While FINRA has a very strict limitation on advertisements focusing on procedures, investment advisers have a principles driven approach to limitations on advertising. To start, an advertisement is any communication addressed to more than one person that offers (1) analysis concerning a security, (2) any information to used in making a determination to buy to … Read more »
Ethics and Facebook
Can a lawyer hire a third person to send a “friend request” to a witness? According to an opinion from the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Professional Guidance Committee the answer is no. Although the information on someone’s Facebook profile is discoverable, a lawyer can’t try to access the page through deception. Although imperfect, I liked this … Read more »
This Week is Corporate Compliance & Ethics Week
The Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics is promoting the week of May 3-9, 2009 as Corporate Compliance & Ethics Week. Read more »
The fi360 Fiduciary Score Methodology
The fi360 Fiduciary Score is a quantitative evaluation of how well a fund meets a minimum set of due diligence criteria. The score can quickly help identify a list of Mutual Funds and Exchange Traded Funds that are worth further research in your selection process. You can also use the score as part of your … Read more »
What You Should Know About California AB 1825 – Harassment Prevention Training for Supervisors
AB 1825, (California Government Code 12950.1) mandates that employers who do business in California and employ 50 or more employees provide two hours of sexual harassment prevention training to supervisors located in California at least once every two years. Kaplan Eduneering offered a webinar: What You Should Know About California AB 1825 – Harassment Prevention … Read more »
Swine Flu and Ethics
The Swine Flu has spread in the United States with about 100 confirmed cases in over 10 states. There has even been one confirmed death. These are still very small numbers. Keep in mind that the CDC estimated that about 36,000 people died of flu-related causes each year, on average, during the 1990s in the … Read more »
Arthur Nadel Indicted
Florida fund manager Arthur Nadel was indicted Tuesday on criminal charges for allegedly soliciting hundreds of millions of dollars in investor money under false pretenses and misappropriating client funds. Mr. Nadel, 76 years old, was charged in a 15-count indictment with mail fraud, securities fraud and wire fraud. “It’s a much more complex story than … Read more »
Privacy Notices – Testing Effectiveness
Its great that regulators come up with privacy disclosure forms, but are they effective? The Securities and Exchange Commission has reopened the period for public comment on proposed amendments to Regulation S-P, which implements the privacy provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. [15 U.S.C. §§6801 – 6809] They opened back up for comment because they tested … Read more »
IRS Notice 2009-38 on Section 382 For Acquisition of Instruments Issued by Recipients of TARP Funds
The Internal Revenue Service issued Notice 2009-38 (.pdf) to provide guidance when instruments are acquired by the Treasury Department under the Capital Purchase Program of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (“EESA”) and the Troubled Asset Relief Program (“TARP”). The issue arose because of the massive amount of securities being acquired by the Treasury. If those … Read more »
Corporate Blogs and Tweets Must Keep SEC in Mind
Richard Brewer-Hay made it into the Wall Street Journal and even got his photograph included. Who is he? He is part of the next wave of investor relations professionals who are using web 2.0 tools to provide investors with company information. In 2008, Richard started using a blog as part of eBay’s investor relations: eBay … Read more »