Rain rain go away, Come again another day. A simple nursery rhyme for a rainy day. It also happens to be a central theme to Rain: A Natural and Cultural History by Cynthia Barnett. We need rain to survive. Too much, too little and either at the wrong time can be devastating. Ms. Barnett starts … Read more »
Compliance Bricks and Mortar for August 14
These are some of the compliance-related stories that recently caught my attention. Beware the ‘SEC Impersonator’ Scams Targeting Your Money by Bruce Carton in Compliance Week You might not think that fraudsters impersonating the SEC would be a significant or ongoing problem but the volume of the SEC’s “Investor Alerts” on this topic would seem … Read more »
On line portals for fundraising
As part of the updates on private placements, the Securities and Exchange Commission granted a no-action letter to Citizen VC, an online venture capital firm. The main question was whether the firm was creating “substantive, pre-existing relationships” with prospective investors through its website. The firm wanted to avoid a result that its offers & sales … Read more »
Updates on Private Placements
One of the troubling aspects of private placements is trying to draw the line between public advertising for the business and public advertising for selling securities. This aspect is even more apparent for private equity funds and real estate funds that want to tout their deals without jeopardizing their fundraising. The Securities and Exchange Commission … Read more »
Upcoming Anti-Money Laundering Rules for Private Funds
The Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has been toying with how to impose anti-money laundering standards on private funds and investment advisers for years. There is rumbling from the White House Office of Management and Budget that it approved proposed new regulation. A notice of rulemaking was dropped a few years ago. The thought then … Read more »
A Win for Compliance Officers
Judy Wolf did a bad thing. During an insider trading investigation she fudged some documents. The Securities and Exchange Commission investigated the insider trading matter and Ms. Wolf’s log of her review. The fudging was discovered. She was fired and the SEC brought an enforcement against her. There is some good news from that bad … Read more »
Compliance Bricks and Mortar for August 7
I finished the charity bike ride across Massachusetts. There’s still time to donate. Look at the bottom of this update. Since, I’m off the bike, these are some of the compliance-related stories that recently caught my attention. SEC Tries Flipping Witnesses by Jean Eaglesham in the Wall Street Journal The SEC touts the cooperation program … Read more »
Dodd-Frank Act Compliance Cost for Private Funds
Are Dodd-Frank Act compliance costs forcing smaller private investment fund advisers out of the market? Wulf Kaal, Associate Professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, decided to take a look at the data and see. It should come to no surprise that the answer is likely: yes. The analysis in this paper … Read more »
Compliance Bricks and Mortar – Pan-Mass Challenge Edition
At the time this story gets published on Friday, I will be on bike somewhere between Hillsdale, New York and Sturbridge, Massachusetts. That’s the first leg of my Pan-Mass Challenge ride to support cancer research. I’ll end up in Provincetown on Sunday afternoon. Many of the readers of Compliance Building have generously supported my ride. … Read more »
Pay to Play Rule In Effect on July 31
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the compliance date for the ban on third-party solicitation pursuant to the Pay-to-Play rule: July 31, 2015. Rule 206(4)-5 prohibits an investment adviser from providing compensated services to a government entity, following a political contribution to certain officials of that entity. Rule 206(4)-5 became effective on September 13, 2010 … Read more »