Doug Cornelius on compliance for private equity real estate
I want to clarify my Pay-to-Play and Yard Signs post from earlier this week. I think an early draft of the post was sent through the email system that was incorrect. A senior SEC official clearly stated that yard signs are not limited by the Pay-to-Play Rule and that the speaker who made the statement was … Read more »
I was fortunate to be able to attend the Securities and Exchange Commission’s CCO Outreach in Boston yesterday. I’ll post more later, but today I wanted focus on one topic that one panel discussed: the pay to play rule. The CCO Outreach stated that they were not trying to play “gotcha” as part of the … Read more »
While the political lens was focused on the James Comey testimony, the House of Representatives passed the Financial Choice Act. The bill is big change to many of the Dodd-Frank. For private funds, the most interesting section is: TITLE IV—Unleashing Opportunities For Small Businesses, Innovators, And Job Creators By Facilitating Capital Formation. The Financial Choice … Read more »
Politics aside, one of the key items I saw in the Comey testimony yesterday was the effect of perception on interactions between a boss and his employees. Mr. Comey said he did “take as a direction” the president’s words to mean he should drop the investigation. That may or may not have been the intention … Read more »
Eight years ago, Stanford Financial Group collapsed and was labeled a Ponzi scheme. The Securities and Exchange Commission is continuing to seek penalties for those involved. One of those is Bernerd Young, who served as the Chief Compliance Officer at Stanford Group Company, the Texas-based registered investment adviser and broker dealer that promoted the Stanford CDs to US investors. … Read more »
The Securities and Exchange Commission has essentially been claiming that its remedy of disgorgement is not subject to a statute of limitations. To the SEC, disgorgement is not punitive but remedial in that it lessens the effects of a violation by restoring the status quo. Charles Kokesh decided to fight back against this position. In the … Read more »
President Trump announced that the United States will withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement. The U.S. is the world’s second-largest emitter of carbon, with China in the top spot. China affirmed its commitment to meeting its targets under the Paris Climate Agreement and recently canceled construction of 100 coal-fired power plants, with plans to invest billions in … Read more »
Later today, we will hear President Trump announce from the Rose Garden about whether the US will pull out of the Paris climate accord. Meanwhile, ExxonMobil shareholders have stated that they do care about climate change. As an ExxonMobil shareholder, I see that the firm is the frequent subject of activist shareholder items. There were … Read more »
I came across two competing narratives on the use of subcription credit facilities for private equity funds: (1) Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital published a memo on subscription lines of credit for closed-end funds and (2) Eileen Appelbaum’s Private Equity’s Latest Con. Unlike hedge funds, private equity funds call capital from limited partners over time as investments … Read more »
As we pause this weekend to remember those who have fallen while serving the armed forces, these are some of the compliance-related stories that caught my attention recently. No Movie Could Capture the Crazy Details of Bernie Madoff’s Story by GORDON MEHLER AND LARRY H. KRANTZ in The Atlantic Bernie Madoff is back, nearly a … Read more »