Braganca Law LLC

02/12/2025

Michelle Singletary is a great resource to federal employees and retirees wondering how to react to the uncertainty of their retirement savings in the Federal Thrift Savings Plan.

How to “triage” your bills and plan for the worst-case scenario when all options look bad — and every day brings new uncertainty.

02/11/2025

For a number of years, the Commissioners at the SEC delegated their authority to open formal investigations to senior staff. Reuters reports that the SEC has revoked that delegation of authority. This does not mean the SEC is not going to conduct investigations. It just means the Commissioners at the SEC are returning to their historic role as gatekeepers of subpoena power. There will still be SEC investigations conducted by the Division of Enforcement Staff, but only after the Staff have written a memo to the Commissioners detailing the basis for their request for subpoena authority - which is the key power a formal investigation provides the Staff - and the Commission votes in the affirmative. The Staff can still send requests seeking the voluntary production of information and documents without a formal investigation (subpoena authority).

Lawyers at the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) have been told they need to seek permission from the politically appointed leadership before formally launching probes, two sources briefed on the matter said, in a marked change in procedure that could slow down investigations. The change, wh...

02/02/2025

There has been a virtual 180 degree turnaround in crypto regulation in the last two weeks. In this article, Lisa Braganca comments on the new administration's directive to agencies like the SEC to develop regulations that address the specific characteristics of digital coins. We may see digital coin securities being issued and traded in the not-too-distant future. They can be used as a method for businesses to raise capital under regulations that account for them being resident on a blockchain - not "physically" held by an SEC authorized custodian.

As guidelines from the Trump administration trickle down, they will likely fall under these government agencies to implement.

01/07/2025

Insider Trading News: Although former JP Morgan analyst Ashish Aggarwal in 2017 successfully defended himself against criminal charges that he passed confidential inside information to his buddy, Shahriyar Bolandian, buddy Bolandian was not so fortunate. In 2024 a jury found that Bolandian, the 36-year-old alleged tippee with a J.D. from Pepperdine University School of Law, was guilty of insider trading. The US Department of Justice just announced that Bolandian was sentenced to a two-year prison term. At the same time, Bolandian's friend who he allegedly tipped, Kevan Sadigh, was sentenced to two years of probation. This is a tough outcome for Bolandian. It can't help that at the time of the alleged tip, Bolandian was a second year law student who not only traded on the information but passed it on to his friend.

This is a good time to note that insider trading law is complicated - as this collection of mixed results shows. Just because the government does not have a smoking gun (like an explicit text or email) does not mean the government cannot bring successful civil or criminal insider trading charges with circumstantial evidence only. That evidence generally includes evidence of trades shortly after phone calls between alleged tipper and tippee. While that was not enough for a criminal conviction of Aggarwal, it is possible DOJ was able to get incriminating evidence from Sadigh. Many people decide to cooperate with DOJ when they are looking at a prison sentence.

All three of these individuals still face SEC charges of civil fraud. Even when someone is able to obtain an acquittal of criminal charges, as Aggarwal did, the criminal investigation and SEC civil insider trading fraud charges wreak havoc with your life and are financially devastating (unless you are Mark Cuban, when they just wreak havoc with your life).

https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/brentwood-man-sentenced-2-years-federal-prison-insider-trading-scheme-netted-more

12/04/2024

The most important thing you can do for your financial health this year is read these four columns by Michelle Singletary. I will put links to the other three below. We all think we are too smart to be scammed. We are wrong. Anyone can be scammed in the right circumstances. Scammers are experts at getting around our defenses.

Maryland resident Judith Boivin opens up to personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary about a government impersonation scam that cost her nearly $600,000.

