Coming off a busy 2024, we expect that 2025 will be a landmark year for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or Commission). Rostin Behnam’s resignation as Chairman on January 20 marked the end of the Biden...more
3/11/2025
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Biden Administration ,
CFTC ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Derivatives ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Executive Orders ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Proposed Rules ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Trump Administration
On January 28, 2025, FINRA published its Annual Regulatory Oversight Report (the Report). The Report highlights emerging risk areas and recent developments, common compliance deficiencies, and best practices for member firms....more
2/19/2025
/ Annual Reports ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Cybersecurity ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
FinTech ,
Regulation Best Interest ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Third-Party Risk ,
Third-Party Service Provider
On November 21, 2024, the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas vacated rules adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in February 2024. Those rules had defined language in the definitions of...more
12/16/2024
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Final Rules ,
Government Securities ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Market Participants ,
Proprietary Trading ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Dealers ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Vacated
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently brought settled enforcement actions against two registered investment advisers for failing to establish, maintain, and enforce written policies and procedures reasonably...more
On August 26, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced an order against a registered investment adviser, Sound Point Capital Management, LP, for its failure to “establish, maintain, and enforce written...more
This month the SEC secured a jury trial victory in its much-discussed “shadow trading” case in SEC v. Panuwat. As we have described in a prior alert, the term “shadow trading” has been used to refer to trading in the...more
At an industry event in early 2023, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or the Commission) Chairman Rostin Behnam set out a comprehensive agenda to include nearly three dozen rulemaking proposals as well as “business...more
2/28/2024
/ Asset Class ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Compliance ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Derivatives ,
Derivatives Clearing Organizations ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Form PF ,
Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) ,
Major Swap Participants ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Swaps
On February 6, 2024, by a vote of 3-2 along party lines, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC or the Commission) adopted Rules 3a5-4 and 3a44-2 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act), which...more
2/27/2024
/ Dealers ,
Government Securities ,
Liquidity ,
Market Participants ,
New Rules ,
Registered Investment Companies (RICs) ,
Registration Requirement ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Dealers ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Traders
On January 25, 2024, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Staff issued a request for comment (RFC) on the current and potential uses and risks of artificial intelligence (AI) in the markets that the CFTC...more
On January 9, 2024, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority published its 2024 FINRA Annual Regulatory Oversight Report. Previously titled Report on FINRA’s Examination and Risk Monitoring Program, the Report is released...more
1/18/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Best Execution ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Cryptoassets ,
Electronic Communications ,
Equity Securities ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Fixed Income Investments ,
Public Communications ,
Regulation Best Interest ,
Regulation BI ,
Regulation SHO ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Retail Investors ,
Retail Sales ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Division of Enforcement recently released a new advisory to its staff related to penalties, corporate compliance monitors and consultants, and admissions in CFTC enforcement...more
10/31/2023
/ Admissions ,
CFTC ,
Compliance ,
Compliance Monitoring ,
Consultants ,
Cooperation ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Penalties ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
On December 27, 2022—nearly 18 months after hearing oral arguments—the Second Circuit issued its new opinion in United States v. Blaszczak, an important insider trading case involving the misappropriation of confidential...more
1/27/2023
/ Confidential Information ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Government Property ,
Illegal Tipping ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Non-Public Information ,
Personal Benefit ,
Rule 10b-5 ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Violations
In December 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted amendments to Exchange Act Rule 10b5-1, the rule that provides an affirmative defense to claims of insider trading for persons acquiring or disposing of...more
12/30/2022
/ 10b5-1 Plans ,
Affirmative Defenses ,
Amended Regulation ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Safe Harbors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Regulation
On December 14, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) released four sweeping rulemaking proposals that would change market structure as we currently know it and introduce a new federal standard...more
On February 25, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed Rule 13f-2 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act) and the corresponding Form SHO, which, if adopted, would require...more
On January 26, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed amendments to private fund reporting rules that would increase the information required to be reported to the SEC on Form PF and the frequency of...more
2/4/2022
/ Comment Period ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Form PF ,
FSOC ,
Hedge Funds ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Funds ,
Money Market Funds ,
Private Equity Funds ,
Proposed Rules ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC or Commission) actions in 2021 demonstrate that insider trading remains a key enforcement priority. While the absolute number of insider trading enforcement actions brought by the...more
12/28/2021
/ 10b5-1 Plans ,
Affirmative Defenses ,
Corporate Governance ,
Dark Web ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Fraud ,
Insider Trading ,
Internal Controls ,
Market Participants ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Securities Fraud ,
Securities Litigation ,
Securities Violations ,
Share Price
In June 2021, Chairman Gary Gensler of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) expressed the view that it was time to “freshen up” Exchange Act Rule 10b5-1 - the rule that provides an affirmative defense to claims of...more
12/28/2021
/ 10b5-1 Plans ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Insider Trading ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Transactions ,
Trading Policies
In the face of volatile markets and a global pandemic, an old capital markets vehicle has been taking the markets by storm: special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). Although SPACs have been around for many years, the...more
4/5/2021
/ Acquisitions ,
Corporate Financing ,
Corporate Governance ,
Enforcement ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Sponsors ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
Mergers ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Registration Statement ,
Regulation Best Interest ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)
This spring, the Second Circuit will revisit its highly consequential insider trading decision in United States v. Blaszczak. The case is one to watch, as it has the potential to impact how the government approaches...more
On January 1, 2021, amendments to Section 21(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) codifying and expanding the power of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) to obtain disgorgement in...more
On September 10, 2020, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC, or the Commission) Division of Enforcement (Division) director issued a memorandum to Division staff setting forth a framework for evaluating the...more
On June 24, 2020, the governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut announced that travelers entering their states from certain states with high positive coronavirus test rates must quarantine for 14 days. The tri-state...more
7/2/2020
/ Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Executive Orders ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Governor Lamont ,
Governor Murphy ,
Interstate Travel Restrictions ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Quarantine ,
State Health Departments
On June 22, the Supreme Court held in Liu v. SEC that the SEC may obtain disgorgement in federal court cases, as long as the disgorgement does not exceed a wrongdoer’s “net profits and is awarded for victims.” The Court’s...more
6/25/2020
/ 15 U.S.C. § 78u(d)(5) ,
Administrative Authority ,
Business Expenses ,
Calculation of Damages ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equitable Relief ,
Kokesh v SEC ,
Lack of Authority ,
Liu v Securities and Exchange Commission ,
Net Profits ,
Remedies ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
New York has adopted a phased approach, by region and by sector, to the relaxation of the workplace restriction orders that first took effect on March 15. As part of the state’s COVID-19 reopening plan, on May 28 and May 29,...more