Paul Leder, former director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Office of International Affairs, was quoted on the challenges faced by the SEC in its investigation of Chinese companies with listings in the U.S. China recently passed a law preventing its citizens and companies from complying with foreign securities regulators without the permission from the Chinese government. "Even when a company wants to cooperate with an SEC investigation, it can no longer do so directly due to this new legal obstacle," said Leder. "One likely obstacle to the CSRC cooperating with the SEC is that the Ministry of Justice will be looking over the CSRC's shoulder to make sure it is not providing mutual legal assistance to U.S. criminal authorities."