Brief Fact Summary. Fehn (Defendant), an attorney representing CTI Technical, Inc. (CTI), had a suit brought against him, its founder, its officers and directors and its underwriter, by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) (Plaintiff), in an investigation of CTI’s initial public offering (IPO), and alleged Fehn of aiding and abetting violations of §§ 10(b) and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by helping the preparation of fabricated and misleading Form 10-Qs for CTI.
Synopsis of Rule of Law. An attorney aids and abets a violation of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by editing and submittinga Form 10-Q that he is cognizant includes misrepresentations and omissions that constitute violations of the Securities Exchange Act to the SEC,under § 104 of the Private Securities LitigationAct of 1995.
Issue. Does an attorney aids and abet a violation of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by editing and submitting a Form 10-Q that he is cognizant includes misrepresentations and omissions that constitute violations of the Securities Exchange Act to the SEC, under § 104 of the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995?
Held. (Hawkins, J.) Yes.An attorney aids and abets a violation of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by editing and submitting a Form 10-Q that he is cognizant includes misrepresentations and omissions that constitute violations of the Securities Exchange Act to the SEC, under § 104 of the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995. The SEC is authorized to pursue injunctive actions for aiding and abetting violations of certain securities laws against “any person that knowingly provides substantial assistance to another person in violation of a provision of this chapter…†by Section 104 of the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995. In Central Bank of Denver v. First Interstate Bank of Denver, 511 U.S. 164 (1994), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a private plaintiff may not maintain an action for aiding and abetting violations of § 10(b) of the Act.Congress utilized language identical to that utilized by lower federal courts in expressing the components of aiding and abetting under § 10(b) before Central Bank eradicatedprivate causes of action like that in Section 104. Congress’ intention of Section 104 to preserve the definition of aiding and abetting as it existed prior to Central Bank is strongly indicated by the symmetry between the components of aiding and abetting previous to Central Bank but post Section 104. The first component must be an independent primary violation, in this case, the failure of the Form 10-Qs to list Wheeler as CTI’s promoter during the time of the IPO and to reveal the contingent liabilities coming from previous violations of securities laws is the primary violation. The next component is demonstrating substantial assistance in the primary violation. Participating in the editing of information for the purpose of marketing securities is included in the “substantial assistance†interpretation. In this case, Fehn stated that he reviewed the original drafts of the Form 10-Qs and altering those documents personally. As a result of his participation in editing the forms and submitting them for filing to the SEC, Fehn fulfilled the requirement of “substantial assistance†to the primary violations. Fehn insisted the professional advice he gave to CTI and Wheeler was in good faith, however, Fehn’s attempts to stop violations of the law failed to be “reasonable†taking into consideration the obvious banned misrepresentations and omissions contained by the Form 10-Qs. The last component is knowledge that the purported aider and abettor of the primary violations and of his or her aide of it, also known as scienter. As showcased here, it is obvious that Fehn was aware of the primary violations and was aware that Wheeler did not desire any implicating information disclosed in the Form 10-Q reports. So, Fehn must have been aware when he opted to edited those forms that permitted the misrepresentations and omissions to perpetuate would continue the primary violations. It is also to be noted that the district court was not erroneous in enforcing a lifetime ban on Fehn from future aiding and abetting violations of the Securities Act of 1934. Affirmed.
In order to invoke the privilege it is necessary to show that the compelled disclosures will themselves confront the claimant with substantial hazards of self-incrimination.
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