The SEC staff has issued a no-action letter formally reversing its long-held position that Rule 206(4)-3, the Cash Solicitation Rule, applies to investor referrals for private fund investments.

The Supreme Court has just issued what is perhaps its most pointed critique yet of the punitive damage system in this country.

Section 929I of the newly enacted Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the "Act") significantly expands the protection from public disclosure of information produced to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC" or "Commission") by regulated entities.

On September 24, 2010, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (the "DOJ") announced a settlement of its complaint in U.S. v. Adobe Systems, Inc., et al. challenging the agreements of six prominent high tech firms (Google, Apple, Adobe, Intel, Intuit, and Pixar) not to "cold call" each other’s employees.

A recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission order demonstrates that the Commission continues to impose penalties for violations of well-established rules prohibiting activities such as "flipping" and the misclassification of natural gas-related contracts.

The first major decision interpreting the retroactivity of one amendment to FCA liability in the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009 (“FERA”) has limited the retroactive application of that amendment, holding that it applies to FCA “claims”—not FCA cases—that were pending as of June 7, 2008.

On 2 October 2012, HM Revenue & Customs published a summary of industry responses to their earlier consultation paper of 27 March 2012.

The SEC order provides that an unidentified whistleblower will receive 30% of the amount already, and to be, collected in an SEC enforcement action pending in federal court.

In our 2 December 2010 memorandum (UK Tax Update: Proposed New 'Patent Box' Regime, Controlled Foreign Company (CFC) Reforms and Changes to the Tax Treatment of Overseas Branches), we mentioned that the UK Government was planning to introduce a new overseas branch exemption for certain UK companies.

Finding that the terms of $300 million of convertible preferred stock issued by Loral Space and Communications Inc. to its controlling stockholder were unfair, the Delaware Chancery Court fashioned an extraordinary remedy by converting the preferred stock into non-voting common stock based upon a court-determined “fair price” for Loral common stock.

On April 26, 2011, the Supreme Court of the United States adopted a completely revamped version of Rule 2019 of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure to govern disclosure requirements for groups and committees that consist of or represent multiple creditors or equity security holders, as well as lawyers and other entities that represent multiple creditors or equity security holders, acting in concert to advance common interests in a chapter 9 or chapter 11 bankruptcy case.

The recent announcement of accumulations of stock in J.C. Penney and Fortune Brands substantially in excess of the five percent Schedule 13D reporting threshold prior to any public disclosure has focused attention on possible inadequacies in the regulatory system in providing companies, their stockholders, and the trading markets with advance notice of significant ownership by activist investors or bidders.

On March 8, 2010, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (the "DOJ") and nine states announced a settlement in their challenge of Election Systems & Software Inc.’s ("ES&S") $5 million acquisition of Premier Election Solutions, Inc. and PES Holdings, Inc. ("Premier").

The DOJ, under the Obama administration, has been vocal about its intention to actively enforce the antitrust laws, and particularly to closely examine practices within the high tech industry.

Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Code"), imposes certain requirements on nonqualified deferred compensation ("NQDC") plans.

On 1 October 2012, the UK Financial Services Authority introduced new rules on reverse takeovers.

On March 23, 2010, in the first operation carried out jointly between the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the UK Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), 16 addresses in the UK were searched in what the FSA described as its "largest ever operation against insider dealing".

A recent decision of the Tax Chamber of the UK’s newly constituted First-Tier Tribunal, “Laerstate BV v Commissioners for HMRC”, provides a reminder that the maintenance of non-UK corporate residence requires careful management, particularly when influential personnel are active in the UK.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("FRB") has announced that it will commence operations under the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility ("TALF") by accepting subscriptions on March 17 through March 19 and funding loans on March 25, 2009.

The announcement of civil and criminal insider trading charges earlier this month against Scott London, a senior audit partner at a major accounting firm, grabbed business headlines and took the public accounting profession by surprise.