On June 22, 2011, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted rules implementing certain provisions of Title IV of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act), including proposed amendments to Rule 206(4)-5, or the "pay-to-play" rules of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (Advisers Act) in response to changes made by the Dodd-Frank Act. The purpose of the rule is to prevent investment advisers from seeking to influence government officials' awards of advisory contracts through political contributions by prohibiting them from providing advisory services for compensation to government clients for two years after the adviser or certain of its executives or employees (covered associates) make a contribution to a public official of a government entity or a candidate for such office who is or will be in a position to influence the award of advisory business. The SEC had also extended the time period for compliance to June 13, 2012 in order to provide enough time for the MSRB and FINRA to adopt their own pay-to-play rules, and to give third-party solicitors additional time to come into compliance.
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