On September 12, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or Commission) published a final rule, adopting amendments to CFTC Rule 4.7, which provides exemptive relief from certain compliance obligations to registered...more
On August 14, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced another series of settlements regarding “off-channel communications.”1 As part of its Off-Channel Communications Initiative,2 the SEC settled...more
On August 21, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted a rule (Final Rule) that will increase the threshold for what is considered a “qualifying venture capital fund” from $10,000,000 to $12,000,000....more
On August 26, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a settlement with a registered investment adviser (RIA) for failing to establish, maintain and enforce adequate written policies and procedures...more
On August 19, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) settled with a registered investment adviser (Adviser),1 whereby the Adviser paid a $95,000 civil money penalty in addition to being censured for...more
9/5/2024
/ Campaign Contributions ,
Closed-End Funds ,
Federal Elections ,
Government Entities ,
Government Officials ,
Investment Adviser ,
Pay-To-Play ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Political Contributions ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On August 28, the United States Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a final rule (the “Final Rule”) subjecting certain registered investment advisers (RIAs) and exempt reporting...more
9/3/2024
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Customer Identification Program (CIP) ,
Final Rules ,
FinCEN ,
Investment Adviser ,
Patriot Act ,
Popular ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
A federal jury in Los Angeles recently convicted the former CEO of Ontrak Inc. (a publicly traded company), Terren Peizer, for engaging in an insider trading scheme using Rule 10b5-1 trading plans. The insider trading...more
The U.S. Supreme Court recently decided SEC v. Jarkesy. That decision held that individuals subject to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) enforcement actions in which the SEC seeks civil penalties for...more
7/19/2024
/ Administrative Authority ,
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Administrative Proceedings ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Jury Trial ,
SCOTUS ,
SEC v Jarkesy ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Seventh Amendment ,
Tariffs ,
Tribal Governments
On May 14, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a settlement with a registered investment adviser (Adviser) that found the Adviser had (a) failed to adequately disclose conflicts pertaining to...more
On May 13, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released a joint notice of a proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would require...more
Rule 206(4)-1, as amended (the Marketing Rule), continues to be an area of focus for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). On April 17, 2024, the SEC Division of Examinations (Division) published a risk alert...more
On April 15, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) settled with a registered investment adviser (Adviser), whereby the Adviser paid a $60,0000 civil money penalty of in addition to being censured for...more
On April 5, 2024, a jury found Matthew Panuwat civilly liable for insider trading in violation of federal securities laws in a first-of-its-kind “shadow trading” case (also referred to as “sympathy trading”), which was...more
On April 3, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced yet another settlement regarding “off-channel communications.” As we have previously written about, settlements of this type have become...more
Limited partnership agreements and similar documents that govern private funds are often amended over the course of a fund’s life cycle. For example, many funds may be currently going through the amendment process in...more
On February 8, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) (together, the Commissions) jointly adopted additional amendments to Form PF, the confidential form by...more
On February 14, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) proposed a rule (the Proposal) that would increase the threshold for what is considered a “qualifying venture capital fund” from $10 million to $12...more
On January 23, 2024, Judge Edward M. Chen of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California ruled in META PLATFORMS, INC. v. BRIGHT DATA LTD. (Meta v. Bright Data), granting Bright Data’s motion for...more
2/16/2024
/ Breach of Contract ,
Data Sellers ,
Facebook ,
Instagram ,
Investment Adviser ,
Marketing ,
Popular ,
Social Media Account Ownership ,
Terms of Use ,
Third-Party ,
Web Scraping
On Feb. 6, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced two new rules that expanded the definition of “dealer” and “government securities dealer” under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act). These...more
On January 16, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced an $18 million settlement order (Order) with J.P. Morgan Securities LLC (JPMS) that finds that the language of release agreements JPMS entered into with...more
On December 26, 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a settlement with a registered investment adviser, OEP Capital Advisors, L.P. (OEP). The settlement found that OEP had failed (a) to maintain...more
Alternative data continues to strongly influence the decision-making of investment professionals across all areas of the investment management industry. In a testament to the rising importance of alternative data, the...more
As we have discussed in earlier Client Alerts, on August 23, 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted new and amended rules under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (the Advisers Act), to...more
12/7/2023
/ Disclosure Requirements ,
Fund Managers ,
Fund of Funds ,
Illiquid Assets ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Investment Portfolios ,
Investors ,
Performance Standards ,
Private Funds ,
Quarterly Report ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Division of Examinations (the Division) recently released its annual Examination Priorities for fiscal year 2024 (the Report). The Report underlines the Division’s focus on...more
11/14/2023
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Cybersecurity ,
Disclosure ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Marketing ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Portfolio Managers ,
Private Funds ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
SEC Examination Priorities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On August 23, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted new rules and amendments under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (the Advisers Act), that are expected to have a wide-ranging impact on...more
10/30/2023
/ Advisors Act ,
Anti-Fraud Provisions ,
Bad Faith ,
Best Interest Standard ,
Breach of Duty ,
Enforcement ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Adviser ,
Negligence ,
Offshore Funds ,
Portfolio Managers ,
Private Funds ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Standard of Conduct