The card above comes courtesy of the House Financial Services Committee lamenting the failure to prosecute individuals and companies in the financial industry. Last week Chairman Hensarling and Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee Chairman McHenry sent a letter to Attorney General Holder and Treasury Secretary Lew seeking any and all documents related to the consideration of economic factors in the … Read more »
Make Sure Your Placement Agent is Registered
The Securities and Exchange Commission cracked down on a fund manager and its placement agent because the placement agent was not registered as a broker-dealer. The federal securities laws require that an individual who solicits investments in return for transaction-based compensation be registered as a broker. There is a fine line between a “finder” and … Read more »
Valuation Failures with a Fund of Funds
A Securities and Exchange Commission investigation found that two funds sponsored by Oppenheimer were involved in fraudulent valuations. Oppenheimer sent out misleading quarterly reports and marketing materials stating that the fund’s holdings of other private equity funds were valued “based on the underlying managers’ estimated values.” But that was not always true. The portfolio manager … Read more »
Looking to Europe
A new regulatory regime is scheduled to impact fundraising in Europe starting this summer. The new regulatory structure known as the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFM) has a July 22 effective regulatory date. The effect will be felt if you are a EU-based fund manager or want to market to EU-based investors. For U.S.-based … Read more »
Challenging the SEC on the New Five Year Limit
It didn’t take long for defendants to take advantage of the Gabelli decision. That Supreme Court decision enforced the strict five year statute of limitations on enforcement actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC is not entitled to the “discovery rule” which would have allowed the SEC’s five-year time bar to start … Read more »
TSA Compliance for Knives and Water
At first I thought Transportation Security Administration had gone completely insane. The blue shirts are now going to allow knives on planes as long as the blade is shorter than six centimeters and narrower than 1/2 inch. After looking closer I just think they merely incompetent. Up front I should mention that I have never … Read more »
The SEC Is Not Happy with Custody Compliance
The Securities and Exchange Commission issued a Risk Alert on compliance with its custody rule for investment advisers. Beyond the warning to investment advisers, it also issued an Investor Bulletin to protect advisory clients from theft or misuse of their funds and securities. After a review of recent examination, the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections … Read more »
Where the Bribes Are
The James Mintz Group has updated the firm’s infographic of Where the Bribes Are. In addition to the electronic-interactive version, the firm produced a .pdf FCPA Map – Update as of Feb 2013. Previously: FCPA Visualization Read more »
How Much Did the Stimulus Affect Unemployment? Not Much
While the New York Fed is increasingly tasked with regulating financial institutions, its bread and butter is economic analysis. A recent report debunks the theory that the stimulus spending lowered unemployment. James Orr, vice president in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Research and Statistics Group, and John Sporn, a senior analyst in the … Read more »
Compliance Bricks and Mortar – March 1 Edition
March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb. The same may be true of the SEC when it comes to the 2008 financial crisis and the SEC. This week’s Supreme Court decision in Gabelli v. SEC, means that the SEC has only 5 years after the date of the fraud to bring … Read more »