inSecurities

Educate and Activate: Successful Corporate Affairs Strategies

Erik Hotmire, Co-Founder of the consulting firm Watermark Strategies, joins the inSecurities podcast to discuss key characteristics of successful corporate affairs strategies. Erik tells Chris and Kurt how he draws on his experience as former spokesperson and Senior Advisor to the Chairman of the SEC in developing bespoke strategies for clients, and how the game has changed from a stakeholder engagement perspective.

The Short Seller Enrichment Commission: Alex Platt Discusses His Latest SEC Whistleblower Research

Alex Platt, an Associate Professor at the University of Kansas School of Law, joins the inSecurities podcast to discuss his latest research paper, which documents the involvement of activist short sellers in the SEC whistleblower bounty program. Professor Platt explains why this phenomenon may undermine the SEC’s goal of rooting out and deterring misconduct, and he proposes modest tweaks to the whistleblower rules to address the issue.

On the episode, Chris and Kurt also chat with Professor Platt about his past whistleblower research, including his papers “The Whistleblower Industrial Complex” and “Going Dark(er): The SEC Whistleblower Program’s Least Transparent Annual Report in Agency History.”

Ninety Years of Financial Regulation: Taming the Street With Diana Henriques

Award-winning journalist Diana Henriques has spent her career covering financial markets, white collar crime, and market regulation. She joins Kurt and Chris to discuss her recent book, Taming the Street: The Old Guard, the New Deal, and FDR’s Fight to Regulate American Capitalism, which chronicles the decade following the 1929 stock market crash, and the men in government and in the markets who fought to provide the framework for financial regulation that we still utilize today.

Casting a Long Shadow: Assessing the Panuwat Insider Trading Case

In April 2024, the SEC prevailed on insider trading charges against Matthew Panuwat, relying for the first time on a theory known as “shadow trading.” Nick Morgan of ICAN and Steve Cazares of Orrick join the inSecurities Podcast to discuss an amicus brief ICAN submitted in the Panuwat litigation, policy arguments against the “shadow trading” theory of liability, and the future of “shadow trading” cases for the SEC and DOJ.

Arbitrary Materiality Standards and “Walking the SPAC Plank”

George Wilson, Director of PLI’s SEC Institute (SECI), joins the inSecurities podcast — for a record ninth time! — to discuss highlights from the recent SECI Quarterly Newsletter (sign up HERE), including the SEC’s final climate disclosure and SPAC accounting rules, and recent developments at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB).

Bonus Episode: Speaking, Literally, from SEC Speaks in 2024

Check out this recap of PLI’s program, the SEC Speaks in 2024, which Chris attended in-person in Washington DC. He provides his thoughts on the topics discussed by SEC staff as a part of the program, as well as conducting some on-the-street interviews with attendees and PLI staff. You can learn more about the program at the link below, as well as see the printed copy of SEC Commissioner remarks at the SEC website.

https://www.pli.edu/programs/the-sec-speaks?t=live

https://www.sec.gov/news/speeches-statements

Won’t Get Fooled Again: Kelly Richmond-Pope Talks Fraud Cases

Dr. Kelly Richmond-Pope has been a thought leader in the forensic accounting space for more than a decade. She joins Chris to discuss her accounting origin story, her academic research as a professor at DePaul University in Chicago, and her side gigs as a filmmaker and author, having produced and directed the 2013 documentary All the Queen’s Horses about fraud in Dixon, Illinois, and her 2023 book Fool Me Once: Scams, Stories, and Secrets from the Trillion-Dollar Fraud Industry. For more about Dr. Richmond-Pope’s work, see the links below:

https://www.kellyrichmondpope.com/

https://www.allthequeenshorsesfilm.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Fool-Me-Once-Trillion-Dollar-Industry/dp/1647823919

Investing in Public Blockchains

Matt Walsh, Founding Partner of Castle Island Ventures, a venture capital firm focused exclusively on public blockchains, joins the inSecurities podcast to talk about the regulatory landscape and market structure challenges for entrepreneurs who are building #blockchain infrastructure and application companies. Matt also tells Chris and Kurt about his podcast, On the Brink, which explores the political, ethical, and economic significance of #Bitcoin and other public blockchains.

The Commodities Enforcement Landscape: Spoofing, Manipulation and More

On this episode of the inSecurities podcast, Chris and Kurt tackle commodities enforcement. Jamie McDonald, a Partner at Sullivan & Cromwell and a former Director of Enforcement at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Avi Perry, a Partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and a former Chief of the Market Integrity and Major Frauds Unit in the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, offer their perspectives on civil and criminal commodities investigations and enforcement. Jamie and Avi explain how they helped shape the CFTC and DOJ enforcement programs, how the agencies coordinate on enforcement matters, and what count among the current commodities enforcement priorities for the CFTC and DOJ.

Bonus Episode: Boxes and Lines | IEX Exchange

Check out our inSecurities hosts Chris Ekimoff and Kurt Wolfe as guests on this special episode of Boxes and Lines from IEX Exchange.