The SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (“OCIE”) recently released its Examination Priorities for 2015. The priorities represent certain practices and products that OCIE believes present a potentially higher risk to investors and/or the integrity of the US capital markets. In 2015, OCIE’s priorities focus on issues involving investment…
Annual Compliance Obligations—What You Need To Know As the new year is upon us, there are some important annual compliance obligations Investment Advisers either registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) or with a particular state (“Investment Adviser”) and Commodity Pool Operators (“CPOs”) or Commodity Trading Advisors (“CTAs”)…
Now that enforcement agencies have determined that digital currencies are more than a passing fad, they are establishing more permanent efforts focused on the novel legal issues digital currencies present. The SEC’s formation of its multi-office Digital Currency Working Group may foreshadow an increase in the agency’s exercise of regulatory…
By William M. Sullivan, Jr. and Jay B. Gould Under the Second Circuit’s new ruling, prosecutors have two large hurdles they must clear to convict under securities laws. First, they must prove that a defendant knew that the source of inside information disclosed tips in exchange for a personal benefit.…
On November 25, 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) brought charges against a Swiss-based bank that should serve as notice to all non-U.S. banks that maintain relationships with clients who have moved to the U.S., as well as U.S.-based banks that provide services to clients who have relocated…
On October 29, 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced an administrative enforcement action against an investment advisory firm and three top officials for violating rule 206(4)-2 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (“Advisers Act”), the “custody rule,” that requires firms to follow certain procedures when they control…
On September 22, 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) charged private equity fund adviser, Lincolnshire Management, Inc. (“Lincolnshire”), with misallocating expenses shared between two portfolio companies. Lincolnshire integrated two portfolio companies that were each owned by a different Lincolnshire private equity fund. Lincolnshire owed a fiduciary duty to…
On September 16, 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced the latest sanctions in a continuing enforcement initiative against certain hedge fund advisers and private equity firms that have participated in an offering of a stock after short selling it during a restricted period in contravention of SEC rules.…
In a press release yesterday, the CFTC issued an exemptive letter, CFTC Letter No. 14-116, providing relief from certain provisions of CFTC Regulations 4.7(b) and 4.13(a)(3) that restrict marketing to the public. The exemptive relief was issued to make CFTC Regulations 4.7(b) and 4.13(a)(3) consistent with SEC Rule 506(c) of…
At the Intersection of Faith and Illiteracy. In what may have been one of the more interesting weeks this year for SEC enforcement actions, the Enforcement Division brought a number of actions last week, several of which will make you wonder if the warnings that we issued when the JOBS…