No, in this cass (that is, the case of the article under discussion) his job is to act as a PR representative of the company in the course of action it has chosen which is leading to imminent legal conflict with the SEC.
It’s true that he also had the job you discuss, but this article isn't the output of that job; that would be found in confidential internal advisory memos to the board and other executives.
It’s not a binary: Is this legal?
It’s: Can we get away with this?
I'm confused, is patent experience particularly relevant to this case about securities law?
> A "Wells Notice" is a letter sent by a securities regulator to a prospective respondent, notifying him of the substance of charges that the regulator intends to bring against the respondent, and affording the respondent with the opportunity to submit a written statement to the ultimate decision maker.
So did they receive a notice with the charges or didn't they?
To me: "planning" is the key term.
Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wells_notice
The Wiki article is short and dense. I highly recommend it!
Grewal was a federal (magistrate) judge in SF before he quit to go work at Facebook. Everyone I know that has appeared before him has thought that he was very good. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt - his entire legal career has been patents. Perhaps he truly doesn't see how this applies. But you are right, this just seems... off.
EDIT - I've read this a few times, and despite where it says that this is not an investment or note, it sure sounds similar to the unsecured demand notes that some car companies use for their captive finance operations (in day-to-day operations, they are virtually indistinguishable from an interest-bearing checking account). And those are most definitely SEC-registered securities.
See:
https://www.rightnotes.com
https://www.wsj.com/articles/car-maker-notes-attract-investo...
https://www.ford.com/finance/investor-center/ford-interest-a...