James Unger

Photo of James Unger
Firm/Organization: Proskauer Rose LLP
Blogs: Corporate Defense and Disputes

Latest Articles

The recently issued 2016 Regulatory and Examination Priorities Letter discloses FINRA’s new initiatives on market integrity and firm culture and reflects a focus on firms’ supervision regarding conflicts of interest and technology. Regulatory concern over many of these issues has been previously reported in this blog here, here, here and here.…
On Thursday, the SEC announced charges against several senior executives of Penson Financial Services Inc., once the second-largest clearing broker-dealer in the country, and its parent corporation, Penson Worldwide, Inc., again highlighting the regulatory risks associated with supervisory responsibilities.…
Reflecting increased regulatory willingness to discipline principals and supervisors, FINRA recently announced that it had imposed an industry bar on the former president of a defunct broker-dealer, along with five registered representatives who likewise were barred in all capacities. FINRA also barred two former principals from continuing to act in a principal capacity and imposed additional sanctions on other former employees.…
Mark Harris, a partner in Proskauer’s White Collar Defense and Investigations Group, recently spoke to Joe Mont at Compliance Week to discuss the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s proposed changes to the guidelines for punishment of white collar crime.  Besides his ongoing focus on white collar sentencing in his legal practice, Harris serves as a member of the Board of Editors of the Federal Sentencing Reporter, and is a contributor to the leading treatise Practice Under the…
As previously reported on this blog here and here, the United States Sentencing Commission has proposed amendments to the widely criticized federal sentencing guidelines for economic crimes. On April 9, 2015, after hearing extensive public comment on the proposed amendments, the Commission voted to adopt an amended version of the Sentencing Guidelines which will take effect November 1st absent objection by Congress. The changes are significant but not sweeping. Commission Chair Judge Patti B.…
May defendants charged in SEC administrative proceedings challenge the constitutionality of those proceedings in federal district court? The determination of whether district courts have subject matter jurisdiction over such challenges has become the critical prelude in the ongoing controversy over the SEC’s seemingly arbitrary use of its “home court” alternative to pursue claims and remedies against violators of the federal securities laws. Dodd Frank gives the SEC the power to impose civil penalties in cease-and-desist…
As previously reported on this blog, the U.S. Sentencing Commission has proposed several amendments to the federal sentencing guidelines for economic crimes. The amendments are designed to address criticism that § 2B1.1 of the Guidelines is vague, that it treats defendants who have secondary roles with undue harshness, and that it suggests disproportionately severe sentences for first-time offenders. On March 18, 2015, the Sentencing Commission heard commentary and reviewed letters in response to a…
In recent years, a growing chorus of federal judges and defense attorneys have protested that the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for economic crimes regularly recommend inconsistent and unjust sentences. Critics claim that § 2B1.1 of the Guidelines suffers from a lack of clarity, that it treats defendants who have secondary roles in large schemes with undue harshness, and that it produces suggested prison terms that are disproportionately severe for first-time offenders who are not likely to…