In Short -
The Situation: Congress recently amended the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") to exempt certain "M&A brokers" from registration as broker-dealers with the U.S. Securities and Exchange...more
The Fifth Circuit upheld a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") determination that an energy company unlawfully manipulated the natural gas market but rejected FERC's interpretation of its jurisdiction as overbroad....more
A group of seven U.S. senators have written a letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC"), expressing concerns with the integrity of the carbon credit markets and urging the CFTC to investigate and regulate...more
In Short -
The Situation: Under the existing legal regimes, decentralized autonomous organizations ("DAO" or "DAOs") have been viewed as a way to hedge against regulatory action by way of a decentralized structure. The...more
In Short -
The Situation: On September 15, 2022, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced significant changes and updates to the Department of Justice's corporate criminal enforcement policies. ...more
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has disrupted the supply of many commodities. Prices of a number of commodities increased substantially from December 2021 to March 2022: crude oil prices and wheat prices increased by more than...more
6/15/2022
/ CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Derivatives ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Futures ,
Margin Requirements ,
Market Volatility ,
Military Conflict ,
Russia ,
Supply Chain ,
Trading Suspension ,
Ukraine
On Monday, April 25, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") issued a press release announcing its intent to utilize a "dormant authority" under the Dodd-Frank Act to examine nonbank "'fintechs'" that the...more
In 2020 and the first quarter of 2021, the use of special purpose acquisition companies ("SPACs") as a means of taking companies public grew exponentially. SPAC IPOs raised a total of more than $160 billion in that five...more
As the U.S. government's economic sanctions against Russia continue to grow, regulators are calling on financial institutions to help detect and prevent attempts to evade these measures through the use of convertible virtual...more
3/14/2022
/ Convertible Virtual Currencies (CVCs) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Military Conflict ,
Patriot Act ,
Russia ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
Ukraine
President Biden's executive order calls for "whole-of-government" approach to studying risks and harnessing potential benefits of digital asset technologies.
On Wednesday, March 9, 2022, President Biden signed a...more
3/11/2022
/ AML/CFT ,
Biden Administration ,
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Transactions ,
Investor Protection ,
Regulatory Agenda
2021 was a precedent-setting year for anti-money laundering (“AML”) enforcement and legislation. The digital assets industry continued to grow exponentially, driving the associated AML risks to the forefront of regulatory...more
3/10/2022
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
BSA/AML ,
Corruption ,
Cryptoassets ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Financial Crimes ,
FinCEN ,
Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations ,
Virtual Currency
The SEC's Proposal -
On January 26, 2022, the SEC released a rulemaking proposal that, among other things, would expand the definition of "exchange" under Rule 3b-16 of the Exchange Act. ...more
The Biden administration took office in January 2021, announcing aggressive and sweeping anticorruption initiatives to tackle corruption around the world, labeling corruption a national security priority, and signaling a...more
1/28/2022
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Biden Administration ,
Compliance ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
National Security ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Whistleblowers ,
White Collar Crimes
The digital asset industry has now met the regulatory state. Those interested in building digital asset businesses that operate in the United States thus need to be aware of a vital tool for resisting regulatory overreach by...more
12/13/2021
/ Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Instruments ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Transactions ,
Investment Products ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Virtual Currency
Introduction In the first 10 months of the Biden administration, senior DOJ officials have signaled a renewed focus on corporate criminal and civil enforcement against companies and individuals. ...more
On October 18, 2021, New York Attorney General Letitia James directed two virtual currency lending platforms to immediately cease their unregistered and allegedly unlawful activities in New York and sent letters to three...more
10/29/2021
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Lenders ,
New York ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Securities Transactions ,
Stablecoins ,
State Attorneys General ,
Virtual Currency
As the global digital asset industry continues to grow, regulators worldwide have increased efforts to define and shape the legal landscape through various approaches. In the UAE, for example, the Financial Services...more
10/25/2021
/ Africa ,
Bitcoin ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Ether ,
Financial Markets ,
Investment ,
Middle East ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Token Sales ,
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Established in 1974 in Washington, D.C., the CFTC was originally responsible for overseeing and regulating the commodity futures and options markets in the United States. Initially, its primary focus was to regulate trading...more
9/16/2021
/ Brazil ,
CFTC ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Derivatives ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Authority ,
Foreign Exchanges ,
Futures ,
Latin America ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Swaps
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has left little doubt that his commission will closely monitor activity in the cryptoasset markets and the actions of decentralized finance, or DeFi platforms, as investor interest continues to grow....more
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler suggests SEC will aggressively police crypto assets and decentralized finance ("DeFi") platforms while seeking expanded authority to regulate these fast-growing industries....more
8/10/2021
/ Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Digital Assets ,
Gary Gensler ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Policy Statement ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities
Established in 1974, the CFTC was originally responsible for overseeing and regulating the commodity futures and options markets in the United States. Initially, its primary focus was to regulate trading of futures related to...more
CFTC Commissioner asserts that Decentralized Finance ("DeFi") likely violates the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA") and that the regulator should respond accordingly.
DeFi is an umbrella term encompassing a range of...more
The Department of Justice ("DOJ") and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") in recent years have worked closely together to target companies and individuals for violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and other...more
In an effort to pursue unlawful trading in the derivatives markets, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") and U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") have in recent years engaged in unprecedented levels of...more
4/29/2021
/ Analytics ,
CFTC ,
Civil Liability ,
Commodities ,
Commodities Traders ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Cooperation ,
Criminal Liability ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Derivatives ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fraud ,
Investigations ,
Market Manipulation ,
Parallel Proceedings ,
Spoofing
The Situation: The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Examinations ("EXAMS") released a Risk Alert on March 29, 2021, reminding broker-dealers of their obligation to comply with anti-money laundering ("AML")...more