From Court to Code: Smart Contracts and Arbitration
Episode 335 -- The New DOJ Whistleblower Program
Navigating Emerging Privacy Issues in Financial Services — The Consumer Finance Podcast
Implications of the SEC Cybersecurity Disclosure Rule
Corruption, Crime and Compliance: SEC Suffers Dismissal of Claims in Solarwinds Securities Fraud Case
Episode 334 -- District Court Dismisses Bulk of SEC Claims Against Solarwinds
The Woody Report: The Solar Winds Dismissal
In That Case: Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy
Corruption, Crime and Compliance: Deep Dive into The SEC’s Settlement with R&R Donnelly on Cybersecurity Controls
Episode 332 -- Deep Dive into SEC’s Internal Controls and Cybersecurity Settlement with R&R Donnelly
The Justice Insiders Podcast: Jarkesy’s Implications for the Administrative State
DE Under 3: OFCCP Must Shut Down its Administrative Court Prosecutions as a Result of SCOTUS’ SEC Jury Trial Case Decision
Dogecoin’s Day in Court
Unpacking the Lummis-Gillibrand Payment Stablecoin Act: Implications for the Digital Asset Industry — The Crypto Exchange Podcast
Podcast: Is Cryptocurrency a Security (like an orange grove)?
Navigating the Regulatory Waters: The SEC's Wells Notice to Uniswap and its Impact on DeFi — The Crypto Exchange Podcast
Will Resiliency Carry the Digital Asset Sector Through 2024: Federal Legislative Developments and OFAC Consent Orders — The Crypto Exchange Podcast
Compliance into the Weeds: The WACKO Enforcement Action Involving BF Borgers
Meeting the Proposed SEC Climate Disclosure Requirements
Understanding the Whistleblower Pilot Program in the Southern District of New York
This article is the third in our series on equity-based compensation intended to assist employers with answering a common question: What type of equity compensation award is best for our company and our employees?...more
The IRS released a draft of a new tax form, Form 1099-DA, that brokers will use to report proceeds from certain digital asset transactions. The draft Form 1099-DA can be found on the IRS website and below. The effective date...more
This article was originally published on Kitces.com, on May 15, 2024, and is available at at DoL’s Retirement Security Rule & PTE 2020-02 Amendment: What Advisers Need to Know Now about Giving Rollover Advice After September...more
On April 25, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) finalized a collection of regulatory changes in its ongoing quest to update the definition of a “fiduciary” under ERISA and Section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code...more
On April 23, the US Department of Labor (DOL) released a final rule significantly expanding the definition of who qualifies as a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) (the Retirement Security...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released its final “investment advice rule” on April 23, 2024 — set to become effective in September — after several failed attempts, years of deliberations and multiple lawsuits. If not...more
What has changed with the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) final regulations and certain prohibited transaction exemptions (PTEs)? Is it really that bad even for plan sponsors, as we hear from the many critics of the DOL’s...more
The Proposed Rule Would Subject Certain Investment Advisers to a Broad Range of AML/CFT Obligations and Represents a Significant Development for the Sector - Regulators have long considered the lack of anti-money...more
The Department of Labor (“DOL”) on October 31, 2023—Halloween—issued a release (the “Release”) proposing to make changes to the 1975 rule (the “1975 Rule”) defining when institutions and individuals are providing fiduciary...more
Nonprofits organized under Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) play an ever-growing role in politics and public policy advocacy. These 501(c)(4) organizations may accept unlimited corporate and personal...more
The DOL’s expanded definition of fiduciary advice is described in the preamble to PTE 2020-02. When conflicted fiduciary advice is given to retirement investors (that is, retirement plans, participants (including rollovers),...more
What is Tokenization? Tokenization is the process of converting an asset into a token on the blockchain. It operates by dividing—or fractionalizing—the ownership of an asset (whether the asset is a piece of real estate or...more
The DOL’s expanded definition of fiduciary advice is described in the preamble to PTE 2020-02. The PTE then provides relief for conflicted non-discretionary recommendations (for example, rollover recommendations), if its...more
The tax-exempt bond market is perennially under heightened scrutiny by various regulators, including the Internal Revenue Service (the "IRS"), the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and the Municipal...more
In its latest move to press for stronger regulation of executive compensation, on November 29, 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced staff accounting guidance on share-based executive compensation awards...more
On the heels of a year beset by turmoil and the myriad challenges caused by the global pandemic, the cannabis industry nevertheless entered 2021 poised for significant growth amid a landscape teeming with opportunity. Public...more
In this Issue. In one of its first acts after being installed on January 20, the Biden Administration issued a regulatory freeze on new agency rules that have been adopted but are not yet effective; in one of its final acts...more
The SEC takes a highly anticipated first step toward updating Rule 701 and Form S-8 - Amendments to Rule 701 would increase the cap on exempt offerings and ease disclosure burdens. Revisions to Form S-8 would permit...more
On November 24, 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed amendments to Rule 701 and Form S-8. In a companion release, the SEC also proposed amendments to Rule 701 and Form S-8 to permit, on a temporary...more
Financial institutions should work with outside counsel to ensure that their internal policies and external actions minimize conduct that may violate state and Federal laws and regulations, and incentivize employees to reward...more
Broker-dealers and investment advisers are now governed by a best interest standard of care. Those standards are based largely on the same fiduciary principles that are incorporated into the ERISA prudent man standard. The...more
Our recent blog post compared the SEC’s standard of conduct for broker-dealers under Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) with the standard of conduct for registered investment advisers (RIAs) under the SEC’s Interpretation...more
In a pair of settlements announced on July 28, 2020, the SEC charged VALIC Financial Advisors (the “Firm”) with two separate sets of violations that allowed the Firm to obtain millions of dollars in fees without providing...more
DOL Proposes New Prohibited Transaction Exemption Allowing for Broader Investment Advice Using "Impartial Conduct Standards" and Formally Reinstates 1975 Five-Part Test for Status as an Investment-Advice Fiduciary. ...more
On June 25, 2020, federal banking and securities regulators issued new regulations that will ease burdens on banks that involve themselves with certain types of investment funds. By creating new exclusions from the definition...more