On July 13, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued its highly anticipated summary judgment decision in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) action against Ripple Labs, Inc....more
Background and Scope -
The Assessment was drafted by Treasury’s Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes (“TFFC”), in consultation with multiple U.S. agencies, including the Departments of Homeland Security,...more
Takeaways:
..The Court granted the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (the SEC) motion for summary judgment, holding that LBC tokens are securities and that the offers and sales of the tokens by LBRY, Inc. (LBRY)...more
The Marketing Rule seeks to address evolving changes in advertising and referral practices in the industry – particularly with respect to the use of the Internet, mobile applications, and social media – by providing an...more
11/4/2022
/ Advertising ,
Compliance ,
Electronic Communications ,
Endorsements ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Investors ,
Marketing ,
Ratings ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
SEC Examination Priorities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On Sept. 16, 2022, the White House released a Fact Sheet providing key findings and action items arising from the nine reports addressing digital assets that have been submitted to the president to date consistent with the...more
9/23/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Executive Orders ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Stability Board ,
Innovation ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
OECD ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
U.S. Treasury
Takeaways -
..The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued the first-ever smart contracts sanction, and its decision to sanction a nonperson may be challenged in court.
..The U.S....more
8/23/2022
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Ethereum ,
Money Laundering ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
SDN List ,
Smart Contracts ,
U.S. Treasury
Significant parallel actions commenced this week by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) bring crypto fraud enforcement into the spotlight, with the SEC alleging that multiple...more
7/25/2022
/ Coinbase ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Cryptoassets ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Wallets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Ethereum ,
Howey ,
Illegal Tipping ,
Indictments ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Proposed Rules ,
Rule 10(b) ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Tokens ,
Securities Violations
Key Takeaways -
..SEC enforcement actions related to crypto and cyber are expected to significantly increase with the additional 20 staff assigned to the Division of Enforcement unit dedicated to these industries....more
On March 9, 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets (EO) and the White House released a corresponding fact sheet summarizing related key policy objectives. As...more
In a speech before the Aspen Security Forum on August 3, 2021, Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) Chair Gary Gensler urged lawmakers to provide him with the power to police cryptocurrency trading,...more
The Telegram case is arguably the most important case of 2020 involving the legal classification of blockchain-based digital assets. Because it is often cost-prohibitive for companies to challenge the government in court, the...more
On Sept. 30, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) motion for summary judgment against Kik Interactive Inc. (Kik) and denied Kik’s...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the National Futures Association (NFA) have issued the following guidance to investment advisers working remotely in response to circumstances related to COVID-19....more
On June 5, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted to adopt a highly anticipated set of rules addressing the standard of conduct of registered investment advisers (RIAs) and broker-dealers aimed at increasing...more
7/22/2019
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Compliance Dates ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Duty of Care ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Form CRS ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Retail Investors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Standard of Conduct
Private equity (PE) investors entered the physician practice management (PPM) market in 2011, and eight years later the PPM sector continues to be a ripe middle market for PE investors looking to diversify their portfolios. ...more