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Securities Enforcement and Litigation

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Securities Enforcement and Litigation (SEC)

Arent Fox's Securities Enforcement and Litigation practice group has numerous attorneys with decades of experience in this practice area. They include several former US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and US Department of Justice attorneys. They regularly represents companies, investment advisors, directors and officers, professional advisors, and individuals in connection with class action securities litigation, shareholder derivative litigation, investigations and prosecutions involving various securities, commodities, investment, and corporate law matters.

Our experience includes investigations and prosecutions by governmental entities (eg, the SEC, DOJ, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, various State Attorneys General, and state securities regulators), Self-Regulatory Organizations (eg, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), formerly the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)), as well as internal investigations at the request of corporate boards, audit and other special board committees, and general counsels. These engagements include such substantive allegations as insider trading, market manipulation, various fraudulent schemes, improper accounting, disclosure violations, municipal pay-to-play schemes, brokerage and investment advisor compliance issues, and compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and other anti-corruption laws like the UK Bribery Act.

Increasingly, such matters are transnational, both in their underlying facts and the coordinated interests of international law enforcement/regulatory authorities. These matters also often involve the additional complexity of addressing parallel administrative proceedings and private securities litigations, while remaining focused on our clients' critical relationships with their independent auditors, liability carriers, and reputational concerns with stakeholders and the media. We assist our clients in addressing all these multi-layered inquiries with strategies aimed at coherent, global resolutions. We carefully tailor these strategies to our clients' unique circumstances and needs, and our instructions may range from aggressive litigation to cooperation with government investigations resulting in complex settlements.

The group also counsels on various securities law and regulatory issues and assists in the development of compliance programs designed to address securities and related regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the FCPA. The group practices out of our Washington DC, New York and Los Angeles offices and works closely with the other members of our White Collar and Investigations Practice Group.

Recent SEC Matters

FCPA/SEC Investigations

Representation of employee of a Fortune 500 oil and gas service company in joint SEC and DOJ FCPA investigation involving Africa and the Middle East
Conducts FCPA due diligence for Fortune 500 oil and gas service related companies worldwide
Conduct FCPA due diligence fortune 500 insurance companies related to acquisitions
Represented officers and outside advisers in transnational investigations of corporate bribery at Global 100 companies
Internal Investigation/SEC investigation, representation of CEO in internal investigation and SEC investigation of accounting issues

Stock Option Investigations

Representation of multiple individuals in SEC stock option investigations
Represented regional stock option exchange in SEC investigation of trading practices
Representation of regional stock exchange in SEC investigation of specialist trading practices

Insider Trading Investigation