Doug Cornelius on compliance for private equity real estate
President Trump has come into office as the first president in modern era to own an active business empire. One in which his name is the probably the most valuable asset. Like him or not; voted for him or not; He is the President. As we have seen in the past, scandals limit the ability … Read more »
These are some of the compliance related stories that recently caught my attention. Experts Ponder Role of Trump Organization Compliance Counsel by SAMUEL RUBENFELD in WSJ.com’s Risk & Compliance Journal As compliance counsel, the person’s ethical obligation will be to the organization, not to the president, making the role less robust than retaining an independent … Read more »
In case you were not clear that the Securities and Exchange Commission is serious about enforcing Rule 21F-17, BlackRock is the latest to run the perp walk. The SEC accused the money management giant of improperly using separation agreements that forced employees to waive their ability to obtain whistleblower awards. The SEC adopted Rule 21F-17, which provides in … Read more »
Last week the Securities and Exchange Commission issued the 2017 priorities for the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations. There are five main items on the list, plus some others. Private funds are still on the list. Retail Investors – Roboadvisers wrap fee programs ETFs – redemption and sales practices Never-before examined Recidivist Multi-branch -(Are … Read more »
Oliver Schmidt is the former top emissions compliance manager for Volkswagen in the United States. The FBI arrested him on Saturday as part of the Volkswagen emissions scandal. He was denied bail, pending a court appearance later this week. Perhaps, the case is not one of a compliance officer missing a problem, but a compliance … Read more »
Wall Street lawyer Jay Clayton is slotted to head the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the Trump administration. This is a big change from Chair White whose background was in prosecution. Chair White had a long list of prosecutions from serving a decade as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. (She … Read more »
There have been several challenges to the constitutionality of the in-house administrative judges at the Securities and Exchange Commission. The problem is that the judges are appointed by an internal panel instead of by the President or the SEC Commissioners. The SEC has fended off attacks. Now there is break in wall. The 10th Circuit found … Read more »
One of the rallying cries for President-elect Trump was to drain the swamp of corruption. Compliance professionals could think of many things that could happen to remove conflicts or the appearance of conflicts. Personally, as a compliance professional and a voter, I was disappointed to learn that Hillary Clinton did a poor job of walling … Read more »
I hope you are having a happy and joyous holiday season. Whether it be Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Festivus, Feast of Winter Veil, Saturnalia, or New Year’s Eve, I hope you get to spend some extra time with friends and family during this last week of 2016. Doug Read more »
It’s been a busy week for whistleblower cases. The latest is a case against SandRidge Energy for using severance agreements that impeded employees from contacting the Securities and Exchange Commission. In response to Dodd-Frank, the SEC adopted Rule 21F-17 in August 2011, which provides: (a) No person may take any action to impede an individual … Read more »