Securities Fraud

Market-related allegations that demand both trial skill and financial sophistication.

Securities fraud cases arise from a wide range of conduct: alleged misstatements to investors, accounting irregularities, insider trading, market manipulation, offering frauds, and, increasingly, schemes involving digital assets. These matters often begin with an inquiry from the Securities and Exchange Commission, FINRA, or a state regulator, and can quickly expand into a parallel criminal investigation by the Department of Justice. Executives, directors, fund managers, brokers, and company insiders can all find themselves in the government’s sights.

Defending these cases requires a command of both the law and the markets. Questions of materiality, disclosure, scienter, and what investors actually relied upon are rarely black and white, and the government’s theories often depend on hindsight. Trading patterns that look suspicious in isolation may have legitimate explanations. Because civil and criminal proceedings frequently move in parallel, every decision – from testifying before the SEC to producing documents – must account for its effect on the other proceeding.

IredaleRoth represents individuals and companies in securities investigations and prosecutions. We have handled cases involving different takes on “pump and dump” schemes, involving circumstances like concealed control-groups, manipulation of vulnerable investors, convertible securities contracts, alleged market manipulation through social media, offshore entities and vehicles, and the like. We have also handled parallel matters brought by the SEC.

Those facing a securities inquiry should consider these issues early:

• Is there parallel criminal exposure? An SEC subpoena or request for testimony may signal a broader investigation. Decisions about testifying and asserting the Fifth Amendment must be made with both proceedings in mind.

• What did the person actually know, and when? Many securities cases turn on intent and on whether the information at issue was truly material and nonpublic.

• What collateral consequences are at stake? Industry bars, officer-and-director bars, disgorgement, and reputational harm can be as significant as the criminal penalties themselves.