The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) triggered high hopes when it recently announced it wants to accept the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ recommendation to reschedule marijuana from Schedule I to...more
In a development that has been a long time in coming, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) wants to accept the recommendation of the U.S. Department Health and Human Services and reschedule marijuana from Schedule I to...more
The IRS’s Office of Chief Counsel recently published a memorandum providing information for cannabis companies struggling to comply with the completion of Form 8300, which must be filed every time a company receives a cash...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that federal government agencies can be held liable under the Fair Credit Reporting Act when they fail to investigate or correct inaccurate information furnished to credit reporting agencies....more
2/14/2024
/ Consumer Information ,
Consumer Reporting Agencies ,
Consumer Reports ,
Credit Ratings ,
Department of Agriculture Rural Development Rural Housing Service v Kirtz ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Government Agencies ,
SCOTUS ,
Sovereign Immunity ,
USDA
As many know, restrictive covenant law is in a constant state of flux and varies considerably from state to state. Moreover, restrictive covenant law changes frequently and often requires a fact-specific analysis. Over the...more
I. Starting a Broker-Dealer-
Becoming an owner of a broker-dealer (BD) is a time-consuming and expensive endeavor. Although the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires BD registration pursuant to the...more
7/18/2023
/ Application Fees ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Commodities ,
Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs) ,
CPOs ,
Ethics ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Hedge Funds ,
IARD ,
Investment Adviser ,
Licenses ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act
The bane of every start-up company is the never-ending quest to raise capital for its operations. Newly (and not so new) formed companies seemingly would do anything to raise funds. Over the course of many decades, these...more
7/5/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Brokers ,
Division of Trading and Markets ,
Early Stage Companies ,
Entrepreneurs ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Mergers ,
NASAA ,
NASD ,
Registration Requirement ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Startups ,
Venture Capital
What options for intellectual property protection are available to companies operating in the cannabis sector, and how are they affected by marijuana’s status as a controlled substance at the federal level?
Listen as Jon...more
The "First State" recently became the 22nd in the nation to legalize recreational marijuana.
The Delaware General Assembly in March, passed two bills related to the legalization of marijuana. House Bill 1 regulates the...more
A cannabis retailer, and those who collect debt on their behalf, may not be governed by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), but they probably should act like it. The FDCPA is applicable when a third-party...more
Maryland lawmakers are considering legislation that would regulate medical and recreational cannabis in the state. Here are a few takeaways from Senate Bill 516:
•Emphasis on Social Equity: Within the Alcohol, Tobacco, and...more
Maryland residents voted overwhelmingly Nov. 8, 2022, in favor of amending the state’s constitution to permit the sale of adult-use cannabis to individuals over the age of 21.
Sales may begin on or after July 1, 2023.
...more
A panel of the Eleventh Circuit has once again held that a debt collector possibly violates the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) by transmitting private information to a third-party commercial mail vendor.
In...more
With the ever-increasing acceptance of marijuana as a legitimate treatment for a number of medical conditions, a newfound interest in the use of psychedelics as a form of medical treatment is gaining traction once again. ...more
First in a series on the New York State Cannabis/Marijuana Regulation & Taxation Act-
New York state recently passed long-awaited adult-use cannabis legislation, taking the lead on other key jurisdictions with medical...more
New York will soon join its neighbor New Jersey among the most recent states to legalize adult-use cannabis.
On Tuesday, March 30, 2021, the New York State Senate and Assembly voted overwhelmingly to legalize the...more
3/31/2021
/ Cannabis-Related Businesses (CRBs) ,
Dispensaries ,
Expungement ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Marijuana ,
Marijuana Cultivation ,
Medical Marijuana ,
New Legislation ,
New York ,
Recreational Use ,
State and Local Government ,
State Taxes ,
Veterans ,
Women-Owned Businesses
Two businessmen have been convicted in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York of helping a California-based cannabis company avoid bank flags for illegal cannabis-related transactions. A New York jury found...more
3/29/2021
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Fraud ,
Cannabis Products ,
Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) ,
Credit Cards ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Debit Cards ,
Fraud ,
Payment Processors ,
Shell Corporations ,
Venmo
The Virginia Legislature, on February 27, 2021, passed House Bill 2312, containing development, regulation and enforcement provisions governing the personal use of products containing cannabis by individuals 21 and older. The...more
3/5/2021
/ Cannabis Products ,
Criminal Justice Reform ,
Distribution Rules ,
Governor Northam ,
Licenses ,
Marijuana ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Recreational Use ,
Retailers ,
Tax Revenues ,
Virginia ,
Wholesale
Compare restrictive covenant laws and regulations across the United States with Fox Rothschild's interactive 50-state National Survey on Restrictive Covenants, produced by the attorneys of our Securities Industry Group and...more
As the cannabis industry continues to expand, there will inevitably be businesses within the sector that encounter financial difficulty and may require insolvency assistance to either restructure or...more
Within the private equity fund arena, there are various well-recognized categories of private equity funds. Those funds include, among others: venture capital funds; leveraged buyout or merchant banking funds; hedge funds;...more
8/20/2019
/ Dodd-Frank ,
Hedge Funds ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Companies ,
Investment Funds ,
Investment Management ,
Investors ,
Popular ,
Private Equity ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act
Cannabis—or marijuana, as it is commonly known in the United States—is illegal under federal law. However, at least 30 states and the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis for medical use and nine states, as well as...more
7/23/2018
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Controlled Substances Act ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Drug Testing ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal v State Law Application ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Marijuana ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
State and Local Government
Dealing a blow to businesses with initial public offerings in their future or recent past, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that state courts may exercise jurisdiction over class action cases filed solely under the...more
In a unanimous ruling that narrows the class of would-be whistleblowers under the Dodd-Frank Act, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the statute requires whistleblowers to first report potential securities violations to the SEC...more
2/23/2018
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Digital Realty Trust Inc v Somers ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Internal Reporting ,
Retaliation ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) has released its 2018 examination priorities, an annual report outlining the areas of the securities industry its examiners...more