The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2009 was part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act of 2010 (the HIRE Act) passed in 2010. If you have foreign investors or domestic investors making their investments through offshore entities, you need to pay attention to this law. It requires private funds to collect information … Read more »
New Anti-Money Laundering Requirements for Non-Bank Mortgage Lenders and Originators
Private Equity has been siting on the fringes of Anti-money laundering regulation for many years. It’s still illegal to be involved in money laundering and fund managers should be taking some steps to protect themselves and to identify problems. There’s just no set script. FinCEN is supposedly working on a new rule. In the meantime, … Read more »
Crowdsourcing the Crowdfunding Exemption
There is a growing movement to create a new crowdfunding regime for raising capital. The models seem to draw inspiration from Kickstarter, a platform to fund creative projects. I say that because each time I see a draft bill it talks about an internet-based intermediary as part of the exemption. President Obama endorsed the idea … Read more »
Compliance, the Middle-Finger Malfunction, and the Reluctant Touchdown
It’s sad day in Boston. We’ve become accustomed to winning and the Super Bowl drought continues for at least another year. There were two compliance-related stories that came out of Super Bowl XLVI. The first was singer M.I.A.’s obscene gesture and expletive during the halftime show. After Janet Jackson’s nipple-gate incident eight years ago, you … Read more »
Compliance Bits and Pieces for February 3
These are some compliance-related stories that recently caught my attention. Private Equity Bets On Compliance Market With EthicsPoint Deal by Nick Elliott in WSJ.com’s Corruption Currents In a further sign of rising demand for compliance services, private equity firm Riverside Co. has signed a deal to acquire EthicsPoint Inc., which it will merge with its … Read more »
Margin Call
With the announcement of the Oscar nominees, try watching Margin Call to combine movie watching and compliance. Margin Call received an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay. The movie sets Kevin Spacey, Demi Moore, Jeremy Irons, Stanley Tucci, and Simon Baker as the key players at an investment firm during the earliest hours of the … Read more »
Will Private Equity Fund Managers Get a Registration Exemption?
Early versions of Dodd-Frank had an exemption from registration for private equity fund managers, just as there is one for venture capital fund managers. Perhaps there is some hope that the private equity exemption will once again surface? Don’t count on it. Although I appreciate the efforts of Congressmen Hurt, Cooper, Garrett, Himes, and others. … Read more »
Changes Coming With Anti-Money Laundering Requirements
James H. Freis, Jr., Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, let us know that his agency is working on anti-money laundering requirements for investment advisers. At a November 15, 2011 speech at the American Bankers Association/American Bar Association’s Money Laundering Enforcement Conference he highlighted many of the issues of money-laundering in the various financial … Read more »
Defending Jacob
Being a lawyer, I like a good legal thriller. If you’re looking for a legal thriller to keep you up at night, try William Landay’s latest novel: Defending Jacob. Jacob is a fourteen year old boy whose classmate is found murdered. Jacob’s father is an assistant district attorney. You can guess from the title that … Read more »
Compliance Bits and Pieces
These are some compliance-related stories that recently caught my attention: Ponzi Scheme and Investment Fraud Red Flags by Tracy Coenen in the Fraud Files Blog How do you know if you’re considering investing in a Ponzi scheme? The promoters will never come out and tell you they are running a pyramid scheme, so the … Read more »