In Short -
The Situation: Recently, two judges in Southern District of New York were required to apply the Howey test in separate cases to decide whether sales of certain crypto assets were investment contracts, and thus...more
8/22/2023
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Due Process ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Howey ,
Investment Contract ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Popular ,
Ripple ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Stablecoins
In Short -
The Situation: In parallel federal actions, the Department of Justice ("DOJ"), Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC"), and Federal Trade Commission ("FTC")...more
7/24/2023
/ CFTC ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Market Manipulation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud
The Situation: The SEC has brought another in a growing list of whistleblower cases critical of entities for potentially attempting to impede an individual from communicating with the agency. In July 2010, the Dodd-Frank Wall...more
The Situation: The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Examinations ("EXAMS") released a Risk Alert on March 29, 2021, reminding broker-dealers of their obligation to comply with anti-money laundering ("AML")...more
The Situation: President Joe Biden nominated Gary Gensler, former Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") under the Obama administration, for Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). ...more
On February 26, 2021, the SEC's Division of Examinations released a Risk Alert to make digital asset market participants aware of recurring issues that have arisen in the course of recent examinations, and provide notice of...more
In September 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") charged a non-U.S. financial services firm for providing brokerage services to investors in the United States without being registered as a broker-dealer or...more
10/15/2019
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Brokerage Accounts ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Investment ,
Institutional Investors ,
Non-US Entities ,
Registration Requirement ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Violations ,
Solicitation
The Situation: In recent years, broker-dealers have been seeking further transparency from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA") on what constitutes "extraordinary" cooperation with its investigations and when...more