10 For 10: Top Compliance Stories For the Week Ending March 15, 2025
Ep. 3 - The Art of Parallel Investigations (Part 2)
Episode 286 -- Matt Stankiewicz on the Ripple Decision and Celsius CEO Indictment
Blue Sky Laws: Defending State-Level Securities Violations
The Justice Insiders: The Administrative State is Not Your Friend - A Conversation with Professor Richard Epstein
Four Decision Points in SEC Securities Investigations
Crypto Enforcement Is Here, and Always Has Been
Cryptocurrency: The Regulator’s Perspective
Investment Management Roundtable Discussion – Regulatory and Enforcement Update
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
Earlier this year, the SEC, NASAA, and FINRA issued an Investor Alert cautioning investors about the rise of investment fraud involving artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies. The overarching concern:...more
The SEC’s enforcement action sends a clear message that the Commission intends to enforce “off-channel communication” violations against private fund advisers that are not affiliated with a broker-dealer....more
With the close of FINRA’s fiscal year comes the opportunity for broker-dealer firms to consider where regulators have focused their enforcement efforts and also what can be expected in the coming year. Fortunately, FINRA has...more
In January 2024, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) reported a staggering rate of potentially inaccurate and misleading information in broker-dealer crypto asset communications. The Regulator revealed that...more
...SEC Adopts Amendments to Fund Names Rule - On September 20, 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted amendments to Rule 35d-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the Fund Names Rule) as well...more
Editor's Note - The following newsletter provides a roundup summarizing enforcement actions, guidance, rulemakings, and other public statements taken by a federal and/or state financial services regulatory agency,...more
The issue of when a person may be considered a “broker” or “dealer” and subject to registration as such under the federal securities laws, as distinguished from so-called finders (and therefore not subject to the panoply of...more
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) investigations present significant risks for broker-dealers. Not only can FINRA take enforcement action—including the imposition of penalties and barring broker-dealers from the...more
When registered brokers, their associates, or other financial advisors receive a FINRA 8210 letter, how they respond can make a big difference in the outcome of FINRA’s investigation. ...more
Most securities regulations, by design, create a gray world where compliance is not crystal-clear, but, rather, subject to interpretation. After all, what you think constitutes “reasonable” supervision and what FINRA or the...more
Ninth Circuit Holds Loss Causation May Be Predicated on Information Potentially Available Under Freedom of Information Act; D.C. Circuit Upholds FINRA’s Permanent Ban of Broker Accused of Misconduct After Finding SCOTUS...more
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) recently brought enforcement actions against two broker-dealers that violated Rule 14e-4 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “SEA”) (generally known as the...more
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is not known for its aggressive enforcement record. But that may be changing. FINRA recently fined BNP Paribas for $15 million for anti-money laundering deficiencies in the...more
Last week, a Canada-based social media company was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission for purportedly conducting an unregistered securities offering to United States persons in connection with an initial coin...more
I have written before about the troubling lack of clarity regarding the tangible benefit of self-reporting rule violations to FINRA. While FINRA purports to provide some potential advantage for doing so, it is so awfully...more
I have been busy the last month getting ready for a big arbitration, and attending the first week of what looks like is going to be a four- or five-week slog when all is said and done. So, I am just catching up on some recent...more
Bankruptcy plans often include provisions releasing debtors and their officers and directors from certain potential liability. In Zardinovsky v. Arctic Glacier Income Fund, No. 17-2522 (3d Cir. Aug. 20, 2018), the United...more
AT&T has dropped plans to sell the Mate 10—the newest smartphone from China’s Huawei Technologies—just before the partnership was to be announced. AT&T gave no reasons for its abrupt reversal, but lawmakers have recently...more
On June 5, the SEC filed suit against Salt Lake City-based Alpine Securities, Corp. (“Alpine”). The complaint, filed in the Southern District of New York, alleges that the broker-dealer ran afoul of AML rules by “routinely...more
The opinion of the SEC in KCD Financial Inc. upholds a FINRA disciplinary action against a FINRA member broker-dealer that sold securities in a private placement when no exemption from registration was available....more