As a general principle, the Marketing Rule requires registered investment advisers to include net performance alongside any presentation of gross performance. Market practice on whether or how this principle applies to case...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission adopted rules on December 14, 2022 that will require...more
In December 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) adopted changes to Rule 206(4)-1 under the Investment Advisers Act to modernize the regulatory framework for investment advisers’ advertising and marketing...more
Late last year, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler warned private fund managers that they should be prepared for increased regulatory scrutiny. Shortly thereafter, in February 2022, the SEC announced...more
The latest round of penalties assessed for violations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) pay-to-play rule highlight the strict liability nature of Rule 206(4)-5. This month, the SEC announced five-figure...more
Key Points -
The SEC and the FCA each publish annual reports, which can offer a useful insight into their enforcement actions.
The data in the reports only represents a snapshot of the regulators’ activities, but is...more
Key Points -
The 2nd Circuit is considering whether syndicated term loans—i.e., loans to corporate entities provided by a group of lenders, rather than a single lender—are “securities” under a U.S. Supreme Court decision...more
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The SEC’s Division of Examinations published a risk alert that, in the context of a focus on MNPI, highlighted observed deficiencies related to the use of alternative data by private fund managers and other...more
On February 9, 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued proposed rules (the “Proposed Rules”) for private fund advisers that, if adopted in their current form, could impose significant additional costs...more
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The DOJ and CFTC have filed insider trading charges against a Houston-based energy trader for allegedly disclosing confidential information to a third party who then used the information to trade profitably....more
Compliance Reminders for 2022 -
Registered investment advisers to private funds clients are required to make filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) each year and deliver certain information to their...more
Private funds should be prepared for increased oversight from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), following a landmark year of enforcement cases. In 2021, the Commission brought 159 enforcement actions against...more
2/3/2022
/ Enforcement Actions ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Form PF ,
Fund Managers ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Private Equity ,
Private Funds ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations
As previously reported, in August 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint in SEC v. Panuwat, initiating the first enforcement action seeking to proscribe as prohibited insider trading the practice...more
On November 23, 2021, the New York Court of Appeals held that an investment firm’s $140 million disgorgement payment to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was not an excluded “penalty imposed by law” under the...more
On September 23, 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged a quantitative analyst for “a scheme to violate the federal securities laws by using material nonpublic information to secretly trade ahead of (i.e.,...more
Key Points -
The SEC has charged App Annie, Inc. and its former CEO with violations of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5, which constitute the primary mechanism for enforcing insider trading violations.
This...more
On August 30, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced three enforcement actions against registered investment advisers for alleged cybersecurity failures involving cloud-based email systems. All three actions...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has a long history of adopting novel theories in litigation to convince the courts to expand the scope of the federal insider trading laws.
The SEC's latest effort comes in an...more
8/31/2021
/ Acquisitions ,
Confidential Information ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Misappropriation ,
Private Funds ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Scienter ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud
Key Points -
Beginning as early as September 2, 2021, a “branch office” for NFA purposes will exclude any remote working location not held out to the public as a CPO or CTA office where one or more APs from the same...more
Last week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint in federal court in California premised on the novel legal theory that the insider trading laws apply where an insider uses confidential information...more
8/25/2021
/ Acquisitions ,
Confidential Information ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Misappropriation ,
Private Funds ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Scienter ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud
On July 26, 2021, 21 investment advisers entered into settlements with the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve charges that they failed to timely file and deliver their relationship summaries on Form CRS. Penalties...more
On July 21, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Examinations issued a Risk Alert on cross trades and principal transactions.1 The Risk Alert’s guidance and warnings were based on over 20 examinations of...more
In the last three weeks, the Division of Enforcement of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed several complaints and resolved a number of open enforcement actions involving investment advisers. At first...more