political intelligence

In a rare move, the Securities & Exchange Commission has assessed penalties against a political intelligence firm for failing to adopt adequate policies to prevent the flow of inside governmental information to the firm’s clients.  The enforcement action is particularly noteworthy because all the factual allegations took place in 2010, before Congress passed the STOCK

According to a key advocate, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA)  is preparing to renew his push for legislation aimed at expanding disclosure of political intelligence gathering.  Speaking with BNA, Craig Holman of Public Citizen said yesterday (subscription required) that bipartisan legislation will soon be introduced in both the House and Senate that would

In the ever-changing world of corporate political law regulation, one of the new kids on the block is the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012 (“STOCK Act”).  This new law was intended to apply criminal insider trading laws to trading on material, non-public information obtained from Congress, the executive branch, or the judiciary. 

Covington’s cross-disciplinary team of political lawyers and securities lawyers that has been advising clients on STOCK Act compliance and enforcement issues for more than a year today issued a new client advisory, which is available here.  The advisory outlines examples of steps that companies can take to address STOCK Act risks, in an environment

A Wall Street Journal article says that a report published today by the Government Accountability Officeurges” the creation of a new disclosure regime for political intelligence firms.  That’s not how we read the report.

As background, when the Senate passed the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act (the “STOCK Act”) 96-3 last