Sky Blog
At the same time the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) adopted rules implementing Regulation Crowdfunding pursuant to Title III of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the “JOBS Act”), the agency proposed rule changes that could potentially facilitate intrastate …
All partnerships will be audited at the entity level unless they have 100 or fewer partners and no partnerships as direct partners.
The two-year budget plan passed by Congress on October 30, 2015, and expected to be signed into law …
At the outset, let me give the requisite reminder that the views I express today are my own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Commission or its staff.[1]
Today I thought I would speak about our path-breaking …
The SEC settled charges with two investment advisers to a closed-end fund based on allegations that the advisers failed to adequately disclose a change in investment strategy to the fund’s board and its investors. The SEC also found that shareholder …
The credit crisis of 2008 highlighted the criticality of effective liquidity management and demonstrated the difficulties broker-dealers face without adequate funding sources. In response, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) has been taking steps to impose new requirements that will …
SEC proposes modest amendments to AP process to enhance efficiency and address concerns regarding fairness.
In an effort to enhance the efficiency of its processes in administrative proceedings (APs) and bolster its argument that APs offer a fair forum for …
The enforcement program at the Securities and Exchange Commission has been the subject of severe criticism in recent years, and occasional changes to the system have not begun to root out the deeper, structural defects in the investigation and charging …
On September 22, 2015, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) brought and settled charges against a registered investment adviser (the “RIA”) for violations of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act’s “safeguards rule” adopted under Regulation S-P.1 These violations occurred immediately prior …
Washington is a strange town! The more you succeed, the more you attract enemies. If you outperform all prior occupants of your office, behave like a model gentleman, and achieve what no one thought possible, that will make you a …
Since the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (“Dodd-Frank”) expanded the authority of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to seek civil penalties through administrative proceedings,1 the SEC has brought, as one court observed, “an …
In an administrative enforcement case called Flannery, a bare majority of SEC Commissioners adopted broad positions on primary liability under parts of the two main anti-fraud provisions in the securities laws, Rule 10b-5(a) and (c) and Section 17(a)(1), (2), …
In recent years, taking advantage of expanded jurisdictional provisions in Dodd-Frank, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has brought an increasing number of enforcement actions, including complex matters with difficult factual and legal issues, through administrative proceedings, rather than …
On July 1, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a concept release seeking public comment on possible revisions to audit committee disclosure requirements, focused primarily on audit committee oversight of independent auditors. The concept release is available here. …
On August 5, 2015, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) took several incremental steps toward completing its regulatory framework for security‑based swap dealers and majority security‑based swap participants (“SBS Entities”). The SEC unanimously adopted final rules (the “Final Rules”) …
On July 10, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held that the 180-day requirement set forth in Section 4E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 for the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” …
On August 5, 2015, the SEC voted, 3-2, to adopt final rules to implement the pay ratio disclosure provision of Section 953(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”). Consistent with their positions on …
Despite the July 31, 2015 compliance date, the SEC will not enforce the third-party solicitation ban until corresponding FINRA/MSRB Rules take effect.
On June 25, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a compliance date of July 31, 2015 …
Six things every investor, start-up, financial institution and payment processor should know about the future regulation of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency derivatives.
With the quickly developing market for cryptocurrency derivatives and seemingly inexhaustive possibilities of applications on the blockchain protocol, …
On May 12, 2015, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) and Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) jointly issued the CFTC’s final interpretation clarifying its interpretation concerning forward contracts with embedded volumetric optionality (“Final Interpretation”). The Final Interpretation appears to signal …
On April 29, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) proposed rules that would apply certain aspects of its security-based swap regulations (when they become effective) to transactions involving non-US parties that are arranged or executed using US personnel or …