Brazilian Mining Company Charged with Misleading Investors about Safety Prior to Deadly Dam Collapse

Since 2016, Vale manipulated safety audits and obtained fraudulent stability certificates Washington D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Vale S.A., a publicly traded Brazilian mining company and one of the world’s largest iron ore producers, with making false and misleading claims about the safety of its dams prior to the January 2019 collapse of its Brumadinho dam....

SEC Announces Older Investor Roundtable Virtual Event on April 28

Washington D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission will hold a virtual event on April 28 along with the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) and the AARP to examine the latest challenges and issues affecting the senior investor community. The Older Investor Roundtable will include panel discussions geared toward older investors, consumer advocates, and financial professionals nationwide as topics...

Check out SEC’s updated list of firms using inaccurate information to solicit investors

Washington D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it updated its list of unregistered entities that use misleading information to solicit primarily non-U.S. investors, adding 58 soliciting entities, 11 impersonators of genuine firms, and one bogus regulator. The SEC’s list of soliciting entities that have been the subject of investor complaints, known as the Public Alert: Unregistered...

16 defendants charged in international $194M “pump and dump” plots

SEC Uncovers $194 Million Penny Stock Schemes that Spanned Three Continents This week the Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges against 16 defendants, located in the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, Bulgaria, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Monaco, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, for participating in multi-year fraudulent penny stock schemes that generated more than $194 million in illicit proceeds....

TRO and asset freeze against alleged perpetrators of nearly $450M Ponzi Scheme

Washington D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges and an asset freeze against several Las Vegas-area individuals and companies allegedly behind a nearly half-billion dollar Ponzi scheme involving purported personal injury settlements. The SEC charged certain defendants with violations of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws, certain individual defendants with acting as unregistered brokers,...

SEC Proposes Rules for the Registration and Regulation of Security-Based Swap Execution Facilities

The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed this week new Regulation SE under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act) to create a regime for the registration and regulation of security-based swap execution facilities (SBSEFs). The new regulatory framework was one of the major reforms required under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection...

SEC Proposes Rules to Include Certain Significant Market Participants as “Dealers” or “Government Securities Dealers”

Washington D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed proposed two rules that would require market participants, such as proprietary (or principal) trading firms, who assume certain dealer functions, in particular those who as act as liquidity providers in the markets, to register with the SEC, become members of a self-regulatory organization (SRO), and comply with federal securities...

SEC Proposes Rules to Enhance Disclosure and Investor Protection Relating to Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, Shell Companies, and Projections

Washington D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed new rules and amendments to enhance disclosure and investor protection in initial public offerings by special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) and in business combination transactions involving shell companies, such as SPACs, and private operating companies. "Nearly 90 years ago, Congress addressed certain policy issues around companies raising money from the...

SEC Proposes Amendments to Remove References to Credit Ratings from Regulation M

Washington D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission has voted to propose changes that would remove the references to credit rating agencies from existing exceptions provided in Rule 101 and Rule 102 of Regulation M, a set of rules designed to preserve market integrity by prohibiting activities that could artificially influence the market for an offered security. "In Section 939A...

SEC Proposes Rules to Enhance and Standardize Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors

Washington D.C., March 21, 2022 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed rule changes that would require registrants to include certain climate-related disclosures in their registration statements and periodic reports, including information about climate-related risks that are reasonably likely to have a material impact on their business, results of operations, or financial condition, and certain climate-related financial statement metrics...