How did Elon Musk's tweet about taking Tesla private trigger an SEC fraud action? How do SEC lawyers build an insider trading case? This seminar goes inside that process: how investigations start, how charging decisions get made, how defense lawyers respond and how those forces shape the trajectory of the law. We will also examine the substantive law most influenced by enforcement decision making, including insider trading, accounting fraud, market manipulation and foreign bribery, and how the enforcement toolkit can strain against emerging challenges like crypto and meme-stock trading. Throughout the seminar we will ask a fundamental question: When does developing the law through individual enforcement actions provide effective investor protection, and at what cost to market participants?
The seminar is taught by a professor with 35 years of securities enforcement experience, including service as a senior SEC enforcement official and as a partner in a global law firm representing clients in major investigations. Drawing on experience from both sides of the table, the professor will offer students firsthand insight into the strategies, judgment calls and practical realities of securities enforcement.
Schwartz, Erich