Insider Trading Trends - Key Cases and Enforcement Priorities

David Willingham focuses on white-collar criminal defense and complex litigation matters. He has represented numerous individuals and entities facing governmental investigations and other complex litigation issues in both state and federal courts around the country. David has deep experience in dealing with high-profile cases, having prosecuted and defended many matters of public interest, including those involving health care fraud, financial fraud and money laundering charges. He has handled numerous parallel investigations with the SEC and other regulatory bodies, as well as numerous successful appeals before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Prior to entering private practice, David was the Deputy Chief of the Major Frauds Section of the United States Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California. In that capacity, he spent two years supervising the subsection responsible for all health-care-fraud-related prosecutions within the district.

David has been designated as a leader by Chambers USA, Martindale-Hubbell, and other publications. Five times, from 2016-2019 and 2021, David was honored as one of California’s Top 100 Lawyers by the state’s leading legal publication. David is also a nationally recognized speaker, often speaking at events around the country on issues facing litigators and judicial officers.

David is also a respected member of the legal community. He previously served as the president of the Federal Bar Association of Los Angeles, and the co-chair of the Lawyer Representatives for the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference.

In the past, David has also served as co-chair of the ABA’s National Committee on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the ABA’s Securities Fraud Committee, and the ABA’s Financial Institution Fraud Committee.

Rahul Kohlhatkar is an Assistant Regional Director, Division of Enforcement, at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

A graduate of UC Berkeley and Columbia Law School, Samantha began her legal career as an associate at Heller Ehrman LLP and Covington & Burling LLP. From 2013 to 2016, she served as a Staff Attorney in the Division of Enforcement of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission where she investigated cases involving accounting and financial fraud and investment adviser fraud. In 2017, Samantha returned to Covington and advised companies conducting high stakes internal investigations and responding to DOJ and SEC investigations. After acting as outside counsel for Uber Technologies, Inc. for several matters, Samantha recently joined Uber's Government Investigations & Special Matters team, which handles government-related inquiries and investigations.

John Sikora is a member of the Litigation & Trial Department. Mr. Sikora represents companies and their officers and directors in SEC and FINRA enforcement investigations and examinations. Mr. Sikora’s clients include public companies, fund managers, investment advisers, and financial services firms. Mr. Sikora also advises clients on securities-related compliance.
Prior to joining Latham & Watkins, he was an Assistant Director in the Chicago Regional Office and in the Asset Management Unit of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, a national specialized unit that focuses on misconduct by investment advisers, investment companies, and private funds.
During his 16 year tenure at the SEC, Mr. Sikora was responsible for supervising all types of SEC enforcement activities, including investigations involving public company accounting fraud and other disclosure violations, misconduct by investment advisers, broker-dealers and auditors, and insider trading. Many of the investigations supervised by Mr. Sikora resulted in parallel prosecutions by the Department of Justice.
Mr. Sikora is a frequent speaker and panelist on securities law issues. Mr. Sikora earned the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designation in April 2012.

Amy Jane Longo is a partner in Ropes & Gray’s litigation and enforcement practice group, specializing in securities enforcement and securities litigation. Amy has more than 25 years of experience representing and prosecuting companies and individuals, with a focus on the financial services industry.

Amy was previously Regional Trial Counsel for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Los Angeles Regional Office in the Division of Enforcement. She oversaw all litigation brought by the SEC’s Los Angeles Regional Office—from pre-filing through trial or resolution—in federal district court and SEC administrative proceedings. While at the SEC, Amy supervised cases involving offering frauds, financial reporting and disclosures, accounting, cryptocurrency, insider trading, market manipulation, securities registration, broker dealers, investment advisers, investment companies, and FCPA. In addition to running the trial unit, she also served as lead trial counsel on securities enforcement matters.

Prior to joining the SEC in 2013, Amy was a litigation partner in the Los Angeles office of a major international law firm, where she practiced for fifteen years with a focus on securities and derivative suits and financial services litigation.