Doug Cornelius on compliance for private equity real estate
Twelve firms were hit with fines for off-channel communications. I’ve been waiting for these cases to come out. A couple of these firms have publicly traded securities and there have been notes that they are working through enforcement actions for off-channel communications. Santander and PJT are broker-dealers and subject to the strict record-keeping of that…
The Securities and Exchange Commission continues its relentless assault on firms that have allowed employees to use text messages, WhatsApp, private email, or other “off-channel communications.” Last week, six rating agencies were caught in regulatory crosshairs. Moody’s, S&P, Fitch, HR Ratings, A.M. Best, and Demotech had to pay $49 million in fines to the SEC. The…
The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission levied another $475 million in fines against broker-dealers, investment advisers and commodities firms. Ameriprise, Edward D. Jones, LPL and Raymond James each paid a $50 million fine. Millions in fines because firm employees were texting with clients and business partners. The order against P….
Over the past 2.5 years the Securities and Exchange Commission has charged 60 investment advisory firms and broker-dealers with violations of the record-keeping requirements and collected penalties approaching $2 billion. Those were all broker-dealers, dual-registered investment advisers, or affiliated investment advisers. Broker-dealers have strict communications retention mandates. Investment adviser requirements are not as strict. Private…
Martin Lomasney created a famous saying on the importance of discretion: “Never write if you can speak; never speak if you can nod; never nod if you can wink.” At the time of Lomasney, it was not email or Twitter, but telegrams that were the principal method of electronic communication. In the case of President Trump…
It seems clear that the LIBOR figures were subject to manipulation. Many banks are under investigation. The Royal Bank of Scotland agreed to pay $610 million in fines to UK and U.S. regulators for its role in the Libor rate-rigging scandal. As part of that settlement, the U.K.’s Financial Services Authority released emails and other…
Last summer, Fabrice Tourre didn’t turn around fast enough to see the bus coming at him. Goldman Sachs had given him a big push and put him in the front and center of their big bet on a crash in the residential mortgage securities market. Tourre ended up as the Fabulous Fab after giving himself…
Don’t write emails so provocative that they wind up reproduced on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. With many fund managers having to register under the Investment Advisers Act, they will now be subject to more extensive record-keeping requirements. That means more emails will be saved for a longer period of time. Those…
In the recent case of Crispin v. Audigier, a California judge ruled that Facebook and MySpace messages that aren’t publicly available are protected information under the Stored Communications Act, and therefore can’t be subpoenaed for use in civil litigation. Buckley Crispin sued clothing maker Christian Audigier for copyright infringement, alleging that Audigier used his artistic…
A new treatise has been written on field of electronic stored information and sanctions for spoliation. In the Amended Opinion and Order for The Pension Committee of the University of Montreal Pension Plan et al., v. Banc of America Securities, LLC, et al. Judge Shira A. Scheindlin of the Southern District of New York, addressed…