Heminway discusses the role of securities laws in company statements

Heminway, JoanJoan Heminway, the W.P. Toms Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Tennessee College of Law, recently spoke to the International Business Times about recent statements made by four top financial firms that may violate federal securities laws that bar corporate officials from making public statements that might deceive investors.

“Securities laws are put there to hold people’s feet to the fire to make sure that public statements they are making are not inconsistent. But when they open their mouths, people have to tell investors the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,” said Heminway in the article. “For political reasons these companies are making statements because they don’t want additional regulation; but on the other hand, they also want to assure investors that nothing material or significant is going to impact their businesses. In doing so they create an environment in which investors could be misled.”

Read the full article at the International Business Times.