By: Sara Kropf Several of the cases I’ve featured in my posts over the last year have had significant developments or come to a close. It’s always interesting—and moderately depressing—to see how things turned out. When an FBI Agent Is the Bad Guy First up we have...
By: Sara Kropf The Second Circuit today issued a landmark decision reversing the convictions of the defendants in United States v. Newman, an insider trading case. It held that the government has to prove that the defendant knew that the tipper of inside information...
By: Sara Kropf How much cooperation with the government does your client have to provide to avoid prison? If portfolio manager Reema Shah is any example, the answer is…over a year. On May 21, 2014, Ms. Shah pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and...
By: Sara Kropf The SEC has charged Judy Wolf, a former compliance consultant for Wells Fargo Advisors, with falsifying records that were submitted to the SEC during the investigation of a registered Wells Fargo representative. Ms. Wolf allegedly falsified her internal...
By: Sara Kropf The Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are not specifically tasked with protecting client confidentiality of U.S. corporations. But the calculus changes when service providers use their client’s confidential information to...
By: Sara Kropf Every few weeks, I review the press releases for the U.S. Attorneys' Offices across the country. In the blur of stories about drug busts and indictments for low-level health care fraud, sometimes a name sounds familiar. No, not because it’s a friend. Or...
By: Sara Kropf In February 2014, Chinese antitrust regulators announced that they suspected wireless technology company Qualcomm Inc. of overcharging its customers and abusing its powerful market position. According to reports, Qualcomm could face fines of up to $1...
By: Sara Kropf For over five years years, the former Director of Financial Reporting at Celgene Corp. engaged in an insider trading scheme. The government contended that John Lazorchak passed along inside information through middlemen, distributed and received profits...
By: Sara Kropf As someone who handles litigation and white-collar criminal matters, I'm often troubled by my clients' corporate audit department. It will author lengthy, non-privileged reports about processes at companies that don’t work. Those reports put everyone on...
By: Sara Kropf There have been several high-profile insider trading cases recently. I can’t do justice to the facts of all the recent cases, but here’s a quick sampling of some of the more interesting cases. 1. Use a Facebook Friend. Badin Rungruangnavarat,...