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Peter Chan

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Peter K.M. Chan is a member of Baker McKenzie’s North American Financial Regulation and Enforcement Practice, which provides our clients with a full range of regulatory advice and enforcement counseling. Peter brings two decades of experience at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to his litigation and counseling work. His tenure at the SEC, as well as a stint as Special Assistant US Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois, have given Peter experience with civil and criminal matters. At the SEC, Peter served as assistant regional director in the Chicago regional office, where he led investigations and litigations of high-profile enforcement cases. In the course of his SEC career, he handled corporate issuer disclosure and reporting violations, financial fraud, auditor independence violations, insider trading, broker-dealer misconduct and failure to supervise cases, hedge fund and investment company fraud, and Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley violations. As the head of the Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit at the SEC's Chicago office, he oversaw cases involving municipalities and public pensions throughout the Midwest, including disclosure failures by states, cities, and underwriters in municipal bond offerings; pay-to-play and public corruption; and securities fraud victimizing municipalities and public pensions. Peter also served in national leadership roles within the SEC's Enforcement Division. Peter acted as national leader of the Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation (MCDC) Initiative. He also served as co-chair of the Priorities and Resources Subcommittee of the Division of Enforcement Advisory Committee and was one of the original architects of the SEC Financial Reporting and Audit Task Force. Peter's experience in criminal securities fraud cases includes serving as Special Assistant US Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois in a criminal investigation into market abuse by a Chicago broker-dealer, resulting in guilty pleas by several senior executives at the firm. In 2014, Peter received the SEC's prestigious Paul R. Carey Award for his [e]xceptional personal commitment and effectiveness as a member of the Division of Enforcement.
In Anti-Corruption

US: Looking Back & Looking Ahead: A Series of Analyses of the Past Year in Financial Regulation and Enforcement and What to Expect in the Coming Year

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SEC 2020: Expect SEC Enforcement to Cast Wide Net on Corporate Disclosure This is the second installment in our series of year-end analyses of the year in securities regulation and enforcement. Based on our ongoing analysis of SEC enforcement actions in 2019, we expect the SEC’s Division of Enforcement to…

In Anti-Corruption

US: SCOTUS Appears Willing to Let SEC Disgorgement Stand

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On March 3, 2020, the US Supreme Court heard oral argument on whether the SEC has the authority to obtain disgorgement of “ill-gotten gains” in federal court for securities law violations. During the oral argument, in their questioning, the Justices frequently referred back to district courts’ inherent authority to enter…

In Anti-Corruption

US: Looking Back & Looking Ahead: Financial Regulation and Enforcement 2019/2020

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Welcome to the first of our series of year-end analyses of the year in securities regulation and enforcement. First, we will consider the past year “by the numbers,” the statistics that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), or more specifically, its component Divisions and Offices, release annually. Later parts of…

In Anti-Corruption

US: SEC Regulatory and Enforcement Trends: How to Prepare for the SEC in 2020

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View presentation At the recent roundtable discussion, “SEC Regulatory and Enforcement Trends: How to Prepare for the SEC in 2020,” held at the Baker McKenzie Chicago office, our North America Financial Regulation & Enforcement team talked about what to expect from the Staff in 2020. Drawing from their collective SEC regulatory…

In Corporate Governance

SEC Enforcement Annual Report: Retail Focus Raises Regulatory Risk for Investment Advisers

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The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Division of Enforcement recently issued its 2019 Annual Report (ENF Annual Report), which you can read in full here. Of course, the headline is always how many cases did the Enforcement Staff bring and how much money did they collect and distribute and,…

In Anti-Corruption

SCOTUS to Review SEC Disgorgement Power

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On November 1st, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments on whether the SEC has the authority to obtain disgorgement of “ill-gotten gains” in federal court for securities law violations.  The SEC historically has been successful in obtaining monetary relief from defendants through disgorgement, which the SEC has asserted…

In North America

SEC Staff Publishes Guidance on Investment Adviser Disclosure of Financial Conflicts of Interest

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The Division of Investment Management recently issued guidance on the obligation of investment advisers to disclose financial conflicts of interest in the form of Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Disclosure of Certain Financial Conflicts Related to Investment Adviser Compensation (the “Guidance”).  The Guidance substantiates (and to some degree legitimizes) the positions…