US - Second Circuit Rejects Applying Dirks to Section 1348 Insider Trading Charges

In a decision issued at the end of 2019, the Second Circuit rejected the argument that Exchange Act insider trading case law – in particular, the Dirks v. SEC “personal benefit" test – should apply to cases brought under 18 USC 1348, a criminal securities fraud provision adopted in 2002 as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. In United States v. Blaszczak, the defendants had been convicted of misappropriating confidential nonpublic information from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and d