Compliance Tip of the Day: COSO Objective 5 – Monitoring Activities
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Raising Capital 101: A Securities Podcast - What Laws Affect Securities Offerings?
Payment for Order Flow (PFOF) and Gamification: Your Questions Answered
Summer Enforcement Action Review; Raising Money in a Pandemic - Investment Management Roundtable Discussion
Investment Management and Private Funds Roundtable – June 2020
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – FinTech initiatives
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – Fiduciary investment advice: The patchwork emerges
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – SEC enforcement
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – Complying with new SEC rules for broker-dealers
Investment Management Roundtable Discussion – Regulatory and Enforcement Update
Regulation Best Interest Videocast Series: Establishing An Investment Platform Post-Regulation BI
Investment Management Update - Focus on Data Privacy and Cybersecurity
The SEC’s longstanding practice of requiring settling parties not to deny the charges against them, denounced as the “gag rule” by critics, recently withstood another legal challenge. ...more
On July 16, TradeStation Securities, Inc., a member firm of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (AWC) to FINRA’s Department of Enforcement. This AWC...more
On May 14, 2025, Deputy Enforcement Director Antonia Apps told those gathered at an anti‑money laundering conference in Washington, D.C. to expect a more measured approach from SEC Enforcement. That may include, she...more
Let’s say, once upon a time, you worked from home during the pandemic. If so, did you use a variety of communication methods (perhaps switching among different platforms, never sure which camera or microphone would be...more
In this issue of our monthly Securities Enforcement Roundup, we highlight top securities enforcement developments and cases from May 2025. In May 2025: More ongoing developments in the crypto enforcement area at the US...more
On June 2, 2025, the Supreme Court denied the petition for writ of certiorari filed by Alpine Securities Corporation in Alpine Securities Corp. v. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Interestingly, on the same day, the...more
On June 2, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for writ of certiorari filed by Alpine Securities Corp. in Alpine Securities Corp. v. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. In doing so, the Supreme Court declined...more
In the world of outside business activity (OBA) disclosure, many FINRA enforcement actions center on whether a registered person gave, or did not give, prior written notice of those activities to their member firm. These...more
On March 25, 2025, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued a 100-page Administrative Order and Decision confirming and modifying its sanctions of Alpine Securities Corporation, which include expulsion from...more
On May 8, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) published a blog announcing that it intends to modify the heightened supervision plans (HSPs) imposed as part of certain broker-dealers’ settlements with the US...more
Pre-IPO investing involves buying a stake in a company before the company makes its initial public offering of securities. Many stock promoters invite potential investors to invest in a pre-IPO offering by providing an...more
The Investment Company Institute (ICI) has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a comment letter to delay enforcement of its new short sale disclosure rules (the “Short Sale Final Rules”) until additional...more
Is FINRA constitutional? According to the D.C. Circuit’s November 2024 opinion in Alpine Securities Corp. v. FINRA, FINRA proceedings may be unconstitutional in one narrow set of circumstances. ...more
On January 27, FINRA accepted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (AWC) addressing alleged violations committed by the respondent, retail market maker offering execution services to broker-dealers and member firm...more
The Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities (Department) has recently targeted registered investment advisers who utilize leveraged and inverse exchange traded funds (ETFs). Advisers should be aware of the...more
Recent case developments in Alpine Sec. Corp. v. FINRA before the D.C. Circuit cast further uncertainty on the future of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)’s enforcement arm....more
Is FINRA constitutional? Two cases currently playing out in D.C. federal courts, Alpine Securities Corp. v. FINRA and Kim v. FINRA, tee up that question. But the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is an unusual target...more
Social media marketing is an important form of advertising in our digital world, particularly with a target audience of younger investors. This has caught the eye of FINRA and the SEC....more
The SEC’s so-called “gag rule” — which prevents a defendant settling with the SEC from denying the SEC’s allegations — has recently come under fire. Recently the Fifth Circuit heard oral arguments in the SEC v. Novinger case...more
More than ever before, financial services regulators must increasingly adapt to technological advances. Perhaps no other technological advancement is more important right now than crypto currency. Crypto currency is defined...more
A panel of the D.C. Circuit recently relied on Lucia and Cochran to enjoin a FINRA regulatory enforcement action pending appeal of an Appointments Clause challenge....more
2023 MID-YEAR REVIEW - In the first half of 2023, several rule changes have been proposed by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including changes to...more
In the securities industry, regulators like to say that the compliance professionals are their “partners.” But every so often, those regulators charge one of their compliance partners with rule violations. The compliance...more