For those of you with that responsibility, I hope you have your Form ADV filed or ready to go. Meanwhile, here are some other compliance-related stories that recently caught my attention.
It’s Not Cricket – Ethics on the Pitch by Tom Fox in FCPA Compliance & Ethics
Is it cricket? Or isn’t it cricket? That might be a question many Americans are asking these days while the rest of the sporting world is embroiled in one of Cricket’s biggest scandals ever; which decidedly isn’t cricket. Confused yet? The scandal involves the highest levels of the Australian national Cricket team, who concocted a scheme to scruff the ball on piece of yellow tape in the pants pocket of the bowler, Cameron Bancroft. He was instructed to do so by (now former) team captain Steve Smith and (now former) vice-captain David Warner. All three have been thrown off the team. Now here is the best part, bowler Bancroft scruffed the ball on yellow tape on the pitch, not only in view of the entire playing field but all the fans in the stands. Better yet, he was caught on international television doing the deed. [More…]
Will SEC Rule Curb Corporate Political Spending Disclosure? by Mara Lemos Stein in the WSJ.com’s Risk & Compliance Journal
A provision in the latest U.S. government spending bill bars the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from mandating corporate disclosure of political spending but it won’t stop the trend of increased transparency around the issue, said two advocates for more transparent corporate governance. [More…]
Is the Cryptocurrency Bubble About to Burst? by Glenn Luinenburg and Jennifer Zepralka in WilmerHale Launch
We previously discussed ICOs and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Report of Investigation on the DAO. But there are still open questions about other types of ICOs, where it may not be squarely an investment, but instead the token has some use other than just providing a return to the holders. That’s where the SEC’s Munchee case in December gave us some more color and in our recent QuickLaunch University webinar on the future of ICOs and cryptocurrencies, we discussed this case and other developments and offer a few key takeaways if you are invested in or planning to launch an ICO: [More…]
Should compliance officers be optimists? by Jeff Kaplan in Conflict of Interest Blog
I think the case for optimism has grown – particularly in the past year. By this I mean not that things are looking better than in the recent past but that the need for an optimistic cast of mind may be at an all-time high. [More…]
