Since the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Watts, 19 US 148 (1997), judges have been permitted to consider acquitted conduct when calculating a defendant’s sentencing guidelines range and determining their...more
In what may come as a surprise to many, lawmakers across the political spectrum actually agree on at least one thing: the practice of sentencing federal defendants based on acquitted conduct has gone on long enough. Last...more
This year, regulators, supported by a slate of new legislation, have focused more of their efforts on AML violations and compliance deficiencies than ever before. As we have written about in the "AML Enforcement Continues to...more
8/24/2021
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Financial Crimes ,
FinCEN ,
IRS ,
Money Laundering ,
NDAA ,
Popular ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
U.S. Treasury
As covered in our earlier advisory, "AML Enforcement Continues to Trend in 2021," the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2021 included the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (AML Act), which...more
Federal regulators are increasing their scrutiny of companies' compliance with Anti-Money Laundering and Bank Secrecy Act Obligations, and if January is any indication, 2021 will be a record year for penalties. Just in the...more
Demonstrating the effect recent enforcement efforts have had on the industry, in remarks given in Washington, DC at a Compliance Outreach Program for broker-dealers, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Jo White...more
A defendant in an insider trading case who allegedly profited from his inside knowledge recently filed a motion to dismiss in the US District Court for the District of Rhode Island to drop him from a Securities and Exchange...more
CFTC Extends Designation of DTCC-SWIFT as Provider of Legal Entity Identifiers -
On July 20, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued an order extending the designation of the Depository Trust and Clearing...more
7/27/2015
/ Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) ,
AML/CFT ,
Banking Sector ,
CFTC ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
EU ,
FATF ,
Federal Reserve ,
FinCEN ,
Global Systemically Important Banks (G-SIBs) ,
Illegal Tipping ,
Insider Trading ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud
On June 9, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a Florida district court’s refusal to acquit Linda Deavers, an Indianapolis real estate broker, of four counts of wire fraud. In doing so, the Eleventh...more
On June 9, Chad Wiegand and Akis Eracleous, two San-Diego based brokers, pled guilty in California district court to trading in Ardea Biosciences, Inc. stock with inside information.
Mr. Wiegand and Mr. Eracleous,...more
In This Issue:
- SEC Denies Motion to Stay Regulation A+
- SEC Requests Public Comment on ETPs
- CFTC Further Extends Valuation Data Reporting Relief for SDs and MSPs
- Eleventh Circuit Upholds...more
6/22/2015
/ Alternative Investment Funds ,
AMF ,
Banking Sector ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Brokers ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Corporate Governance ,
Exchange-Traded Products ,
FDIC ,
Food Commodities ,
Insider Trading ,
Mortgage Lenders ,
Mortgages ,
OCC ,
Regulation A ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Wire Fraud
The US Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of California recently settled an enforcement action against Ripple Labs Inc., a Delaware corporation providing virtual currency exchange services. According to the settlement...more
The US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana recently dismissed a data breach class action against eBay Inc. for lack of standing because the named plaintiff did not allege an actual injury, only the...more
In This Issue:
- FINRA's NAC Strengthens Sanction Guidelines Related to Fraud and Suitability
- CFTC Revises Interpretation on Forward Contracts with Embedded Volumetric Optionality
- CFTC Requests Public...more
The US District Court for the District of Columbia took the unusual step of granting summary judgment against a technology company executive who the Securities and Exchange Commission accused of various violations of the...more
4/15/2015
/ C-Suite Executives ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Filing Requirements ,
Material Misstatements ,
Popular ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Section 16 ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Fraud
On April 3, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit denied the request of Preet Bharara, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, for an en banc hearing after the court issued a ruling in December that...more
In This Issue:
- NFA Updates BASIC to Assist With Bylaw 1101 Diligence on Delegating CPOs
- Second Circuit Refuses to Rehear Groundbreaking Insider Trading Case
- SEC Secures Victory on Fraud Allegations...more
The US Supreme Court recently reversed the conviction of a commercial fisherman, John L. Yates, accused of violating 18 U.S.C. § 1519, also known as the anti-shredding provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), holding that...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission agreed to a settlement with Hajime Sagawa related to his alleged role as the principal and minority owner of a broker-dealer that assisted Japan based Olympus Corporation in its...more
In this issue:
- Meeting of the SEC Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies
- Financial Action Task Force Publishes Updated List of Deficient Jurisdictions
- CFTC to Host Roundtable on...more
3/9/2015
/ CFTC ,
Cybersecurity ,
Destruction of Evidence ,
EU ,
FATF ,
Foreign Banks ,
Jurisdiction ,
Risk Alert ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Small Business ,
Volcker Rule
Preet Bharara, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, has petitioned the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit for a rehearing en banc of last month’s landmark decision vacating multiple...more
Academics in Hong Kong have found that companies that have adopted executive compensation clawback provisions tend to substitute one type of earnings manipulation for another, and that this trend is more pronounced in...more
In this issue:
- SEC Division of Corporation Finance Issues New C&DI Related to Resales Under Regulation S
- SEC Announces Proxy Voting Roundtable
- CFTC Staff Issues No-Action Relief From Certain...more
2/2/2015
/ AIFM ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Brokers ,
C&DIs ,
CFTC ,
Clawbacks ,
CME NYMEX ,
EU Directive ,
Forex ,
Insider Trading ,
Major Swap Participants ,
Netherlands ,
No-Action Relief ,
Proxy Voting Guidelines ,
Regulation S ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Swap Dealers ,
UK
On December 5, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance (DTF) issued the memorandum “Tax Department Policy on Transactions Using Convertible Virtual Currency.” The memorandum clarified that under New York law,...more
Deputy Treasury Secretary Sarah Raskin, who recently spoke at the Texas Bankers’ Association Executive Leadership Cybersecurity Conference, provided bank executives and boards some guidance on preventing, preparing for and...more