Doug Cornelius on compliance for private equity real estate
Investment advisory relationships are not assignable. Section 205(a)(2) of the Advisers Act provides that investment advisers can’t enter into an advisory contract that: “(2) fails to provide, in substance, that no assignment of such contract shall be made by the investment adviser without the consent of the other party to the contract”. So a registered…
I think everyone agrees that members of Congress should not engage in trading based on information they encounter. That is, everyone except members of Congress. There have been several attempts to limit congressional trading. None have made it to the floor for a vote. The current efforts are the Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act sponsored…
One theme of the SEC’s Marketing Rule for investment advisers when it was released in 2020 was for advertised performance to reflect the client’s actual returns. It’s a compliance mantra, you have to shown a net return with equal prominence to any gross return you are showing. The uncertainty in the area that took some…
These are some compliance-related stories that recently caught my attention. Part 2: How Law Schools Can Champion Compliance Careers by Paul E. McGreal Law schools find themselves at a critical juncture. Many students no longer want the traditional path from law school to BigLaw, and instead, seek careers that blend legal expertise with business acumen, preventive…
The Small Business Advocate Act of 2016 established the Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation within the Securities and Exchange Commission. That Act requires an annual report of statistical information and substantive analysis. That annual report was recently released. Perhaps a bit late because Stacey Bowers, who served as the Advocate throughout…
Here are some compliance related stories that recently caught my attention. Office of Investor Advocate Report Addresses Ownership of Private Market Securities by Meredith Ervine in TheCorporateCounsel.Net In mid-December, the SEC’s Office of the Investor Advocate delivered its Report on Activities for the Fiscal Year 2025 to Congress. As highlighted in the announcement, the report provides an update on…
Earlier this month, the Managed Funds Association asked the Markets Participants Division of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to issue a no-action letter related to private fund managers and registration as Commodity Pool Operators and Commodity Trading Advisors. The MFA requested confirmation that MPD will not recommend the CFTC enforcement action against a private fund…
Although the Corporate Transparency Act was largely killed last March, New York State had been working on its own version. The problem had been that the New York LLC Transparency Act was tied to the definition in the federal Corporate Transparency Act. FinCEN had limited the definition of “reporting company” to only mean entities that…
As 2026 begins, the two biggest investment management regulators are short on staff and leadership. The DOGE purge has left each agency with 10%-15% fewer numbers in headcount. President Trump has also left commission seats on each vacant. The sole remaining Democratic commissioner at the SEC, Caroline Crenshaw, left when her her term ended on…
I know some people kick off their New Year’s resolutions with a plan to read more books. Here are few of my favorites from 2025. 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in History–and How It Shattered a Nationby Andrew Ross Sorkin If you’ve enjoyed anything by Mr. Sorkin, you’ll certainly enjoy his latest book on the…