2021 continued the trend of increased regulatory focus on privacy and cybersecurity for private investment funds in the U.S. and abroad. There are no signs of the trend leveling off any time soon. One of the topics that...more
A threshold question in many cryptocurrency inquiries is whether the digital assets qualify as securities under the federal securities laws. If so, then they are subject to a full suite of federal securities regulations....more
3/1/2022
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
BSA/AML ,
CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Transactions ,
Howey ,
Investment Contract ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Unregistered Securities
The SEC’s push to regulate the next generation of blockchain-based applications will likely give rise to disputes and enforcement actions, particularly in the developing decentralized finance (DeFi) space....more
Though SEC scrutiny of performance results in fund marketing materials is nothing new, a recent settlement order suggests that the Commission continues to closely examine representations in marketing materials with respect to...more
Going into 2020, we expected scrutiny over valuation methods to be one of the top regulatory risks for private funds. With ongoing economic uncertainty applying pressure, the SEC will continue to focus on valuation issues...more
On January 13, 2020, the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari to an appeal of a June 2019 order from the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that dismissed an action seeking to invalidate certain...more
2/27/2020
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Compelling Governmental Interest ,
Denial of Certiorari ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
First Amendment ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
MSRB ,
Pay-To-Play ,
Political Contributions ,
Quid Pro Quo ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Rule G-37 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Time-Barred Claims
The private fund industry is more in the public eye than ever before. Private capital and private markets have experienced massive growth over the last two decades, substantially outpacing the growth of public equity. We have...more
2/19/2020
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Capital Markets ,
CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Global Economy ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Investment Banks ,
OCIE ,
Private Equity ,
Private Funds ,
SEC Examination Priorities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Venture Capital
Yesterday the SEC announced its enforcement results for FY 2019, accompanied by a report from the Co-Directors of its Division of Enforcement. While the total number of actions increased slightly from 2018, the percentage of...more