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Jeff Kern is a partner in the Governmental Practice and serves as a Managing Partner of Sheppard Mullin’s New York office. Jeff also heads the firm’s Securities Enforcement & Litigation Team and is a charter member of the Blockchain & Digital Assets Team.

On June 5, 2017 the Supreme Court dealt a significant setback to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) by limiting its power to extract ill-gotten profits from securities laws violators. Ruling 9-0 in Kokesh v. S.E.C., No. 16– 529, — S. Ct. — (June 5, 2017), the Court held that in SEC enforcement actions, “disgorgement” – a form of restitution in which a defendant must pay back wrongful gains – is subject to a five-year statute of limitations.
Continue Reading Supreme Court Deals Blow to SEC By Applying Five-Year Statute of Limitations to Disgorgement Remedies in SEC Enforcement Actions

On April 10, 2017, Neil Gorsuch was sworn in as the Supreme Court’s 113th justice. While his experience on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals with cases involving financial regulation may be limited, certain of his decisions reflect an identifiable hostility towards executive agencies that, in his view, act in excess of the powers accorded them by statutory and constitutional law. These decisions suggest that the High Court’s newest justice will keep a close eye on how financial regulators go about their business.
Continue Reading Financial Regulators Take Note: The Supreme Court’s Newest Member is a Tough Taskmaster

Earlier this month, FINRA announced changes to its Sanction Guidelines through Notice to Members 17-13. FINRA’s Sanction Guidelines are used by FINRA disciplinary hearing panels to decide what, if any, sanctions to impose in those enforcement actions in which a rule violation is found. FINRA enforcement staff and members of the defense bar utilize the guidelines in settlement negotiations.
Continue Reading FINRA Updates Its Sanction Guidelines

In late December, New York State’s Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) released its revised proposed cybersecurity regulation (the “DFS Rule”).  While the revisions pare back some of the DFS Rule’s original requirements and add some much needed flexibility, the regulation will still impose many new obligations upon a wide array of financial institutions doing business in New York.  The DFS Rule will become effective on March 1, 2017.
Continue Reading New York State Department of Financial Services Cybersecurity Regulation Poised to Reshape Existing Regulatory Landscape

If the New York State Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) has its way, come January 1, 2017, financial services companies that require a form of authorization to operate under the banking, insurance, or financial services laws (“Covered Entities”) will be required to comply with a new set of comprehensive cybersecurity regulations aimed at safeguarding information systems and nonpublic information.
Continue Reading New York State Department of Financial Services Proposes Cybersecurity Regulations for Financial Services Companies

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) recent $1 million settlement with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (“MSSB”) marked a turning point in the agency’s focus on cybersecurity issues, an area that the agency has proclaimed a top enforcement priority in recent years.  The MSSB settlement addressed various cybersecurity deficiencies that led to the misappropriation of sensitive data for approximately 730,000 customer accounts.
Continue Reading SEC Steps Up Cybersecurity Enforcement with $1 Million Fine Against Morgan Stanley

Everything old is new again.  On January 1, 2016, the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) – now owned by Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. – will be taking back some of the regulatory responsibilities it yielded to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), starting in 2007 when the NYSE and National Association of Securities Dealers (“NASD”) merged their self-regulatory functions.  The goal then was to address inefficiencies and overlap that often resulted from the concurrent oversight by these two self-regulatory organizations (“SROs”).
Continue Reading Forward to the Past: NYSE Returns to Regulation