Last week, the SEC proposed rules that would get rid of the ban against general advertising and solicitation of certain securities offerings under Rule 144A and Rule 506 of Regulation D of the Securities Act. The rules are mandated under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act. Currently, companies that want…
The Stronger Enforcement of Civil Penalties Act of 2012, is bipartisan legislation that seeks to enhance the Commission’s power to clamp down on violations of securities law while raising the statutory ceilings on civil monetary penalties by tying a penalty’s size to the degree of harm wrought and amount of…
In U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, federal judge Manuel Real threw out five of the seven securities claims made by the Securities and Exchange Commission in its fraud lawsuit against ex-IndyMac Bancorp chief executive Michael Perry and former finance chief Scott Keys. The Commission is accusing the…
At a House Financial Services Committee hearing on May 17, a number of Democratic lawmakers spoke out against the Securities and Exchange Commission’s practice of settling securities enforcement actions without making defendants deny or admit to the allegations. There is concern that companies might see this solution as a mere…
In an effort to crack down on fraud via pump-and-dump scams and reverse mergers, the Securities and Exchange Commission is suspending trading in the securities of 379 Microcap companies that are dormant. This is the most number of companies to have trading in them suspended in one day. As part…
UBS Financial Services Inc. of Puerto Rico (UBS) has agreed to pay $26.6 million to settle the Securities and Exchange Commission administrative action accusing the financial firm of misleading investors about its control and liquidity over the secondary market for nearly two dozen proprietary closed-end mutual funds. By settling, UBS…
According to Securities and Exchange Commission Enforcement Director Robert S. Khuzami, the restructuring that has recently taken place at that agency’s division is allowing the SEC to not just improve the quality of its efforts but also its results. He spoke at a Practicing Law Institute conference earlier this month.…
The SEC has ordered investment adviser Montford Associates and Ernest Montford Sr. to pay $650K in penalties for failing to disclose that it had received $210K from an allegedly fraudulent hedge fund that it had recommended to clients. The name of the fund is SJK Investment Management. Its owner, Stanley…
Speaking at the Rocky Mountain Securities Conference in Colorado a few days ago, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Daniel Gallagher said that the imposition of an industry-wide bar, which is authorized under Section 925 of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, shouldn’t be applied to misconduct…
Accused of not putting in place policies to prevent analyst huddles, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) will settle for $22 million the allegations made against it by US regulators. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission and FINRA, due to the nature of the financial firm’s internal control system research…