Doug Cornelius on compliance for private equity real estate
With the statutory changes from Dodd-Frank, the Securities and Exchange Commission started gathering basic information about private fund managers and their funds on Form ADV. The SEC increased that information flow by requiring Form PF. Unlike Form ADV, Form PF provides detailed information about the private fund’s activities and performance. That left many reluctant to … Read more »
Years ago we had heard that the Securities and Exchange Commission was looking at issues related to group purchasing agreements with private equity portfolio companies. A case has been announced. The SEC brought action against WCAS Management which runs the Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe private equity funds. According to the order, WCAS entered into an … Read more »
Last week, the SEC’s office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations released a risk alert on Most Frequent Advisory Fee and Expense Compliance Issues Identified in Examinations of Investment Advisers. It was a bit shocking. Shocking mostly because the issues are mostly mechanical procedural errors that were contrary to the investment advisory agreement: Using a different … Read more »
For those of us working with registered investment advisers, the deadline for filing Form ADV is quickly approaching. I’ve heard a few people struggling to classify their clients. I put together this chart to help me think about it. With the recent changes to Form ADV, I see the SEC carving client accounts … Read more »
BMW issued a voluntary recall of all BMW i3 electric cars ever sold in the U.S. and has sent a stop-sale order to its U.S. dealers for any new or used i3 vehicles. There have only been 30,000 sold. That’s not very many, but it’s all of them. The reason is a “compliance issue” with … Read more »
When Bitcoin was rapidly increasing in value, there were lots of people looking to invest in that space. The SEC has repeatedly raised concerns about fund sponsors creating a fund or ETF focused on cryptocurrency. In a letter to the Investment Company Institute and Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, the SEC said don’t even think … Read more »
Private Fund CCOs have been focused on the disclosure and reporting of fund expenses for years. The Securities and Exchange Commission made it a centerpiece of exams of private fund managers. A handful of cases came out in 2015-2016 on that first wave of private equity fund manager exams: Blackstone failed to fully inform investors … Read more »
Immigration and citizenship employee compliance requirements are fairly straightforward, although awkward. You can’t usually ask whether or not a job applicant is a United States citizen before making an offer of employment. But you do need to verify the identity and employment eligibility of all employees, by completing the Employment Eligibility Verification (I-9) Form, and … Read more »
After a long weekend, and perhaps a vacation, compliance professionals are coming back into the office with 2018 on the calendar. It’s a clean slate. The possibilities are endless. Where to start? I don’t have the answer. There is so much to get done and so many challenges ahead. No organization has has the same … Read more »
A few months ago, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton stated that the SEC had been hard at work on developing its rule-making agenda for the upcoming year. In the coming weeks and months, I expect the SEC’s near-term rulemaking objectives to be fully reflected in our upcoming Regulatory Flexibility Act Agenda. As a … Read more »