10/28/2024

Financial professionals - particularly firms - should be focused on keeping their unforced error rate as low as possible in dealing with the SEC and FINRA. One of the most obvious examples of an unforced error is when financial services firms repeatedly ignore the directive from the SEC that they cannot prohibit clients, employees, or anyone else from reporting securities laws violations to the SEC, state regulators, or self-regulatory organizations. Pursuant to Dodd-Frank Act’s whistleblower protections, the SEC prohibits registrants, brokerage firms, and investment advisors from including such “anti-whistleblowing” prohibitions in settlement agreements with disgruntled investors, as well as in employment agreements, separation agreements and settlement agreements with current or former employees. Yet some firms have failed to purge those provisions from their agreements, leading to sanctions that could have been avoided....

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are almost certainly among the top five or six male tennis players of all time. Federer retired from tennis in 2022, and

06/06/2024

Lisa had the opportunity to discuss Keith Gill's situation on Catalysts on Yahoo Finance. Once someone like Gill (a/k/a Roaring Kitty and DeepF---ingValue) starts talking on social media about his holdings and intent (to hold or sell), regulators may believe that person has an obligation to disclose any change in those plans before taking action. Social media posting about active trading is problematic - to say the least.

GameStop (GME) investor Keith Gill, or "Roaring Kitty," is under regulatory scrutiny. The Massachusetts Securities Regulator launched a probe into Gill's GameStop trading activity and social media use after the Reddit account associated with the trader revealed a huge stake in GameStop, causing its....

06/06/2024

The Apes are back in the news. Lisa had the opportunity to talk with Andrew Ross Sorkin on Squawk Box about the latest posts by Keith Gill, a/k/a Roaring Kitty and DeepF---ingValue, about his holdings and his view of GameStop. Gill's social media accounts posted a picture of his massive holdings of stock and June 21 $20 call options as well as two memes - leaning forward in a chair and an Uno reverse card.
Here are Lisa's thoughts: My concern is that once you post online what your holdings are whether regulators will expect you to post your intention to sell before you execute the sales. While you don't have to disclose holdings to the public, once you do so do regulators believe you have an obligation to update that information when there are material changes?

To learn a lot more, checkout the Apes Together Strong documentary by the Mulligan Brothers Quinn Mulligan at www.apestogetherstrongdoc.com.
https://youtu.be/XK3OYUCHBCE?si=x28JdFMWyyoAt2Ry

Lisa Braganca, former branch chief in the enforcement division of the Chicago SEC, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss news of Massachusetts' top securities regula...

05/29/2024

Update on the Utah federal court case of SEC v. DEBT Box, where the court found that the SEC made material misrepresentations. On May 28, 2024, the Court entered its final order for sanctions against the SEC, ordering the SEC to pay more than $1.8 million to defense counsel and the Receiver. The attorney's fees totaled approximately $1.1 million (half of that amount goes to the lead corporate counsel) and nearly $750,000 to the Receiver. Throughout the opinion, the judge made clear that there were various time entries for which the attorneys and Receiver had not sought reimbursement, but likely should have been included in the award.
You can read more about this case here: https://secdefenseattorney-com.justia.site/blog/the-sec-faces-sanctions-again/

05/09/2024

Lisa Braganca appeared on CoindeskTV to talk about what happens if Ether (ETH) is deemed a security. The recently sent to both and . The Consensys lawsuit filed against the SEC details the reversal of the SEC's previous position that ETH is NOT a security. That is clearly not the case any more. Lisa discusses what may be the reason for the SEC's reversal of its position.
https://www.coindesk.com/videos/

05/09/2024

Lisa Braganca talks with Jennifer Sanasie at CoindeskTV about the and the need for Congress to enact legislation for . Lagniappe - Lisa reveals what she would do if she were not an SEC Defense Attorney.

Lisa Bragança, Bragança Law attorney and former SEC enforcement branch chief, answers five rapid-fire questions from CoinDesk, including insights on Robinhood's Wells Notice from the SEC, what it will take for clearer crypto regulation in the U.S. and her potential career as a bass player!

04/10/2024

This is a pretty fun picture to have as wallpaper. It is making my day fun. Thank you Bing.