Dec. 14 Pretrial Conference Set in SEC’s Fraud Complaint vs. SolarWinds

An initial pretrial conference is set for Dec. 14 at 2 p.m. on the SEC’s Oct. 30 securities fraud complaint against SolarWinds and Timothy Brown, its chief information security officer (see 2310310041), said an order signed Wednesday (docket 1:23-cv-09518) by U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer for Southern New York in Manhattan. The parties also are to submit a joint proposed case management plan by Monday, said the order. The Dec. 14 conference will be held in person, it added. Engelmayer’s judgment “is that an in-person, rather than telephonic, conference, is better suited to the demands of this complex case,” said the order. The SEC’s 10-count complaint alleges that SolarWinds and Brown “defrauded investors through misstatements, omissions, and schemes that concealed” the company’s “poor cybersecurity practices and its heightened -- and increasing -- cybersecurity risks.”