Securities and exchange commission

The U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) Enforcement Division altered the jet stream of blogosphere commentary last December by, for the first time, recommending legal action against a CEO on account of a Facebook post. Immediately after the announcement, a blizzard of articles, tweets, and blogs buried the mediascape with opinions about the critical role of CEO social media use in the new economy, the wisdom or foolishness of allowing CEO's to Tweet or post, and whether the SEC should be time warped back to the Stone Age it seems to prefer. … [Read more...] about Protect Your CEO’s Tweets and Posts from U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) Enforcement Action

Since the inception of the federal securities laws in the 1930s, a basic rule has been, absent registering with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) (and/or the state equivalent of the SEC), companies may not conduct general solicitations of the offerings of securities. This includes not making private placement memoranda or other offering documents on a company’s website. In 2012, Congress passed and the President signed the JOBS Act which instructed the SEC to create rules to allow general solicitation to accredited investors. … [Read more...] about Securities Exchange Commission’s (SEC) New General Solicitation Rules Are Here

As noted above, the requirement under Rule 506(c) stating that entrepreneurs engaging in general solicitation take “appropriate” steps to ensure all investors are accredited will likely be a deterrent both to entrepreneurs and investors. The rule itself does not specifically say what will be considered appropriate in a particular circumstance, but it does make clear entrepreneurs will have to do more to establish their investors are accredited. One example the new rule gives, reviewing each investor’s tax returns and/or personal financial records, will likely be problematic for many investors. … [Read more...] about The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) New General Solicitation Rules Are Here

The US District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana granted the United States’ motion to dismiss a putative class action law suit against the Securities Exchange Commission. Plaintiffs brought the suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) on behalf of victims who lost their investments in the Stanford International Bank, Ltd. (SIBL) Ponzi scheme.  … [Read more...] about District Court Dismisses Class Action Suit Under Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) Against Securities Exchange Commission (SEC)

Under the proposed rules, Covered Clearing Agencies would be required to establish, implement, maintain and enforce policies and procedures covering many of the topics currently required by the SEC’s existing oversight program, including settlement, central securities depositories and settlement systems, default management, operational risk management and transparency, and communication efficiency. In addition to the aforementioned topics, the proposed rules would require Covered Clearing Agencies to address the following new topics in such policies and procedures: (1) governance and comprehensive risk management (including establishing qualifications of members of board of directors or senior management); (2) financial risk management (including liquidity risk, credit risk, margin and collateral); and (3) general business risk management (including a requirement to hold liquid net assets funded by equity equal to at least six months of current operating expenses).   … [Read more...] about Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) Proposes Rules to Enhance Oversight of Clearing Agencies