For me, venture capital has always been a fuzzy term. They generally invest in start-ups and provide early stage capital for their growth. As a company progresses through later rounds of funding, that definition does not seem to work that well. For example, would you label the latest rounds of funding in Facebook as “venture … Read more »
Year: 2011
Compliance Bits and Pieces for August 19
Here are some recent compliance related stories that caught my attention: ABA Journal Seeks ‘Blawg 100′ Nominees The editors of the ABA Journal are gearing up to select their annual list of the 100 best legal blogs, the Blawg 100. And they are seeking suggestions of blogs they should include. “Tell us about a blawg—not your own—that … Read more »
Report on Investment Adviser’s Use of Social Media in Massachusetts
There is a growing trend in the financial services industry to use social media sites for outreach to existing as well as potential customers. Noticing this trend, the Securities Division of The Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth surveyed investment advisers registered and doing business within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The purpose of the … Read more »
Germany, Sub-Prime Mortgage Backed Securities, and Scatology
Michael Lewis continues his around the world tour of the 2008 financial crisis from the view of Germany: It’s the Economy, Dummkopf!. The story in the September issue of Vanity Fair seems to be all about excrement. We heard that there were big chunks of the mortgage securities business that were terrible. There is the … Read more »
When is Real Estate a Security?
Fee simple ownership of the “bricks and mortar” of real estate is not a securities transaction. “The offer of real estate as such, without any collateral arrangements with the seller or others, does not involve the offer of a security.” As you move further away from that model, you move closer and closer to the … Read more »
A Weekend of Whistleblowing
Friday marked the effective date of the SEC’s Whistlelower Rule. Lucky whistleblowers can now cash in with bounties of up to 30% of the government’s recovery when cases involve in excess of $1 million. The question I have is whether there was spike in tips submitted over the weekend? The SEC is trying to make … Read more »
Compliance Bits and Pieces for August 12
These are some compliance-related stories that recently caught my eye: United Breaks Guitars: Lesson Learned for Companies and Whistleblowers by Tom Fox The authors break their analysis down into two components, which I believe relate to the compliance context. The first is to understand what would drive an employee to go outside the internal reporting process? … Read more »
Remind People to Do the Right Thing
Dan Ariely continues to find small, easy ways to change behavior. This time it was his students running the experiment instead of him. Two students sent an email to everyone in the class that included a link to a website that was supposed to contain the answers to a past year’s final exam. In half … Read more »
Laundering the Proceeds of Corruption
The FCPA and the Bribery Act focus mostly on the giver of the bribe. On the other hand, the recipients of the bribes need to deal with the cash to also avoid being caught. Like all criminals, they either shove cash into their mattresses or find a way to launder the money to get it … Read more »
Compliance and Liar’s Poker
Michael Lewis has written some great stuff on our most recent financial crisis: The Big Short, Iceland’s Meltdown, Greece and Corruption, and Popping the Irish Bubble. This was not his first rodeo. Lewis had a brief career in finance working as a London-based bond salesman for Solomon Brothers during the mid eighties. His finance career … Read more »