Articles by Austin Weinstein and Rick Green

SEC Warns Robinhood That Its Crypto Business Faces Lawsuit

The US Securities and Exchange Commission warned Robinhood Markets Inc. that it faces an enforcement action over its crypto business — the latest sign that the regulator isn’t letting up on its years-long crackdown on digital assets. Robinhood, which is …

SEC Ramps Up Massive-Hack Probe With Focus on Tech, Telecom Companies

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is asking tech and telecom companies how they handled the sprawling 2020 SolarWinds cyberattack, and drawing fire from the cybersecurity industry and big business for what they call overreach. The SEC, which sought the …

SEC Had a Fraught Cyber Record Long Before X Account Was Hacked

The hack of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s X account earlier this week is shining a light on an uncomfortable truth: Cybersecurity measures at Wall Street’s chief regulator have repeatedly been found to be lacking. The agency wasn’t fully …

SEC’s Ambitious Climate Agenda Stalls as US Elections Raise Stakes in New Year

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s failure to complete an ambitious climate-related agenda in 2023 is making environmental activists nervous. Less than a year before a US presidential election that could scuttle the regulator’s environmental, social and governance efforts, the SEC …

Wall Street WhatsApp, Texting Fines Exceed $2.5 Billion

Wells Fargo & Co. and BNP Paribas SA are among firms that will pay hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties for employees using unofficial communications like WhatsApp, personal texts or email to conduct business — the latest in US …

Tech Firms Try to Muzzle Workers With NDAs, SEC Tipsters Say

Some top US technology companies are forcing workers to sign allegedly illegal labor agreements, according to complaints filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, despite years of enforcement by the agency against the practice. Firms, including an Apple Inc. subcontractor, …

Signature Bank Faced Criminal Probe Ahead of Firm’s Collapse

US prosecutors were investigating Signature Bank’s work with crypto clients before regulators suddenly seized the lender this past weekend, according to people familiar with the matter. Justice Department investigators in Washington and Manhattan were examining whether the New York bank …

Shell Accused of Greenwashing by Climate Group in SEC Claim

A climate activist group is urging the US Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Shell Plc’s claims about its investments in renewable energy are misleading to investors. Global Witness said that it filed a complaint with the SEC’s Climate …

Trump Orders U.S. Exit from Pacific Trade Pact and Reset on NAFTA

President Donald Trump abruptly ended the decades-old U.S. tilt toward free trade by signing an executive order to withdraw from an Asia-Pacific accord that was never ratified and promising to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement. “Great thing for …