With less than one month to go before the 2018 elections, the ground is shifting for major political donors. Developments over the last several years, and especially in the last few months, show that the rules of the road are changing with respect to many of the common election law issues faced by high net … Continue Reading
Over the next nine weeks, the Trump Presidential Transition team will formulate policy and staffing recommendations for the new administration. This alert gives a broad overview of the Transition and the laws that regulate interactions with Transition team members on issues related to appointments and policy recommendations. Persons interested in this topic may also wish … Continue Reading
Companies are increasingly hiring out of the federal workforce, only to find that their new hires are restricted by “revolving door” rules that prohibit their participation in certain matters – sometimes for a limited time, sometimes permanently. New rules issued recently by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (“OGE”) serve as a reminder that, even … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
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. … Continue Reading
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 in … Continue Reading
A Wall Street Journal article says that a report published today by the Government Accountability Office “urges” 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 year, the … Continue Reading
With near-unanimous bipartisan majorities, Congress last year passed the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (“STOCK”) Act in an effort to confront alleged insider trading by federal officials. A major part of that legislation required that financial information of high-level government employees be disclosed in a searchable, sortable, and downloadable internet database. Although the officials’ underlying … Continue Reading
Late yesterday afternoon, a federal judge temporarily enjoined enforcement of the STOCK Act against executive-branch employees. The STOCK Act, originally enacted to prohibit insider trading by members of Congress, also requires that members of Congress, their staffs, and senior executive branch employees promptly disclose any personal transactions involving securities. The disclosures would be published on … Continue Reading
