On September 23, 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged a quantitative analyst for “a scheme to violate the federal securities laws by using material nonpublic information to secretly trade ahead of (i.e.,...more
Key Points -
The SEC has charged App Annie, Inc. and its former CEO with violations of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5, which constitute the primary mechanism for enforcing insider trading violations.
This...more
On August 30, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced three enforcement actions against registered investment advisers for alleged cybersecurity failures involving cloud-based email systems. All three actions...more
Key Points -
Beginning as early as September 2, 2021, a “branch office” for NFA purposes will exclude any remote working location not held out to the public as a CPO or CTA office where one or more APs from the same...more
Last week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint in federal court in California premised on the novel legal theory that the insider trading laws apply where an insider uses confidential information...more
8/25/2021
/ Acquisitions ,
Confidential Information ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Misappropriation ,
Private Funds ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Scienter ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud
On July 26, 2021, 21 investment advisers entered into settlements with the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve charges that they failed to timely file and deliver their relationship summaries on Form CRS. Penalties...more
On July 21, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Examinations issued a Risk Alert on cross trades and principal transactions.1 The Risk Alert’s guidance and warnings were based on over 20 examinations of...more
In the last three weeks, the Division of Enforcement of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed several complaints and resolved a number of open enforcement actions involving investment advisers. At first...more
Key Point -
As of September 30, 2021, private fund managers registered with the CFTC as CPOs or CTAs will be required, under new NFA guidance, to supervise certain third-parties performing regulatory functions....more
On June 3, 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14032 (Addressing the Threat from Securities Investments that Finance Certain Companies of the People’s Republic of China) (“CMIC EO”) that modifies the Trump-era...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC, or Commission) Division of Examinations (Division) recently issued a Risk Alert highlighting staff observations from examinations of investment advisers, registered investment...more
Key Points The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is able to make requests of U.K. firms (including U.K. branches of non-U.K. firms) to provide books and records and other documents of SEC regulated...more
1/26/2021
/ Books & Records ,
Document Requests ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) ,
IOSCO ,
Personal Data ,
Public Interest ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
UK Brexit ,
UK GDPR
In a recent precedential decision, the 2nd Circuit held that funds could delegate beneficial ownership to their investment managers, thereby eliminating the funds’ disgorgement liability under Section 16(b) of the Securities...more
12/4/2020
/ Amicus Briefs ,
Appellate Courts ,
Beneficial Owner ,
Disgorgement ,
General Partnerships ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
Limited Partnerships ,
Section 16 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Regulation 3.10(c)(3) currently provides an exemption from registration for non-U.S. commodity pool operators (CPOs) and commodity trading advisors (CTAs), if they solely operate...more
On October 9, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed an order that would exempt from registration as broker-dealers certain natural person “finders” who help locate investors in connection with the sale...more
U.S. persons who provided or received any financial services, such as investment advisory services, fund management or brokerage services, to or from non-U.S. persons during 2019 (“Reporters”) must file a Form BE-180 report...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a 3-2 vote on Wednesday, September 23, 2020, adopted amendments to the eligibility requirements for submitting shareholder proposals to be included in a public company issuer’s...more
- Amendments to the "accredited investor" definition expand the categories of persons eligible to participate in private placements under Regulation D to include (i) individuals with certain professional licenses (Series 7,...more
- The OCIE of the SEC highlights that responses to COVID-19 present important regulatory and compliance issues for SEC registrants, including “heightened risks of misconduct” tied to recent market volatility.
- The Risk...more
8/21/2020
/ Asset Management ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Business Continuity Plans ,
Business Operations ,
Compliance ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Protection ,
Fees ,
Financial Transactions ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Fraud ,
Investment Management ,
Investors ,
OCIE ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Popular ,
Remote Working ,
Risk Alert ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Supervision
- In the age of broad corporate teleworking brought on by COVID-19, OCIE of the SEC has observed during recent examinations that investment advisers, broker-dealers and investment companies are subject to an increased threat...more
7/16/2020
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Homeland Security Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) ,
Incident Response Plans ,
Investment Management ,
Malware ,
OCIE ,
Popular ,
Ransomware ,
Risk Alert ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) formally withdrew its highly controversial “Regulation Automated Trading” (Reg AT).
- In its place, the CFTC proposed principles-based rules applicable to designated...more
On July 10, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed to increase the filing threshold for Form 13F to $3.5 billion (35 times larger than the current $100 million threshold), revise the requirements for...more
- On June 23, 2020, the SEC and OCIE issued its latest Risk Alert describing common deficiencies it has observed in recent examinations of registered investment advisers that manage private equity funds or hedge funds.
-...more
7/6/2020
/ Conflicts of Interest ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fees ,
Hedge Funds ,
Investment Management ,
Non-Public Information ,
OCIE ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Private Equity Funds ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Risk Alert ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
- In Liu v. SEC, No. 18-1501, the Supreme Court upheld the SEC’s ability to obtain disgorgement as a form of equitable relief in civil actions in federal court, pursuant to 15 U.S.C. § 78u(d)(5).
- However, the Court...more
6/30/2020
/ 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)
- A CPO will be prohibited from claiming an exemption from registration under CFTC Regulation 4.13 if it or any of its principals has in their backgrounds a statutory disqualification under the Commodity Exchange Act.
- A...more
6/12/2020
/ Bad Actors ,
Certification Requirements ,
CFTC ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Commodity Pool ,
CPOs ,
Exemptions ,
Final Rules ,
Investment Management ,
National Futures Association ,
Registration Requirement ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)