The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) have, in two separate recent settled enforcement actions involving off-channel communications (“OCC”), imposed fine...more
4/24/2024
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Compliance ,
Electronic Communications ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act
Garcia Case Highlights Necessity of Knowing Your Customer and Listening to Internal Fraud Watchdogs.
The SEC’s recent Order against a broker-dealer (the “Firm”) imposed a $750,000 financial penalty for the Firm’s failure...more
10/21/2021
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Consent Order ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
FinCEN ,
Investment Adviser ,
Know Your Customers ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Risk-Based Approaches ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) ,
Unregistered Brokers
In case you were wondering if you can still push off finalizing your Form CRS filing, posting it on your website and delivering it to clients, the SEC has read your mind and answered loudly: no more! On Monday, the SEC...more
For the past decade, anti-money laundering (“AML”) has been at the forefront of securities regulators’ priorities. Indeed, AML enforcement cases have resulted in some of the highest fines imposed by securities regulators,...more
6/7/2021
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Fines ,
Due Diligence ,
Enforcement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI) ,
Internal Controls ,
Regulatory Violations ,
SEC Examination Priorities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
FINRA recently filed a Complaint against a Chief Executive Officer and Chief Compliance Officer of a registered broker-dealer alleging, among other things, that the individual caused the broker-dealer to have wide-ranging...more
Being a small business owner is tough. You often wear several hats and juggle multiple responsibilities while you try to build a successful business. This is especially true for small financial services firms that are subject...more
In a troubling recently-released Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (“AWC”), FINRA fined three Cetera Firms a total of $1,000,000 for failing to conduct the appropriate suitability review and to otherwise satisfy their...more
In a recent decision by a FINRA Office of Hearing Officers Panel, FINRA barred a registered individual who failed to produce his personal IRS tax transcripts, which were not in his immediate possession but rather maintained...more
On September 23, 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) entered an Order Instituting Administrative and Cease and Desist Proceedings (“Order”) against a broker-dealer, JonesTrading Institutional Services,...more
FINRA’s final adjudicative body, the National Adjudicatory Counsel (“NAC”) recently issued a decision, affirming a Hearing Panel decision, sanctioning Silver Leaf Partners, LLC (“Silver Leaf”) for making improper payments to...more
FINRA recently provided additional guidance on firms’ obligations to actively supervise the trading and performance of non-traditional exchange-traded funds (“NTETFs”) within their customers’ accounts. Specifically, in a...more
The SEC continues to reiterate the role of broker-dealers as “gatekeepers to the securities markets” by focusing on firms’ anti-money laundering (“AML”) obligation. The import that the SEC, as well as FINRA, places on firms’...more
6/1/2018
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
BSA/AML ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
Customer Identification Program (CIP) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
OCIE ,
Personal Liability ,
SEC Examination Priorities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)
The SEC recently charged a New York-based broker-dealer, Windsor Street Capital, L.P. (f/k/a Meyers Associates, L.P.) and John David Telfer, who acted as Windsor’s Chief Compliance and Anti-Money Laundering Officer for...more
So you want to use the government’s EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program (“EB-5 Program”) to raise cash? Be aware that the SEC will be looking over your shoulder to determine whether you are acting as an unregistered broker-dealer...more