These are some compliance-related stories that recently caught my attention: Ponzi Scheme and Investment Fraud Red Flags by Tracy Coenen in the Fraud Files Blog How do you know if you’re considering investing in a Ponzi scheme? The promoters will never come out and tell you they are running a pyramid scheme, so the [...]
Stealing Private Equity Investment Opportunities
Private equity transactions are not outside the scope of enforcement by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC filed a case against a former principal ...
Yes, the SEC Wants Real Estate Fund Managers to Register
After six months baking in the oven, the new Form ADV is ready. (To be more precise, the new Part 1 is ready. Part 2 ...
Are Real Estate Fund Managers Registered with the SEC?
Last year, I looked a the top 30 real estate private equity fund managers to see which are already registered with the SEC. The 2011 ...
Guidance Under the UK Bribery Act
We have been waiting for some guidance from the United Kingdom about their new Bribery Act since it received Royal Assent last April. The delay ...
Real Estate Funds and the Investment Company Act
Traditionally, private fund managers have looked at the section 3(c)(1) or section 3(c)(7) exemptions from the definition of “investment company” to avoid the restrictions of ...
Are you an Investment Company?
Fund managers are dealing with Dodd-Frank and the requirements under the Investment Advisers Act made by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Of course, a fund ...
Are you an Investment Adviser?
There has been a lot of focus on the effect of Dodd-Frank on private fund managers. Many had relied on the small adviser exception from ...
Custody and Private Funds
Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission put a new rule in place restricting an investment adviser’s ability to have custody of its clients’ assets. ...
Yes, the SEC Wants Real Estate Fund Managers to Register
Earlier I had pointed out how a real estate fund manager could be considered an investment adviser and have to register with the SEC under ...
Update on the Social Media Policies Database
My social media policies database is now up to 162 policies. I troll the internet periodically to add new policies as they become public. If ...
New York City “Pay-to-Play” Law is Upheld
on January 26, 2012 in Fundraising, Government Contracting
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a New York City “pay-to-play” law against various constitutional challenges: Ognibene v. Parkes. The Pay to play law is in Local Law 34 and it: Lowers the caps applicable to campaign contributions from parties that have “business dealings” with New York City to $400 (otherwise [...]
Private Fund Managers and SEC Registration
on January 25, 2012 in Private Investment Funds
The SEC has provided a no action letter in response to an American Bar Association request on guidance for private fund managers. The ABA requested clarification that a group of funds could use a singe registration where the fund managers are in a control relationship and conduct a single advisory business subject to a unified [...]
Why How We Do Anything Means Everything
on January 24, 2012 in Book reviews
An acquaintance in the compliance field sent me a copy of Dov Seidman’s How and I let it sit around for months. (My “To Read” stack has grown very tall.) I assumed How was vanity book and would rattle on and on about Seidman’s company: LRN. I recently moved and my “To Read” stack was tumbled [...]
Ethisphere’s 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics
on January 23, 2012 in Ethics
The Ethisphere Institute unveiled its “100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics,” an annual list of individuals who have made a significant impact in the realm of corporate citizenship over the course of the previous year. Some are world famous and some are little unknown. Here are some that caught my attention: #48 Stephen Colbert [...]
Compliance Bits and Pieces for January 20
on January 20, 2012 in Compliance Bits and Pieces
These are some of the compliance-related stories that recently caught my attention. Bruce Carton’s “2011: The Year in Enforcement” in Securities Docket 2011 was another difficult year for the Securities and Exchange Commission, even though another Madoff or Stanford-like scandal didn’t emerge to bring new embarrassment. Indeed, the SEC seemed to be under attack from [...]
Amending the Ban on General Solicitation and Advertising
on January 19, 2012 in Fundraising
There seems to be some momentum for changes to the Regulation D’s prohibition on advertising a private fund offering. The Managed Funds Association has asked the SEC to start a rulemaking and one of the SEC’s new advisory committees has also recommended a change. The SEC’s new Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies approved [...]
Stop SOPA
on January 18, 2012 in IT Compliance, Publish to KM Space
Based on the White House statement about Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), the PROTECT IP Act and the Online Protection and Digital ENforcement Act (OPEN), those bills may be in serious trouble. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), H.R. 3261, as originally proposed bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice to take action against [...]
Informants and Insider Trading
on January 17, 2012 in Insider Trading
The cooperation of a single Wall Street trader has led directly led to the prosecution of 10 individuals. That makes David Slaine one of the most productive informants in the history of US financial crimes. In a sentencing memorandum (.pdf), the US Attorney’s office states that “Slaine’s cooperation has been nothing short of extraordinary” and [...]
Compliance Bits and Pieces for January 13th
on January 13, 2012 in Compliance Bits and Pieces
Here are some compliance-related stories for Friday the 13th: Regulatory Risk Factors in the Carlyle Group S-1 by Seattle lawyer William Carleton. The Carlyle Group is preparing to go public. There are some interesting risk factors in the S-1 registration statement relating to use of leverage in investments, continued control of prior owners following the [...]
Recent Stories
- Compliance Bits and Pieces
- New York City “Pay-to-Play” Law is Upheld
- Private Fund Managers and SEC Registration
- Why How We Do Anything Means Everything
- Ethisphere’s 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics
- Compliance Bits and Pieces for January 20
- Amending the Ban on General Solicitation and Advertising
- Stop SOPA
- Informants and Insider Trading
- Compliance Bits and Pieces for January 13th
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- Toyota, Ethics and Compliance March 15, 2010
With Toyota's problems all over the news, I started to think about whether compliance and ethics professionals could learn anything from these problems. To begin, I don't think there is a systemic problem with their vehicles or with the company....
- New Codes of Conduct for Real Estate Companies March 10, 2010
It's always useful to look at what your competition is doing. The same is true in drafting your code of conduct (or code of ethics or whatever name you chose). It is useful to look at you what your competitors' codes of conduct look like. Since ...
- Massachusetts Amends Its Strict Data Privacy Law (Yet, Again) November 5, 2009
Massachusetts has revised its data privacy regulations one more time. The revised regulations are less demanding that the original version released over a year ago. But this law is the strictest in the country and will be the de facto law of the la...
- Compliance, Van Halen and Brown M&M's August 3, 2009
You may have heard the story about Van Halen's banning of brown M&M's from its dressing room. I chalked it up to the pampered life of rock stars. (Especially, when compared to the more mundane life of a chief compliance officer.) I just list...
- Workplace Computer Policy and the Attorney Client Privilege July 6, 2009
Back in April, I mentioned a New Jersey case that found e-mail, sent during work hours on a company computer, was not protected by the attorney-client privilege: Compliance Policies and Email (Stengart v. Loving Care [.pdf]) That case has now been ...
- Attorney-Client Privilege and Internal Investigations April 14, 2009
Two cases illustrate some of the problems with the use of outside counsel for internal investigations. The possibility that a conflict of interest could arise when an attorney or law firm simultaneously represents an organization and one or more of it...
- Compliance and Recommendations on Social Networking Sites March 24, 2009
I am an enthusiast of social networking sites and web 2.0. But I realize they have limitations and dangers. I have been very concerned about the Recommendations feature in LinkedIn. That feature allows any of your connections on LinkedIn to post a ...
- Corporate Compliance Fraud in Georgia, Florida and Massachusetts March 6, 2009
Just like the Corporate Compliance Fraud in Ohio, Compliance Services is also targeting companies in Georgia, Florida and Massachusetts. The Daily Citizen is reporting Georgia corporations warned about solicitations. The Georgia Secretary of State i...
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