Securities Fraud
Securities Fraud Attorney
The term “securities law” refers to the area of the law that deals with state and federal regulations on the governance of issuing, selling and transferring stocks and bonds. The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 was adopted by Congress in large part to prohibit misinformation, fraud and deceit in the sale of securities to the public. The act set up a federal regulatory body known as the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) in order to implement and enforce the Act.
Most lawsuits concerning securities are filed according to §10(b) of the act and the SEC’s Rule 10 (b) (5) and deal with some form of fraud. Rule 10b-5 has been used by plaintiffs (either private individuals or a government authority) to cover a range of allegations, but is most commonly used in the following examples:
- Insider Trading (if confidential information about a company is disclosed by an “insider” to any individual and that individual acts as a result of receiving the information) [please click here for additional information]
- Price Fixing (artificially inflating or depressing stock prices through stock manipulation)
- Backdating (Dating a document by a date earlier than the one on which the document was originally drawn up)
- Front Running (Front running is involved in both buying [where the broker buys for their account, driving up the price before filling customer buy orders] or selling [where the broker sells for their own account, driving down the price before filling customer sell orders])
- Short Selling (The selling of a security that the seller does not own, or any sale that is completed by the delivery of a security borrowed by the seller in hopes of manipulating prices)
These examples are intended to be demonstrative and in no way are meant to be an exhaustive list.
Because lawsuits regarding securities are often complex, and failure to comply with rules and regulations can result in severe consequences, trained securities lawyers at the Blanch Law Firm are available to help. The Blanch law firm attorneys can assist clients in their fight against securities related charges with over 40 years of experience and specialization in the following areas: Insider Trading; Backdating; Account Discrepancy Charges; Short Selling Abuse Charges; Market Manipulation Charges; Fraud Charges; and Embezzlement Charges.