Prompted by SEC Enforcement's recent cautionary remarks to companies about the COVID-19-related heightened risks of insider trading and selective disclosure of material inside information (reported on here), Cleary's "Insider Trading Risk During the COVID-19 Outbreak" advises companies to: (i) consider providing virtual training on insider trading - and material nonpublic information specifically - to employees who may more likely be in possession of this type of information for the first time; (ii) keep insider trading policies and training materials up to date on what constitutes lawful/unlawful conduct; (iii) consider facilitating entry into 10b5-1 plans for more employees during an open trading window than the company has facilitated historically given the likely greater exposure to material nonpublic information about the company; and (iv) educate and remind employees about good cyber hygiene, particularly in the context of remote work arrangements.
Access numerous additional resources on our Insider Trading and Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources pages. This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!