The Trump Administration’s attack on regulations just made a sweep through the financial industry. The Securities and Exchange Commission, The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Credit Union Administration, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency all clarified that staff guidance is not a regulation. SEC Chairman … Read more »
Category: SEC News
First Full Day of a Full Strength SEC
Yesterday, the Senate voted to confirm the nomination of Elad L. Roisman to be a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr. Roisman fills the vacant seat left by Michael Piwowar. This is the fourth Commissioner appointed by President Trump. I expect we will see pictures of the swearing in ceremony this morning. Mr. … Read more »
The One with Bookrunning in Exchange for Not Removing a Platform
Merrill Lynch has lots of relationships and is trying to manage an advisory business, a brokerage business and an investment banking business. It got into trouble for letting the last two interfere with the normal operations of its advisory business. In general during the time of the SEC action, a material change in any product … Read more »
Quarterly Reporting or Semi-Annual Reporting
According to a tweet from President Trump, he asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to study the possibility of moving from quarterly to semi-annual reporting for public companies. In speaking with some of the world’s top business leaders I asked what it is that would make business (jobs) even better in the U.S. “Stop quarterly … Read more »
Stop the Fraud with a PAUSE
A new program from the Securities and Exchange Commission will always (hopefully) catch my attention. I paused for a minute when I saw a press release for the SEC’s update of PAUSE, the “List of Firms Using Inaccurate Information to Solicit Investors.” That sounded interesting. The list even had a catchy acronym. PAUSE stands for … Read more »
Not Understanding the Meaning of “supervised release”
Howard M. Appel is a bad guy who has been convicted of securities fraud multiple times. This time it was for actions in 2010 through 2013. He secretly acquiring large blocks of stock in three publicly traded companies and then manipulated the market for those shares with co-conspirators. It was classic pump and dump schemes. … Read more »
The One With Cross-Fund Transactions
United Development Funding and its investment platforms have been under attack for a few years. It looks it has finally come to grips with its mistakes. UDF is closing out investigations into its funding of real estate investments from multiple investment platforms. The attacks started in 2015 when Kyle Bass, who runs Dallas-based hedge fund Hayman … Read more »
Continuing Lucia
After last week’s Supreme Court decision in Lucia v. Securities and Exchange Commission, it’s clear that administrative law judges of the US Securities and Exchange Commission are not mere federal employees but qualify as “Officers of the United States” under the Appointments Clause of the US Constitution. That means they need be appointed by the … Read more »
The SEC’s Administrative Law Judges are “Officers of the United States”
The Supreme Court issued its decision in Lucia v. Securities and Exchange Commission. The problem is that the administrative law judges were appointed by an internal panel instead of by the President or the SEC Commissioners. The Appointments Clause of the Constitution is there to make sure that those who wield power are subject to “political … Read more »
SALI – the SEC’s Search Action Lookup – Individuals
The Securities and Exchange Commission launched a new tool to help with investor protection: The SEC Action Lookup for Individuals – or SALI. (Is it pronounced “sally”?) SALI is a database of individuals who (1) have been parties to past SEC enforcement actions and against whom federal courts have entered judgments or (2) the SEC has … Read more »