On May 3, 2023, New York Attorney General Letitia James introduced legislation that, if passed, would substantially increase oversight and regulation of the cryptocurrency industry in New York. James touts the bill as the...more
FINRA punctuated its annual post-New Year’s Report on FINRA’s Examination and Risk Monitoring Program (the “Report”), by including a new target category “Financial Crimes.” The inclusion of this category is noteworthy not...more
1/18/2023
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Cybersecurity ,
Enforcement ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Markets ,
Fraud ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Market Manipulation ,
Nasdaq ,
NYSE ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Red Flags Rule ,
Sanctions ,
Technology
A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has implications for whistleblowers under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act” or “The Act”). In Hong v. SEC,...more
8/4/2022
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Appeals ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Dodd-Frank ,
FHFA ,
Incentives ,
RMBS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblowers
A Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) plan to create a registration exemption for certain finders has generated a mixed response. The nearly 90 comments received by the SEC by the November 12, 2020 close of the comment...more
In Securities & Exchange Comm. v. Gentile, No. 18-1242, 2019 WL 4686251 (3d Cir. Sept. 26, 2019), the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit took up the question of whether Securities and Exchange Commission...more
10/17/2019
/ Appeals ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Future Harm ,
Injunctions ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Penalties ,
Penny Stocks ,
Pump and Dump ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Statutory Authority
Earlier this month, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) took a break from its recent focus on digital assets and the Best Interest fiduciary standard to publish a Risk Alert encouraging investment advisers and...more
4/30/2019
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Customer Information ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Investment Adviser ,
OCIE ,
Opt-Outs ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Privacy Policy ,
Regulation S-P ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Alert ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On January 22, 2019, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) released its annual priorities letter highlighting its regulatory program’s points of emphasis for the coming year. The most immediately...more
1/31/2019
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Digital Assets ,
Examination Priorities ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Fixed Income Investments ,
OCIE ,
Online Distribution ,
Online Platforms ,
Regulation A ,
Regulation D ,
Risk Management ,
Rule 506(c) ,
SEC Examination Priorities
The Enforcement Division of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) recently released its annual enforcement report (“Report”) for fiscal year 2018. The Report reflects an increased focus on retail...more
11/29/2018
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Individual Accountability ,
Popular ,
Retail Investors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Self-Reporting ,
Trump Administration
Over the past couple of years, the crypto industry has come under heavy scrutiny from skeptical regulators seeking to root out fraud and protect investors amid the initial coin offering boom that generated over $4 billion in...more
10/31/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Coinbase ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Custody Rule ,
Department of Financial Services ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
ETFs ,
Exchange-Traded Products ,
Financial Institutions ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Innovation ,
Investment Companies ,
Investors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
State Regulators ,
Virtual Currency
On July 18, 2018, the SEC ramped up its oversight of alternative trading systems (“ATSs”) by adopting a series of rule amendments imposing public disclosure requirements on ATSs that trade NMS (“National Market System”)...more
9/27/2018
/ Alternative Trading System (ATS) ,
Amended Rules ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Confidential Information ,
Data Protection ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Exemptions ,
Investors ,
National Market System (NMS) ,
Notice of Final Rulemaking ,
Public Disclosure ,
Registration ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchanges ,
Securities Transactions ,
Stocks ,
Trading Platforms
On April 17, 2018, the New York State Attorney General (“NYAG”) sent a “Virtual Markets Integrity Initiative Questionnaire” to 13 companies operating virtual currency trading platforms. The questionnaire consists of 34...more
5/1/2018
/ Attorney General ,
BitLicense ,
Coinbase ,
Commodities ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Financial Services ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Questionnaires ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Risk Assessment ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
Trading Platforms ,
Transparency ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Virtual Currency
On February 21, 2018, the Supreme Court issued a pivotal decision narrowing the definition of a whistleblower under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (“Dodd-Frank,” or the “Act”). In...more
3/1/2018
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Digital Realty Trust Inc v Somers ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Internal Reporting ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Retaliation ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
One of the most eye-catching items in the recently released 2017 Annual Report of the Enforcement Division of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or the Commission) is the significant decline in enforcement activity...more
11/30/2017
/ Budget Cuts ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Cyber Threats ,
Cybersecurity ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Institutions ,
Insider Trading ,
Investor Protection ,
Ponzi Scheme ,
Popular ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Pump and Dump ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Security Breach ,
Shareholders ,
Trump Administration
Blockchain technology (“Blockchain”), also known as Distributed Ledger Technology, stands poised to transform the future of the financial industry. Generally speaking, Blockchain enables the creation of a continuously growing...more
On June 5, 2017 the Supreme Court dealt a significant setback to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) by limiting its power to extract ill-gotten profits from securities laws violators....more
6/29/2017
/ Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Management ,
Kokesh v SEC ,
Misappropriation ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Statute of Limitations ,
White Collar Crimes
On April 10, 2017, Neil Gorsuch was sworn in as the Supreme Court’s 113th justice. While his experience on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals with cases involving financial regulation may be limited, certain of his decisions...more
4/27/2017
/ Chevron Deference ,
Chevron v NRDC ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Neil Gorsuch ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Litigation ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Unregistered Securities
Earlier this month, FINRA announced changes to its Sanction Guidelines through Notice to Members 17-13. FINRA’s Sanction Guidelines are used by FINRA disciplinary hearing panels to decide what, if any, sanctions to impose in...more
In late December, New York State’s Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) released its revised proposed cybersecurity regulation (the “DFS Rule”). While the revisions pare back some of the DFS Rule’s original requirements...more
2/1/2017
/ Banks ,
Covered Entities ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Financial Services ,
Employee Training ,
Encryption ,
Federal Bank Regulatory Agencies ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Institutions ,
GLBA Privacy ,
Gramm-Leach-Blilely Act ,
Insurance Industry ,
NIST ,
Popular ,
Risk Assessment ,
Third-Party Service Provider
If the New York State Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) has its way, come January 1, 2017, financial services companies that require a form of authorization to operate under the banking, insurance, or financial...more
9/23/2016
/ Banks ,
Breach Notification Rule ,
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) ,
Covered Entities ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Financial Services ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Information Security ,
Notice and Comment ,
Proposed Regulation
In Ray v. Spirit Airlines, Inc., No. 15-13792, 2016 WL 4578347 (11th Cir. Sept. 2, 2016), the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that a defendant corporation is not distinct from its own officers and...more
The Security and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) recent $1 million settlement with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (“MSSB”) marked a turning point in the agency’s focus on cybersecurity issues, an area that the agency has...more
7/2/2016
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Customer Funds Protection ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Investment Adviser ,
Misappropriation ,
Morgan Stanley ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Regulation S-P ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement
Everything old is new again. On January 1, 2016, the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) – now owned by Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. – will be taking back some of the regulatory responsibilities it yielded to the Financial...more
On April 1, 2015, the Securities & Exchange Commission (the “SEC” or “Commission”) fined a public company $130,000 for requiring employees involved in internal investigations to sign a confidentiality agreement that the...more
In an effort to keep pace with rapidly accelerating market technology, the Securities & Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has taken steps to expand oversight over high-frequency trading. On March 25, 2015, the SEC unanimously...more
In Regulatory Notice 14-40, FINRA reminds members that it is a violation of FINRA Rule 2010 (Standards of Commercial Honor and Principles of Trade) to incorporate into a settlement agreement a confidentiality provision...more