SPAC Category Archives — Securities Fraud Lawyers Blog Published by Securities Fraud Attorneys

SEC Sets its Sights on SPACs With Newly Proposed Disclosure Rules

Published on: April 4, 2022 | by Savage Villoch Law, PLLC

On Wednesday, March 30^th, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced newly proposed rules and rule amendments governing Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs), shell companies, and the projections that these companies make. The aggregate proposed rule is aimed at heightening investor protections for those who choose to invest in SPACs and shell companies, where such investor protections are currently quite slim.

Understanding the new rules necessitates a working understanding of SPACs themselves. SPACs are a form of “blank-check” company, in which capital is raised by investors through an Initial Public Offering (IPO). [2] SPAC IPOs differ greatly from traditional IPOs, however, in that at the time of a SPAC IPO, the SPAC has no physical operations of its own. [2] Instead, post-IPO, a SPAC is granted a two year term during which it must acquire or merge with an existing company, thereby taking that company public without ever going through the traditional, and often costly, IPO process. [2]

New SPAC IPOs have been on a meteoric rise since 2020. In 2019, just 59 SPAC IPOs occurred, while 2020 saw 247 and 2021 saw a record 613 SPAC IPOs. [2] These 613 SPAC IPOs in 2021 represented over $160 billion of capital raised. [2]

SEC Report Weighs in on January Meme Stock Frenzy

Published on: October 25, 2021 | by Savage Villoch Law, PLLC

Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) released its long-awaited report formally debriefing the events that transpired during the January and February 2021 meme stock craze. The 44-page report, titled “Staff Report on Equity and Options Market Structure Conditions in Early 2021” provides SEC staff’s analysis of the mechanisms behind the meme stock phenomenon, ultimately debunking a few theories made popular over social media and other media outlets as the events unfolded.

By way of a brief overview, in January 2021 a group of about 100 stocks experienced monumental price and trading volume fluctuations. These stocks, many of which were consumer-centered companies with high brand awareness, gained rapid attention over social media platforms like Reddit and YouTube.

While the SEC’s report addresses the events and impacts of the meme stock phenomenon broadly, it focuses the bulk of its analysis around GameStop Corp (“GME”), arguably the most famous of the meme stocks.

The Latest in SPACs – Investment Companies, or Not?

Published on: September 7, 2021 | by Savage Villoch Law, PLLC

Should a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (“SPAC”) be classified as an investment company? This is the question currently plaguing the SPAC industry, creating a divisive split between a long list of America’s biggest law firms on one side, and two preeminent securities law professors interested in investor protection on the other.

Robert Jackson, a professor at NYU School of Law and former SEC Commissioner, and John Morley, a Yale Law School professor, recently filed three suits against high-profiles SPACs in New York federal court. The suits argue that each SPAC is operating as an unregistered investment company, and under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “Act”), compensation paid to the SPAC’s sponsors and directors was illegal and void under the Act. However, in the decades-long history of SPACs, these entities have never been classified as investment companies under the Act, nor has the SEC purported that they should.

At the center of this debate lie two secondary, though potentially even more important, questions: what is a SPAC, and what is a SPAC’s primary purpose? The answer to these questions determines whether SPACs should indeed be classified as investment companies under the Act, as Jackson and Morley contend, or whether SPACs may continue to operate independently of the Act, as the SPAC industry and a wide coalition of law firms believe.

Retail Investor Beware: EV Companies Face Securities Fraud Scrutiny

Published on: August 9, 2021 | by Savage Villoch Law, PLLC

The recent announcement of securities fraud charges against Trevor Milton, the former CEO of Nikola Corporation, may prove to be the first in a line of similar cases involving electric vehicle (“EV”) companies, and more broadly, companies that go public via SPACs. This situation highlights the importance of careful investment decision making, particularly in the EV and other rapidly growing, highly complex industries.

At the heart of the civil and criminal complaints against Nikola are allegations that as its CEO, Trevor Milton, regularly spread false and misleading information about the progress of Nikola’s EV products and technologies. Nikola’s focus is on manufacturing low- and zero-emissions trucks, and the complaints allege in part that under Milton, Nikola published a promotional video of a prototype truck which did not actually work, but appeared to only because the truck was set in neutral and rolled down a hill. [1]

Promotional videos like that one, along with Milton’s enthusiastic social media posts and numerous podcast and television appearances, all painted a picture of exciting and impressive forward progress at Nikola, which Federal prosecutors and SEC regulators allege was nothing more than an illusion. [2]

Margin Investing with Robinhood – Do the Risks Outweigh Rewards?

Published on: April 12, 2021 | by Savage Villoch Law, PLLC

Margin investing offers the opportunity to super-charge investments, but it also holds quite a bit of risk. Recent market volatility has shed a light on some of these risks, particularly for users of app-based platforms like Robinhood.

Let’s consider an example of margin investing with Robinhood. An investor deposits $5,000 cash into a margin account, and Robinhood lends another $5,000 to allow the investor $10,000 worth of securities. The “margin” is the difference between the value of the securities and the loan from Robinhood. This type of investing increases both purchasing power and financial leverage. [1]

If the securities in the margin account increase in value, the investor has the opportunity for a higher profit than they would have had they invested $10,000 of their own.