On February 11, SEC Acting Chair Lee announced that the Commission no longer would permit settlements in enforcement actions to include, or be contingent on the grant of, waivers of statutory disqualifications that flow from...more
On February 9, Acting SEC Chair Lee announced she was restoring the delegated authority of Enforcement Division senior officials to issue subpoenas to compel document production and sworn testimony without the need of a...more
During the height of the GameStop (NYSE: GME) mania, Slate author Jordan Weissman explained that “[A]t a moment that the markets are being overrun, for better or worse, by posters who’ve basically dedicated themselves to...more
2/10/2021
/ Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Markets ,
GameStop ,
Market Manipulation ,
Market Volatility ,
Reddit ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Transactions ,
Short Selling ,
Stock Prices ,
Stock Trades ,
UK
On Thursday, January 28, trading-app broker-dealer Robinhood – a self-styled disrupter democratizing trading – suspended its users’ ability to buy Gamestop stock or options (along with other stocks). After playing a...more
2/5/2021
/ Brokerage Accounts ,
Brokers ,
Class Action ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Markets ,
GameStop ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Robinhood Financial ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stock Trades
On the new year’s first day, Congress passed the NDAA over President Trump’s veto and gave the SEC more clear – and longer – disgorgement authority for enforcement actions in the courts....more
1/6/2021
/ Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Authority ,
Kokesh v SEC ,
Liu v Securities and Exchange Commission ,
NDAA ,
Presidential Veto ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Trump Administration ,
White Collar Crimes
The SEC recently announced the creation of the Event and Emerging Risks Examination Team (“EERT”) in its Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (“OCIE”). ...more
On June 16, the SEC issued a temporary exemptive order, allowing registered municipal advisors to solicit banks, their wholly-owned commercial lenders and credit unions in connection with direct placements by municipal-issuer...more
The Supreme Court allowed the SEC to seek “disgorgement” as a form of “equitable relief” in civil-actions, but limited the remedy to net profits for benefit of harmed investors. Answering part of a question reserved in...more
6/25/2020
/ 15 U.S.C. § 78u(d)(5) ,
Administrative Authority ,
Business Expenses ,
Calculation of Damages ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equitable Relief ,
Kokesh v SEC ,
Lack of Authority ,
Liu v Securities and Exchange Commission ,
Net Profits ,
Remedies ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Effective June 30, SEC Reg. BI requires broker-dealers to make recommendations only in the “best interests” of retail customers, imposing additional disclosure, care, conflicts-of-interest and compliance obligations....more
In a May 4 joint public statement, SEC Chair Clayton and Municipal Securities Office Director Rebecca Olsen urged municipal issuers to make voluntary disclosures specific to issuers, and their various outstanding municipal...more
On April 27, the SEC’s Division of Investment Management updated its COVID-19 FAQs to reflect the Staff’s position that small investment advisers must report the “nature, amounts and effects” of PPP loans if potentially...more
5/4/2020
/ Business Continuity Plans ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Federal Loans ,
Financial Stimulus ,
Form ADV ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Relief Measures ,
SBA ,
SBA Lending Programs ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Small Business
On April 2, Chair Clayton said the SEC would hold firm on the June 30 compliance deadline for Regulation Best Interest (“Reg. BI”) and Form CRS, but suggested early examinations might focus more on compliance efforts than...more
In the past week, the Securities and Exchange Commission has suspended trading in five separate over-the-counter (“OTC”) stocks due to dubious COVID claims or related identity confusion....more
Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Jay Clayton issued an April 2 public statement that the SEC will hold firm on its June 30, 2020 deadline for firms to implement Reg. BI and Form CRS. There had been industry...more
SEC Enforcement Co-Directors Stephanie Avakian and Steven Peiken issued a March 23 public statement warning that the novel Coronavirus pandemic increases material non-public information and reminding corporate insiders of...more
The SEC has gathered its guidance in a single location. Topics covered include:
(a) The SEC’s own Business Continuity Plan (“BCP”) and its implementation;
(b) Increased market monitoring and surveillance...more
3/20/2020
/ Bank Secrecy Act ,
Business Continuity Plans ,
CFTC ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Governance ,
Derivatives ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Event Cancellation ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Insider Trading ,
Investment ,
MSRB ,
Public Meetings ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Relief Measures ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Paxos Settlement Service announced February 20, 2020 that it has commenced P2P settlement of US listed equity trades over a private, permissioned blockchain with Credit Suisse and Instinet (a Nomura Bank subsidiary). Paxos...more
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce earlier this month proposed a draft SEC Rule 195 as a safe-harbor for developmental token offerings, providing a registration exemption for three-years to allow the token’s network to achieve...more
2/27/2020
/ Exemptions ,
Offerings ,
Registration Requirement ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Safe Harbors ,
SEC Commissioner ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities
FINRA held its bi-annual Cybersecurity Conference in January and recently published five take-away real-world experiences from the conference...more
2/27/2020
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
C-Suite Executives ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Management ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Markets ,
FinTech ,
Hackers ,
Information Governance ,
Information Security ,
Information Technology ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Liquidity Management ,
MSRB ,
Municipal Advisers ,
OCIE ,
Phishing Scams ,
Popular ,
Regulation BI ,
SEC Examination Priorities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Vulnerability Assessments
In a July 30 speech in Singapore, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce compared renegade red pandas’ penchant for life “outside the fence” to the fin-tech innovation currently frustrating regulators’ efforts to keep up....more
Last week, the SEC’s Corporate Finance division issued its second no-action letter supporting a digital token issue. On July 25, 2019, the Staff agreed it would not recommend enforcement action over the issuance of Quarters...more
June 20, 2019 – Walmart (NYSE: WMT) and its subsidiary, WMT Brasilia, agreed to a combined criminal penalty and disgorgement of $282M, together with WMT’s criminal guilty plea and undertakings in an NPA, to reach a global...more
6/21/2019
/ Accounting Fraud ,
Brazil ,
Bribery ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corruption ,
Criminal Sanctions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Foreign Subsidiaries ,
Internal Controls ,
Popular ,
Retailers ,
Risk Assessment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement ,
Third-Party ,
Wal-Mart
The SEC recently issued an investor alert warning about crypto advisory and trading websites. The alert cautions investors to be especially wary of web-based crypto-currency sites with any...more
5/8/2019
/ Bitcoin ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Crimes ,
Indictments ,
Money Laundering ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Trading Platforms ,
Websites ,
Wire Fraud
Last week, the D.C. Circuit held that the SEC can’t prosecute the same conduct as both willful and as negligent under the tandem sections found in most of the nation’s securities laws. The ruling prevents the SEC from piling...more
Late last week, the SEC issued a no-action letter widely hailed as its first on a blockchain-based digital token for private jet services. ...more