As our other Top Ten posts have demonstrated, there is no shortage of risks for private fund sponsors to navigate in today’s economic and regulatory environment. Nevertheless, they need to prioritize the risk that hits...more
6/2/2022
/ Asset Management ,
Breach of Duty ,
Business Litigation ,
Commercial Litigation ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fraud ,
Fund Sponsors ,
Investment ,
Investment Funds ,
Investment Portfolios ,
Private Equity
If a request for legal advice goes unanswered, is it really a request for legal advice? According to the U.S. Department of Justice and several state attorneys general (“DOJ Plaintiffs”) in an antitrust action against...more
5/13/2022
/ Antitrust Violations ,
Attorney-Client Privilege ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Law Departments ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discovery ,
Electronic Data Transmissions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Google ,
Government Investigations ,
Legal Advice ,
Motion to Compel ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Regular Business Communications ,
Sanctions ,
Sensitive Business Information
The SEC last month proposed rules under the Advisers Act indicating a dramatic shift in how the SEC intends to reduce conflicts of interest involving private fund managers and their investors. As we previously noted in the...more
5/3/2022
/ Anti-Fraud Provisions ,
Clawbacks ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Fund Managers ,
Investment ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Investment Management ,
Investors ,
Private Funds ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation
Last month, the SEC proposed new rules under the Advisers Act that, if implemented, would be the most significant enhancement of disclosure obligations for private fund managers since the Dodd-Frank Act.Citing investor...more
Over the past few years, the SEC has brought fewer insider trading and Material Non-Public Information (MNPI)-related cases compared to historical numbers. We expect to see a reversal of that trend in 2022.
The SEC has...more
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
Sanctions continue to be a dynamic area of regulation and enforcement. In its first year, the Biden Administration has already undertaken a number of different sanctions initiatives. The three examples below highlight the...more
3/9/2022
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Asset Management ,
Asset Seizure ,
Biden Administration ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Financial Transactions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Policy ,
Foreign Relations ,
Global Magnitsky Act ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Private Investment Funds ,
Russia ,
SDN List ,
Ukraine ,
Virtual Currency
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
If 2021 was the year in which regulators and investors enthusiastically embraced environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) considerations, by creating new legal and regulatory frameworks, then 2022 will be the year for...more
2/25/2022
/ Business Plans ,
Business Strategies ,
Capital Investments ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Investment ,
Private Funds ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Sustainability
We reported last year that unprecedented SPAC deal volume signaled an increased risk for disputes given their unique structure, including risks associated with disclosure requirements, material non-public information,...more
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
Last year, we wrote, “The regulatory and litigation risks for private funds are greater than at any time since the financial crisis in 2008.” That statement is even more true today....more
2/2/2022
/ Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Digital Assets ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Insider Trading ,
Investment Funds ,
Investment Management ,
Investment Portfolios ,
Private Equity ,
Private Funds ,
Risk Management ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)
With new types of digital assets and related business on the rise, federal authorities have been busy investigating. Recently, the SEC, FinCEN and the CFTC have imposed some notable settlements involving cryptocurrency...more
8/27/2021
/ Bank Secrecy Act ,
BitMEX ,
CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FinCEN ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Transactions ,
Securities Violations ,
Trading Platforms ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
In a cautionary tale about the career-limiting risks of SEC sanctions, a private fund adviser and its owner were found to have misused over $1 million of fund assets, resulting in a bar from the investment industry as well as...more
Early this month, the First Department affirmed the dismissal of a complaint by a Russian lawyer who had received an L.L.M. from Fordham University alleging “civil conspiracy” against Fordham and several American attorneys,...more
Parties should think twice before posting potential evidence on social media, as the Plaintiff in Guarisco v. Boh Brothers Construction learned recently. The Eastern District of Louisiana imposed sanctions on Plaintiff for...more
2/27/2020
/ Additional Discovery ,
Bad Faith ,
Destruction of Evidence ,
Discovery ,
Discovery Disputes ,
FRCP 37(e) ,
Inherent Powers ,
Intentional Spoliation ,
Sanctions ,
Social Media ,
Spoliation ,
Summary Judgment
On July 9, 2018, 23 law professors represented by Proskauer were granted permission to participate as amici curiae in a class action lawsuit contesting a recent U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) policy change...more
7/11/2018
/ Amicus Briefs ,
Child Custody ,
Class Action ,
Family Law Courts ,
Family Reunification ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Lack of Jurisdiction ,
Legal Guardian ,
Minors ,
Path To Citizenship ,
Pro Bono ,
USCIS
The Second Circuit recently affirmed the dismissal of a class action asserting state law claims that a manufacturer falsely advertised its baby formula as organic. In doing so, the appellate court agreed with the district...more
Last week, a federal judge in California denied the plaintiff’s motions to disqualify the defendant’s counsel, finding that the firm’s former representation of the plaintiff was not sufficiently recent, substantial, or...more
The SEC has continued to pursue a number of insider trading cases this year, both large-scale and small. Some of those matters involved trades that yielded relatively small amounts of profits: $40,000-$60,000. Why does the...more