause, SCOTUSblog reports. The petition for…

May 18, 2009 4:13 PM CDT

Meticulous Madoff Records Said to Aid Probe of High-Return Investors

At least eight investors and friends of Bernard Madoff are reportedly under a criminal investigation that seeks to learn whether they knew their high investment returns were part of a fraud. Madoff’s “meticulous” record-keeping is aiding investigators for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)…

May 18, 2009 11:56 AM CDT

Two SEC Lawyers Being Probed for Insider Trading

Two lawyers who worked for the Securities and Exchange Commission are being investigated by the FBI for insider trading, according to a report by the SEC inspector general. The report alleges both lawyers, whose names were not released, traded stock in a large financial services company despite knowledge it was…

May 15, 2009 12:08 PM CDT

Suit: 950% Profit Suggests Fla. Lawyer Was Rewarded for Madoff Investments

Madoff bankruptcy trustee Irving Picard has filed a suit seeking $5.1 billion from a Florida lawyer who ran trust funds and partnerships that invested with Bernard Madoff as well as a charitable fund considered a victim of the convicted money manager. The suit was one of two actions filed yesterday…

May 13, 2009 12:37 PM CDT

Attorney Marc Dreier Pleads Guilty; Will He Go to Jail Prior to Sentencing?

Once a high-flying partner at the helm of a 250-attorney New York law firm, Marc Dreier pleaded guilty today in federal court in Manhattan to a fraud scheme for which authorities are seeking $700 million in restitution. Dreier, who was arrested in December for allegedly bilking sophisticated investors out of…

May 11, 2009 10:35 PM CDT

Ark. Lawyer in Hot Water Over $9M Settlement-Funds Shortfall

A prominent Arkansas plaintiffs securities lawyer has reportedly come up short on about $9.3 million that was supposed to be paid last month from a fund he controls to clients who made a $65.8 million settlement with BISYS Group Inc. in 2006. Gene Cauley told co-counsel in the case last…

May 8, 2009 11:37 PM CDT

Davis Wright, K&L Gates, Thompson & Knight Sued in Sunwest Collapse

Investors in a failed retirement home operator have sued three law firms that represented the company. Targeted in the suits are Davis Wright Tremaine, K&L Gates, and Thompson & Knight, the outside law firms for Sunwest Management, the AmLaw Daily reports. The Securities and Exchange Commission accuses Sunwest of operating…

May 8, 2009 4:39 PM CDT

Derivatives Regulation Becomes a Popular Law School Offering

The financial meltdown has spurred interest in derivatives classes among law students interested in learning about the origins of the crisis and hoping to tap into an expanding job market for lawyers well-versed in financial regulations. New York Law School has seen so much interest in its derivatives course that…

May 8, 2009 3:18 PM CDT

Ex-Paul Hastings Associate Pleads in $4.8M Insider Trading Case

A former tax associate at Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker has pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy and securities fraud in what officials have described as a $4.8 million insider trading case with multiple defendants. “I knew my trading was wrong,” Eric Holzer, 34, told a federal magistrate judge…

May 7, 2009 10:28 PM CDT

New SEC Focus: Painting the Barn, Not the Sistine Chapel

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may soon be using more discretion in civil investigations, focusing on the big fish rather than the small fry. Speaking today at a program on corporate investigations sponsored by the American Bar Association, an SEC official and the general counsel of the FBI said…

May 7, 2009 8:48 PM CDT

Study Predicts 5 Percent Growth in Legal Spending by Fortune 1000

A decline in legal spending by large companies is about to be reversed, according to a new survey of Fortune 1000 companies. The study by market research firm BTI Consulting says large companies will increase legal spending on outside counsel nearly 5 percent over the next six months, according to…

May 7, 2009 1:55 PM CDT

What if Washington Listened When Brooksley Born Sounded Alarms About Unregulated Markets?

Shortly after she was named to head the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 1996, Brooksley E. Born was invited to lunch by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. The influential Greenspan was an ardent proponent of unfettered markets. Born was a powerful Washington, D.C., lawyer with a track record for activist…

May 6, 2009 6:49 PM CDT