In the frenetic early days of social media foward-thinking companies thoughtfully sat down and crafted sensible policies to help guide employees who had suddenly turned into web publishers.The companies recognized the risks involved, whether the employee was acting recklessly, or merely writing down unacceptable material without realizing the implications. It was still a small area … Read more »
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What is a Security? Is Real Estate a Security?
Previously, I went through the analysis that a fund manager is considered an investment adviser. But left open the question of “what is a security?” That’s a key question for fund managers with alternative investments, like real estate. The Investment Advisers Act gives a very broad definition of a security: any note, stock, treasury stock, … Read more »
The Knowledgeable Employee Exemption for Private Funds
UPDATE: See More Guidance on Knowledgeable Employee Exemption for Private Funds When operating under the Section 3(c)(7) exemption from the Investment Company Act, the issue then becomes how a private investment fund can provide an equity ownership to key employees. Its unlikely that your key employees will have the $5 million in investments needed to … Read more »
Qualified Purchasers under the Investment Company Act
In a private fund exempt under 3(c)(1) investors only generally need to be accredited investors (and “qualified clients” if the fund manager is SEC registered. If you have more than 100 investors in the fund you will need to fall under the 3(c)(7) exemption. That means all of your investors must be “qualified purchasers.” A … Read more »
Private Fund Exemptions under the Investment Company Act
Private investment funds primarily use two exemptions to avoid being defined as an “investment company” under the Investment Company Act of 1940: Section 3(c)(1) or Section 3(c)(7). Less than 100 Investors Section 3(c)(1) of the Investment Company Act excludes from being an investment company any issuer whose outstanding securities are beneficially owned by not more … Read more »
New Codes of Conduct for Real Estate Companies
It’s always useful to look at what your competition is doing. The same is true in drafting your code of conduct (or code of ethics or whatever name you chose). It is useful to look at you what your competitors’ codes of conduct look like. Since Sarbanes-Oxley requires a public company to have a code … Read more »
Massachusetts Amends Its Strict Data Privacy Law (Yet, Again)
Massachusetts has revised its data privacy regulations one more time. The revised regulations are less demanding that the original version released over a year ago. But this law is the strictest in the country and will be the de facto law of the land for many companies. Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation released … Read more »
Compliance, Van Halen and Brown M&M’s
You may have heard the story about Van Halen’s banning of brown M&M’s from its dressing room. I chalked it up to the pampered life of rock stars. (Especially, when compared to the more mundane life of a chief compliance officer.) I just listened to the latest episode of This American Life which revealed that … Read more »
Workplace Computer Policy and the Attorney Client Privilege
Back in April, I mentioned a New Jersey case that found e-mail, sent during work hours on a company computer, was not protected by the attorney-client privilege: Compliance Policies and Email (Stengart v. Loving Care [.pdf]) That case has now been overturned. It seems that a company’s policy on computer use may be more limited … Read more »
Ethical Integrity Leadership – Setting the Tone From The Top
EthicsPoint sponsored this webinar and these are my notes. Howard Sklar, Vice President & Global Anti-Corruption Leader, American Express Company was the presenter. Howard was quick to point out that it is not just the “tone” but having the right “tone.” Also, it not be just the tone “at” the top, but that it be … Read more »