New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law yesterday a bill which will dramatically alter the way discrimination and harassment claims are treated in New York....more
8/13/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Corporate Culture ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Harassment ,
Hostile Environment ,
New Legislation ,
NYSHRL ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Statute of Limitations
In response to the #MeToo movement, New York State has led the way in enacting legislation to expand employee rights to file and recover for sexual harassment claims. ...more
7/16/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Corporate Culture ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Harassment ,
Hostile Environment ,
Morgan Stanley ,
NYSHRL ,
Preemption ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed two bills into law yesterday, amending Labor Law §194, to address the much-discussed "wage gap."
New York previously barred pay differences based on gender, but the law signed...more
7/12/2019
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Pay ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
New Legislation ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
In New York City, a law was adopted by administrative action today that prohibits many employers, labor organizations, and employment agencies from conducting pre-employment drug testing for marijuana and THC, the active...more
The New York Department of Financial Services has announced the creation of a new “powerhouse” Consumer Protection and Financial Enforcement Division. ...more
Utah Governor Gary Herbert is expected to sign a new privacy law in the coming weeks that will make his state the first to protect private electronic data stored with third-party providers from government access without a...more
3/28/2019
/ Cloud Computing ,
Data Management ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Government Investigations ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Pending Legislation ,
Privacy Laws ,
Search Engines ,
Search Warrant ,
Social Media ,
State and Local Government ,
Wireless Technology
Typical Virtual Currency Exchanges Do Not Require PA Money Transmitter Licenses -
The Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities (“DoBS”) just released Guidance declaring that virtual currency, “including Bitcoin,”...more
Effective October 9, 2018, all New York State employers are required to adopt written sexual harassment prevention policies for employees and, within a year (by October 9, 2019), all employers must implement mandatory...more
10/9/2018
/ #MeToo ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Complaint Procedures ,
Corporate Culture ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Guidance Update ,
Harassment ,
Hostile Environment ,
Internal Reporting ,
Risk Management ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Title VII ,
Tone At The Top
The ongoing debate on whether virtual currencies with certain characteristics should be classified as commodities subject to regulation and enforcement by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is the focal point...more
10/1/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Financial Instruments ,
Financial Transactions ,
Investment Products ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Subject Matter Jurisdiction ,
Virtual Currency
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on August 23, 2018, released for public comment a series of electronic draft materials and guidance as a follow-up to the State's sexual harassment law passed in April 2018. The public comment...more
8/28/2018
/ #MeToo ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Complaint Procedures ,
Corporate Culture ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Harassment ,
Hostile Environment ,
Internal Investigations ,
Internal Reporting ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
Address Emphasizes Role of SARs in Fighting Illegal Activity, Including Drug Dealing Fueling the Opioid Crisis -
Kenneth Blanco, the Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”), discussed last week...more
8/13/2018
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bank Secrecy Act ,
Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Filing Requirements ,
Financial Crimes ,
FinCEN ,
Illegal Drugs ,
Information Sharing ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Money Services Business ,
Opioid ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
Virtual Currency
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) earlier this week announced that it was disbanding the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, established under the Obama Administration. ...more
7/16/2018
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Consumer Fraud ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Currency ,
Elder Abuse ,
Executive Orders ,
Exploitation ,
Federal Agency Taskforce ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Products ,
Money Laundering ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Tribal Governments
In a highly anticipated speech to the New York City Bar White Collar Crime Institute this morning, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced two new Department of Justice (DOJ) policies...more
As we previously have blogged, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) became one of the first regulators to wade into the regulation of cryptocurrency when it released interpretive guidance in March 2013 stating...more
3/9/2018
/ AML/CFT ,
Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
Broker-Dealer ,
CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Instruments ,
Financial Markets ,
FinCEN ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Interpretive Rule ,
Money Services Business ,
Money Transmitter ,
Mutual Funds ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
Virtual Currency
A decision this week from a New York federal district court ruling that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) had jurisdiction to regulate a cryptocurrency business represents the first opinion from a federal...more
3/9/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Financial Instruments ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Jurisdiction ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Token Sales ,
Virtual Currency
A federal court this week found that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) had jurisdiction to regulate a cryptocurrency business, raising the possibility of jurisdictional tension among the CFTC and other...more
3/9/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Financial Instruments ,
Financial Markets ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Jurisdiction ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Token Sales ,
Virtual Currency
On February 23, the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) signaled that the inter-governmental body “will step up its efforts in monitoring the use of cryptocurrencies in money laundering.” ...more
3/2/2018
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Banking Sector ,
Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
FATF ,
G20 ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Money Laundering ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Risk Management ,
Token Sales ,
Virtual Currency
The following joint statement was issued this last week from the Enforcement Directors of the Securities Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission...more
1/22/2018
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Markets ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Virtual Currency
A new proposed law to create a statutory framework for regulating persons engaging in virtual-currency business activity, the Uniform Regulation of Virtual-Currency Businesses Act (URVCBA), has been approved by the Uniform...more
As the value of bitcoin continues to soar (USD:BTC this past weekend exceeded $19,000.00:1), we thought that now would be a good time to emphasize the need to ensure regulatory compliance with the many federal and state AML...more
12/22/2017
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Bitcoin ,
BitLicense ,
BSA/AML ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Know Your Customers ,
Money Services Business ,
Virtual Currency
As the world now knows, an indictment against Paul Manafort, Jr., a former campaign chairperson for now-President Donald Trump, and Manafort’s associate, Richard Gates III, was unsealed yesterday. ...more
10/31/2017
/ Bank Secrecy Act ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Investigations ,
FBAR ,
FBI ,
FinCEN ,
Foreign Agents ,
Geographic Targeting Order ,
Indictments ,
IRS ,
Money Laundering ,
Offshore Banks ,
Offshore Funds ,
Political Campaigns ,
Political Corruption ,
Popular ,
Real Estate Investments ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Russia ,
Tax Evasion ,
Trump Administration ,
White-Collar Exemptions
As digital currency becomes more ubiquitous, state and federal regulators across the United States, as well as regulators in many other countries, are examining how existing regulatory structures need to be adapted to account...more
8/23/2017
/ Australia ,
Bitcoin ,
BSA/AML ,
Counter-Terrorist ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
India ,
Know Your Customers ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Terrorism Funding ,
Virtual Currency
On June 29, dual trial verdicts in the Southern District of New York paved the way for the government to seize 650 Fifth Avenue, a 36-story building in Manhattan valued at up to $1 billion (“the Property”). The defendants,...more
On Monday, the state of Florida moved a step closer towards amending its money laundering statute to include the nefarious use of bitcoin and other virtual currencies. The bill, H.B. 1379, has sailed through a committee vote...more
New York's law prohibiting merchants from imposing a surcharge on credit card purchases (Section 518 of the state's General Business Law) regulates speech, thereby making the law subject to First Amendment scrutiny, the U.S....more