For those watching in the trading world, the U.S. Supreme Court has confirmed that your friends can, indeed, pass on a gift of non-public information about a company that could leave you criminally liable for insider trading, even if they gain nothing concrete in return. 

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") and Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") announced that JPMorgan Chase & Co.

At various times over the last several years, the DOJ has pushed for updates to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) that would include greater access to encrypted information stored on electronic devices. 

The massive Panama Papers leak has attracted attention to the use of offshore business entities and implicated 2,400 U.S.-based clients of Mossack Fonseca. 

In the largest action brought under the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, the DOJ seeks to recover over $1 billion in assets bought with laundered funds misappropriated from 1Malaysia Development Berhad ("1MDB"), a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund. 

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently announced an administrative settlement with Apex Fund Services (US) Inc., a firm providing administrative services to private funds, based on its alleged failure to heed red flags and correct faulty accounting by two private equity managers. 

Recently, John C. Cruden, DOJ's Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Environmental and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), which oversees DOJ's environmental litigation, voiced a heightened commitment to enforcing environmental laws through criminal prosecution.  

SEC and DOJ Targeting Fraud Involving Pre-IPO Companies Historically regulators have been reluctant to interfere with the complex world of pre-IPO  financing and private market transactions, which tend to involve the most sophisticated investors.  

On May 23, 2016, the Second Circuit presented a significant setback to the Department of Justice (DOJ) by reversing a $1.27 billion penalty against Bank of America and Countrywid

Since the financial crisis, the Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement activity has been the subject of much attention and debate. 

On April 29, 2016, Dole Foods Company announced that the Department of Justice (DOJ) had launched an investigation concerning listeria outbreaks at certain Dole plants.  

In late 2015 and early 2016, Central American countries such as Panama, Guatemala, and Honduras have seen a sharp rise in anti-corruption sentiment, and in turn, investigation and enforcement. 

On Wednesday, March 30, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Luis v. United States, No. 14-419, slip op., that the pretrial restraint of legitimate, untainted assets needed to retain counsel of choice violates the Sixth Amendment. 

On March 3, 2016, DOJ Criminal Division's Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell addressed recent media reports claiming that companies under investigation by DOJ will soon need to certify their full disclosure of certain documents as a prerequisite to obtaining a settlement agreement with the Department.  

In a somewhat rare decision, U.S. District Judge Gardephe of the SDNY granted a motion to stay his previous order regarding the scope of the SEC's ability to subpoena information from Congress, pending its appeal to the Second Circuit.