Written by: Jessica M. Brown The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced sanctions today against Western Asset Management Company (“Western Asset”), a subsidiary of Legg Mason. Western Asset is an SEC-registered investment adviser and reported $442.7 billion in assets under management as…
Written by: Joseph T. Lynyak, III and Anthony H. Schouten More than three years following the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act, and intense inter-agency negotiations, the federal financial regulatory agencies collectively adopted the final version of the “Volcker Rule,” or “Rule”—which imposes new and potentially severe limitations on domestic and…
Today, the Securities and Exchange Commission published its 2014 priorities for its National Examination Program (“NEP”). These priorities cover a wide range of issues at financial institutions, including investment advisers and investment companies, broker-dealers, clearing agencies, exchanges and other self-regulatory organizations, hedge funds, private equity funds, and transfer agents. Similar…
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”) registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission…
Written by: Jay B. Gould On December 12, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged a London-based hedge fund adviser and its former U.S.-based holding company with internal controls failures that led to the overvaluation of a fund’s assets and inflated fee revenue for the firms. The investigation came…
Written by: Jay B. Gould, Michael G. Wu and Jessica M. Brown In January, 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced its Enforcement Cooperation Initiative (“Initiative”), which provided the SEC with the ability to offer certain individuals or entities immunity or other preferential treatment in exchange for information about…
Written by: Jay B. Gould and Jessica M. Brown On October 28, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) brought enforcement actions and imposed sanctions on three different registered advisers and their principals for violations of Rule 206(4)-2 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the “Custody Rule”). The circumstances…
Written by: Jay B. Gould On October 23, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) voted unanimously to propose rules under the JOBS Act to permit companies to offer and sell securities through crowdfunding. Crowdfunding describes an evolving method of raising capital that has been used outside of the securities…
Written by: Jay B. Gould On October 23, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) brought charges against three different investment advisory firms for recidivist behavior. The enforcement actions came out of the SEC’s Compliance Program Initiative, which targets firms that have been previously warned by SEC examiners about compliance…
In a case that gives the term “family values” an entirely new meaning, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) recently charged a father and son in Lexington, S.C., with operating a fraudulent investment program designed to illegally profit from the deaths of terminally ill individuals. On September 20, 2013, the…