Joshua M. Newville
Joshua M. Newville is a partner in the Litigation Department and a member of Proskauer's White Collar Defense & Investigations Group and the Asset Management Litigation team.
Josh handles securities litigation, enforcement and regulatory matters, representing corporations and senior executives in civil and criminal investigations. In addition, Josh advises registered investment advisers and private fund managers on regulatory compliance, SEC exams, MNPI/insider trading and related risks.
Before joining Proskauer, Josh was senior counsel in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement, where he investigated and prosecuted violations of the federal securities laws. Josh served in the Enforcement Division’s Asset Management Unit, a specialized unit focusing on investment advisers and the asset management industry. His prior experience with the SEC provides a unique perspective to help asset managers manage risk and handle regulatory issues.
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A recent guilty plea in U.S. v. Wahi in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, a crypto insider trading case, sets up an interesting situation where the defendants — who have already pled guilty to wire fraud — are challenging the SEC’s parallel civil charges. Among other things, they are arguing … Continue Reading
The organizers of an initial coin offering (ICO) recently won dismissal of an investor’s fraud claims by establishing that their public risk disclosures negated the investor’s claims of reliance on alleged misstatements. The project, a video service provider’s ICO, was governed by a purchase agreement called a “Simple Agreement for Future Tokens” (“SAFT”). The plaintiff … Continue Reading
In late October, a New York district court refused to dismiss the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) indictment against defendant Nathaniel Chastain, who was charged with wire fraud and money laundering relating to his using insider knowledge to purchase non-fungible tokens (NFTs) prior to them being featured on OpenSea, an online NFT marketplace, and later selling … Continue Reading
Both the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and leader of the SEC agree that the crypto markets need regulating, and specific rules may help clarify which agency has authority to regulate various cryptocurrency activities. The client alert below discusses both CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam’s comments and SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s remarks during … Continue Reading
With new types of digital assets and related business on the rise, federal authorities have been busy investigating. Recently, the SEC, FinCEN and the CFTC have imposed some notable settlements involving cryptocurrency trading platforms for allegedly operating without appropriate approvals from financial regulatory authorities. This may be the start of the next wave of government … Continue Reading
Late last year, the SEC filed a litigated action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Ripple Labs Inc. and two of its executive officers (collectively, “Ripple”), alleging that Ripple raised over $1.3 billion in unregistered offerings of the digital asset known as XRP. Ripple opted not to file a motion … Continue Reading
One driver for the first widely adopted cryptocurrency Bitcoin was to create a store of value that existed outside of government control. It is therefore no surprise that attempts to regulate the rapidly developing crypto asset market have required great efforts from regulators and legislators around the world to keep apace. In this blog, we … Continue Reading
The SEC announced a pair of settled orders on Tuesday extending additional provisions of the securities laws over ICOs and other digital assets – the agency’s first ever enforcement actions of their kind. As the SEC has been suggesting for over a year, because digital assets offered and sold in initial coin offerings (“ICOs”) are … Continue Reading
Last week, former CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler explained in remarks at M.I.T. that he believes the second and third most widely used virtual currencies—Ether and Ripple—may have been issued and traded in violation of securities regulations. This comes on the heels of a crackdown on cryptocurrency-related securities by the SEC, which is particularly focused on … Continue Reading
In his recent remarks at the Securities Regulation Institute, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton had some stern words for market professionals, especially lawyers, involved in initial coin offerings (ICOs). He expressed concern that lawyers in the space “can do better” in their role as gatekeepers to the securities markets, particularly in advising clients whether the “coin” … Continue Reading
Law360 Expert Analysis: SEC Approach In Wahi Presents New Challenges For Crypto
Fraud Claims Against Token Issuer Dismissed Based on Disclosures to Accredited Investor
District Court Declines to Dismiss NFT “Insider Trading” Indictment against Former OpenSea Employee
By Joshua M. Newville and Jonathan Mollod on Posted in AML/KYC, Digital Assets, Enforcement Action, Litigation: Criminal, NFTs
CFTC Head Urges Congressional Action on Crypto while SEC Leader Says Crypto Rulemaking is “Years Away”
By Joshua M. Newville, Robert Sutton, Julia Alonzo and Michael Guggenheim on Posted in CFTC, Cryptocurrencies, Legislation, Regulation: Federal, SEC
U.S. Federal Regulators Turn Up the Heat on Cryptocurrency Trading Platforms
Three Critical Questions That Will (Hopefully) be Answered by the SEC’s Lawsuit against Ripple
Crypto Asset Regulation: Is the US or UK Keeping Up Best With This Emerging Market?
By Dorothy Murray, Joshua M. Newville, David W. Heck and Nicholas Petrie on Posted in Bitcoin, Cryptocurrencies, Digital Assets, Regulation: International, Securities
Crypto Crackdown – SEC Imposes Broker-Dealer and Investment Company Registration Provisions on Token Traders and a Crypto Fund
By Joshua M. Newville, Lucy C. Wolf and Robert E. Plaze on Posted in Digital Assets, Enforcement Action, SEC, Token Sales
Regulatory Scrutiny of the ICO Market – What Fund Managers Should Know
By Anthony M. Drenzek, Brian A. Hooven and Joshua M. Newville on Posted in Cryptocurrencies, Enforcement Action, Initial Coin Offerings, Regulation: Federal, SEC, Securities
Chairman Clayton Asks Lawyers to Knock it Off with the Unregistered Coin Offerings
By Jeffrey Neuburger and Joshua M. Newville on Posted in Regulation: Federal, SEC, Securities
