I was able to attend the Boston stop on the SEC’s Compliance Outreach Program. Michael Garrity, the Associate Director of the Boston Examination Program kicked off the program, by highlighting some examination statistics. There are 1200 registered adviser in the Boston region. But there are only 50 examiners. Last year, they had 80 exams. They … Read more »
Category: SEC News
The First Enforcement Action Under the JOBS Act
I believe the Securities and Exchange Commission has taken its first enforcement action under the JOBS Act. The SEC announced fraud charges against a Spokane Valley, Wash., company and its owner for misleading investors with claims to raise billions of investment capital under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act and invest it exclusively in American … Read more »
New SEC Rule to Protect Investors from Identity Theft
The Securities and Exchange Commission adopted new rules requiring investment advisers, broker-dealers, mutual funds, and certain other entities regulated by the agency to adopt programs to detect red flags and prevent identity theft. In 2010, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act amended the Fair Credit reporting Act to add the SEC to … Read more »
The SEC and Social Media
Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings got into trouble on July 3, 2012 when he used his personal Facebook page to announce that Netflix had more than one billion hours of online viewing in June. That trouble came from an SEC rule implemented in August of 2000: Regulation FD. That rule was implemented to stop the … Read more »
Challenging the SEC on the New Five Year Limit
It didn’t take long for defendants to take advantage of the Gabelli decision. That Supreme Court decision enforced the strict five year statute of limitations on enforcement actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC is not entitled to the “discovery rule” which would have allowed the SEC’s five-year time bar to start … Read more »
The SEC Is Not Happy with Custody Compliance
The Securities and Exchange Commission issued a Risk Alert on compliance with its custody rule for investment advisers. Beyond the warning to investment advisers, it also issued an Investor Bulletin to protect advisory clients from theft or misuse of their funds and securities. After a review of recent examination, the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections … Read more »
Private Equity Enforcement Concerns
Bruce Karpati, chief of the SEC’s Enforcement Division’s Asset Management Unit laid out a clear picture of the SEC’s expectations and concerns about private equity in a recent speech. He was speaking at Private Equity International’s annual CFOs and COOs Forum. The speech was centered around five main questions. Q1: How has the creation of … Read more »
The SEC Launches a Private Equity Initiative
Bruce Karpati, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Asset Management Unit, disclosed the launch of a Private Equity Initiative in a speech on Tuesday. While speaking to the Regulatory Compliance Association, Karpati spoke about the Enforcement Division’s and in particular the Asset Management Unit’s priorities in the hedge fund space. The Private Equity Initiative is … Read more »
Recent SEC Document Request for Private Equity
It appears the Securities and Exchange Commission has started its initial examination program for newly registered investment advisers, including private equity fund managers. This is a recent document request list sent by Boston’s regional office: August Boston document request (.pdf). The request list is shorter than the typical request letter. This seems to be in … Read more »
What Will the SEC Do About Advertising and Solicitation?
UPDATE: The SEC will wait a week. A new meeting has been scheduled for August 29. At today’s meeting the Securities and Exchange Commission is set to consider a rule on lifting its longstanding ban on general solicitation and advertising for privately-issued securities. Item 3: The Commission will consider rules to eliminate the prohibition against … Read more »