ESG in a Nutshell The goal of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) programs is simple: minimize risk, increase shareholder value and contribute to solving societal problems; but do so in a way that is at the same time good for your business, society and the...
Content By Christopher J. Hubbert
The Importance of How You Announce Your Company’s M&A Deal
The mergers and acquisition process is often heavily burdened with regulations, complications and minute details for both the selling and acquiring companies’ leaders, lawyers and accountants, just to name a few of the involved parties in a deal. Many deals fall apart...
Ohio’s Top Securities Regulator Backs Restrictions on REIT Investments
The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), a non-governmental organization that recommends securities regulations for state adoption, has published proposed rules that would limit the ability of individuals to invest in unlisted real estate...
SEC Proposes to Narrow Bases for Excluding Shareholder Proposals
On July 13, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed rule changes that would make it harder for reporting companies to exclude shareholder proposals from their proxy statement by narrowing certain existing legal bases for excluding proposals....
OpenSea Employee Arrested in First NFT Insider Trading Case
In June, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced the first ever indictment for insider trading of digital assets. According to the indictment, in 2021 Nathaniel Chastain was employed at OpenSea, the largest online marketplace for the...
The SEC Moves to Close the (IPO) Back Door
On March 30, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued proposed rules focused on special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) and subsequent business combination transactions between SPACs and private operating companies (known as de-SPAC transactions)....
The Ongoing Battle Between Musk and the SEC Heats Up Again
Elon Musk's Tumultuous History With the SEC Tesla’s colorful CEO, Elon Musk, has a history of feuding with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and it looks like the fight isn’t over. In 2018, the SEC investigated Musk for securities fraud after he tweeted...
SEC Proposes New Cybersecurity Disclosure Requirements for Public Companies
The SEC's Rule Proposals Aim to Assist Investors On March 9, 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new rules “to enhance and standardize disclosures regarding cybersecurity risk management, strategy, governance, and incident reporting by...
The SEC Had No Love for BlockFi this Valentine’s Day
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not hesitated to conclude that crypto assets are securities subject to the Securities Act of 1933, but with BlockFi, the SEC went a step further and, for the first time with respect to a crypto lending platform, found...
SEC Efforts to Modernize Beneficial Ownership Reporting Don’t Go Far Enough
Overlap in the Securities Act of 1934 The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) presides over two separate beneficial ownership reporting schemes under Sections 13 and 16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Although both sections govern disclosure of beneficial...