On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal published an article on conflicts between the top executives of some private equity firms and their personal investments: “Fund Kings Open Family Offices.” The article focused on two aspects of the executives’ wealth management: (1) distractions from activities outside the funds and (2) conflicting investments with the funds. On … Read more »
Compliance Bricks and Mortar for April 28
These are some of the compliance-related stories that recently caught my attention. District Court Rules Plaintiff Failed To Plead Real Estate Investment Was A “Security” by Keith Paul Bishop in California Corporate & Securities Law In ruling on the defendants’ motion, Judge Benitez correctly observed that the plaintiff’s securities law claims require that there be … Read more »
The One With The Options Pricing Theft
Some financial fraud is easy to spot. Some is hard to spot. Some I barely understand. Kevin Amell was very clever in hiding his alleged fraud and I’m not sure I understand exactly how he pulled it off. Mr. Amell was a fund manager at Eaton Vance for its Risk-Managed Diversified Equity Income Fund. The … Read more »
Financial Choice Act 2.0 for Private Fund Managers
The Republican agenda is moving ahead to unwind much of the Obama Administration’s legislative and regulatory achievements. The first attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act failed. Next up is raising the debt ceiling, tax reform and Dodd-Frank appeal. (I question how much Congress can take on at one time.) Jeb Hensarling, Chairman of the House … Read more »
Weekend Reading: Evicted
Matthew Desmond took a deep dive into poverty and housing. He published the story of what he saw in Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. The book follows several people in deep poverty living and being evicted from terrible housing in Milwaukee. Mr. Desmond lived among them in 2008 and 2009. He split his … Read more »
Happy Patriots’ Day
And the shot heard ’round the world Was the start of the Revolution. The Minute Men were ready, on the move. Take your powder, and take your gun. Report to General Washington. – Schoolhouse Rock! Patriots’ Day is a celebration of the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the Revolutionary … Read more »
Broker Dealer Private Fund
It was four years ago that David Blass mentioned that the SEC was taking a closer look at broker-dealer requirements for private fund managers in two contexts: selling interests in the funds and earning fees from the fund for capital transactions. Part of the problem is that the safe-harbors for selling your fund interests is … Read more »
Slapping Down Investment Research Website
The Securities and Exchange Commission took the “extreme step” of warning consumers that articles on the internet may not be objective and independent. They sent up a warning signal to deceptive promoters by announcing enforcement actions against 27 individuals and entities behind various alleged stock promotion schemes that left investors with the impression they were reading independent, … Read more »
The Overbooking Failure
Air travel has gotten has gotten less pleasant over the years. The TSA makes it unpleasant to get to the plane. Then the plane themselves have reduced passenger room. United took the unpleasantness to an even lower level when it forcibly removed a passenger from an overbooked flight. “Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville was … Read more »
Compliance Bricks and Mortar for April 7
These are some of the compliance-related stories that recently caught my attention. You Need to Know This: YTD Securities Class Action Lawsuit Filings are Off the Charts by Kevin LaCroix in the D&O Diary Securities class action lawsuit filings have been going crazy. Securities suit filings during the first quarter 2017 set a pace that … Read more »