Alex Janghorbani

Alexander Janghorbani’s practice focuses on complex securities issues, litigation and enforcement, informed by nearly nine years of service with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Firm/Organization: Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP

Blogs: Cleary Enforcement Watch

Latest Articles

Cleary Enforcement Watch

SEC and CFTC Chairs Sign Enhanced Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding Expanding Cross-Border Enforcement Cooperation

By Breon S. Peace, Nowell D. Bamberger, Alex Janghorbani, Martine B. Forneret & Alison Bitterly on June 3, 2019

On May 15, 2019, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) announced that they entered into an Enhanced Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding Concerning Consultation and the Exchange of Information (“Enhanced MMoU”) under the auspices of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (“IOSCO”), along with nine other international financial regulators.[1] Both the SEC and CFTC are already signatories to IOSCO’s predecessor memorandum of understanding with 121…

Cleary Enforcement Watch

FINRA Publishes AML Red Flags to Help Broker-Dealers Satisfy Suspicious Activity Monitoring and Reporting Requirements

By Alexis Collins, Carl F. Emigholz, Alex Janghorbani & Jim Wintering on May 24, 2019

On May 6, 2019, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) issued Regulatory Notice 19-18, addressing members’[1] anti-money laundering (“AML”) compliance programs. This notice focused extensively on members’ monitoring for suspicious activities and subsequent suspicious activity report (“SAR”) filing obligations, providing 97 examples of “money laundering red flags” to securities industry market participants. Where applicable to a members’ business operations, FINRA encouraged broker-dealers to take a “risk-based approach” to AML compliance and incorporate these…

Cleary Enforcement Watch

Supreme Court Finds Rule 10b-5’s “Scheme Liability” Provisions Reach Use of False Statement

By Roger A. Cooper, Victor L. Hou, Alex Janghorbani, Leslie N. Silverman, Robin M. Bergen & Matthew C. Solomon on April 1, 2019

On March 27, 2019, the Supreme Court issued a 6-to-2 decision in Lorenzo v. SEC focusing on the distinction between “making” a false statement under Exchange Act Rule 10b-5(b) and engaging in deceptive conduct—so-called “scheme liability”—under Rules 10b-5(a) and (c). The Court upheld a D.C. Circuit majority decision concluding that the SEC could hold an investment banker primarily liable for circulating false emails to investors even where he did not personally author the content of those messages.…

Cleary Enforcement Watch

CFTC Enforcement Division Issues New Advisory on Self-Reporting and Cooperation

By Nowell D. Bamberger, Alex Janghorbani & Samantha Del Duca on March 15, 2019

On March 6, 2019, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) Enforcement Division released an advisory (the “Advisory”) on self-reporting and cooperation for violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) that involve foreign corrupt practices.[1] The Advisory lays out guidelines for companies or individuals “not registered (or required to be registered) with the CFTC” to receive significant cooperation credit for voluntarily and timely disclosing CEA violations involving foreign corrupt practices.[2] Indeed,…

Cleary Enforcement Watch

District Court Acquits Barclays FX Trader of Fraud Charges

By Victor L. Hou, Alex Janghorbani & Emily R. Scherker on March 13, 2019

On March 4, a federal judge of the Northern District of California granted a directed verdict motion in favor of Robert Bogucki, the former head of Barclays’ foreign exchange (“FX”) trading desk. Bogucki went to trial on charges that he had engaged in a “front-running” scheme to manipulate the FX options market in advance of a client’s corporate transaction. Following the government’s presentation of its case at trial, Judge Charles Breyer acquitted Bogucki, finding that…

Cleary Enforcement Watch

CFTC Issues First Whistleblower Award Originating From Both a Related Action and a Company Outsider

By Jennifer Kennedy Park, Nowell D. Bamberger, Alex Janghorbani & Jim Wintering on March 11, 2019

On March 4, 2019, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) announced a whistleblower award of over $2 million to an individual—unaffiliated with the company the CFTC charged—for providing expert analysis in conjunction with a related action instituted by another federal regulator. While the Securities and Exchange Commission, which possesses a similar whistleblower award regime,[1] has previously issued awards to multiple claimants for both related actions[2] and to company outsiders,[3] this is the…

Cleary Enforcement Watch

SEC Issues First ICO Enforcement Action Against a Self-Reporting Token Issuer

By Pamela L. Marcogliese, Matthew C. Solomon, Alex Janghorbani & Jim Wintering on February 28, 2019

On February 20, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC” or “Commission”) issued a cease-and-desist order against Gladius Network LLC (“Gladius”) concerning its 2017 initial coin offering (“ICO”). The SEC found that the Gladius ICO violated the Securities Act of 1933’s (“Securities Act”) prohibition against the public offer or sale of any securities not made pursuant to either an effective registration statement on file with the SEC or under an exemption from registration.[1] …

Cleary Enforcement Watch

DOJ Issues Twelfth Declination Letter Under FCPA Cooperation Policy

By Jennifer Kennedy Park, Alex Janghorbani & Thomas Galvão Graham on February 19, 2019

On February 15, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) announced that it had settled—on a no-admit, no-deny basis—with Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation (“Cognizant”) for alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “FCPA”) involving Cognizant’s former president and chief legal officer.[1] The same day, the Department of Justice (the “DOJ”) indicted the two former executives and the SEC filed a civil complaint seeking permanent injunctions, monetary penalties, and officer-and-director bars against…

Cleary Enforcement Watch

SEC Announces Enforcement Cases on Public Company Internal Controls

By Alejandro Canelas Fernandez, Sandra Flow, Nick Grabar, Alex Janghorbani & Tapan R. Oza on February 5, 2019

On January 29, 2019, the SEC announced four settlements with publicly-traded companies for failure to maintain adequate internal control over financial reporting. None of the companies was charged with making false or inaccurate statements, either about its ICFR or otherwise; indeed, each had repeatedly disclosed material weaknesses in ICFR over many years. These cases are interesting for at least three reasons: They were announced together to send a message about the SEC’s focus on its…

Cleary Enforcement Watch

Tenth Circuit Affirms Ruling Allowing SEC to Bring Securities Fraud Claims Over Certain Foreign Transactions

By Leslie N. Silverman, Abena Mainoo, Matthew C. Solomon & Alex Janghorbani on January 30, 2019

Last week, in SEC v. Scoville, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that Dodd-Frank allows the Securities and Exchange Commission to bring fraud claims based on sales of securities to foreign buyers where defendants engage in fraudulent conduct within the United States. In so holding, the Court concluded that Dodd-Frank abrogated in part the Supreme Court’s rule, announced in Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd., that fraud claims under the federal securities laws can only be…

Alex Janghorbani

SEC and CFTC Chairs Sign Enhanced Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding Expanding Cross-Border Enforcement Cooperation

FINRA Publishes AML Red Flags to Help Broker-Dealers Satisfy Suspicious Activity Monitoring and Reporting Requirements

Supreme Court Finds Rule 10b-5’s “Scheme Liability” Provisions Reach Use of False Statement

CFTC Enforcement Division Issues New Advisory on Self-Reporting and Cooperation

District Court Acquits Barclays FX Trader of Fraud Charges

CFTC Issues First Whistleblower Award Originating From Both a Related Action and a Company Outsider

SEC Issues First ICO Enforcement Action Against a Self-Reporting Token Issuer

DOJ Issues Twelfth Declination Letter Under FCPA Cooperation Policy

SEC Announces Enforcement Cases on Public Company Internal Controls

Tenth Circuit Affirms Ruling Allowing SEC to Bring Securities Fraud Claims Over Certain Foreign Transactions

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