By Heidi VonderHeide on Posted in Administrative Proceedings,SECOn January 12, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the constitutionality of the SEC’s appointment of its in-house administrative law judges (“ALJs” for short). As we’ve discussed previously on the blog, a trip to SCOTUS seemed inevitable after the 10th Circuit handed down its decision in Bandimere, concluding that the SEC ALJs were… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Defenses,Disciplinary Process,Enforcement,SEC,SettlementsA little over a year ago, the SEC announced a stunning settlement with Merrill Lynch regarding its violation of SEC Rule 15c3-3, commonly known as the “Customer Protection Rule.” This is an important rule whose name gives away its purpose: it is designed to ensure that if a broker-dealer ever fails, customer assets can be… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Administrative Proceedings,Defenses,Disciplinary Process,SECThis one belongs in the “truth is stranger than fiction” category. By now, you are probably familiar with the exploits of Dawn Bennett, former hostess of her radio show, “Financial Myth Busting.” She was the one who the SEC permanently barred last year after she elected not to appear at her administrative hearing (after her… Continue Reading
By Greg Stein on Posted in Cybersecurity,FINRA,SECI am happy to share this post from my colleague, Greg Stein, about ransomware. While ransomware is not something unique to the financial services industry, because, as criminal Willie Sutton famously answered when asked why he robbed banks, our industry is “where the money is,” BDs, IAs and banks do seem to attract more than their fair… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in FINRA,Rule 9141,SECThere has been a lot of talk, especially given the relatively recent change in the Executive Branch in Washington, about the problem with the “revolving door,” a concept so wide in scope that it actually has its own Wikipedia page. It is defined to be the “movement of personnel between roles as legislators and regulators… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in AML,Compliance,EnforcementMany of my clients chafe at the AML rule, given the cost of compliance and the even higher cost of defending an Enforcement action if the regulators conclude that red flags were somehow missed, or spotted but not dealt with adequately, or soon enough, or both, or spotting the red flags, responding to them, but… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Disciplinary Process,Enforcement,Examination,FINRA,SECAt the beginning of most FINRA OTRs, the examiner reads from a script of sorts, outlining some of the basic rules governing the proceeding. One of the things the script calls for is an express acknowledgement by the witness that he or she is testifying pursuant to Rule 8210, and that, as a result, a… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in custody rule,SECA common complaint that I hear from broker-dealers and investment advisors is that it is nearly impossible anymore to obtain informal guidance from their regulators. Where it was once possible, even normal, to make a call and get casual advice how to comply with a particularly tricky rule, nowadays, regulators routinely decline to respond to… Continue Reading
By Ken Berg on Posted in Administrative Proceedings,Defenses,Disciplinary Process,SECIn my second post on constitutionally-based affirmative defenses to SEC administrative proceedings, I discussed the shift of momentum in favor of the defense that the process of hiring SEC ALJs violates the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution. This post examines the defense that the process of removing SEC ALJs violates the separation of power… Continue Reading
By Ken Berg on Posted in Administrative Proceedings,appeal,Dodd Frank,SECHere is Part II of Ken Berg’s analysis of constitutional defenses that have been raised in response to the SEC’s increased use of administrative proceedings. In the interest of full disclosure, note that the Malouf case referenced towards the end is one that Heidi VonderHeide and I are handling. In addition, it also worth mentioning… Continue Reading
By Ken Berg on Posted in Administrative Proceedings,Defenses,SECThis is the first in a series of posts by my partner, Ken Berg, discussing the constitutional defenses to SEC administrative enforcement actions, which we are called upon regularly to defend. Each subsequent post will discuss one of the constitutional issues and report the current state of the law as to that defense. Ken’s next… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Examination,RIA,SECLet’s chalk this one up to “great minds think alike,” or maybe just “minds think alike.” You may recall that in his recent letter to member firms that accompanied FINRA’s 2017 Exam Priorities Letter, FINRA CEO Robert Cook said, “starting this year, we will publish a summary report that outlines key findings from examinations in… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Administrative Proceedings,Disciplinary Process,Enforcement,SECMany industry authors – including me[1] – have devoted a lot of attention lately to the SEC’s increased use of Administrative Proceedings (rather than Federal court cases) in recent years, and questioned the fairness of such proceedings, given their relative lack of discovery tools, the short timeframe provided within which to prepare a case for… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Administrative Proceedings,appeal,Disciplinary Process,Enforcement,SECWednesday morning marked the confluence of two events. First, like the rest of the world, I awoke to the reality of the results of the presidential race. Then, as soon as I got to the office, I received the results of a case (on which I have previously blogged) that the SEC’s Division of Enforcement… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Administrative Proceedings,Disciplinary Process,Enforcement,SECOne of my colleagues and I were busy the last two week defending an SEC administrative proceeding out-of-town, so I have not had much chance to blog. But…there was one development during our hearing that merits some immediate attention. My client has been accused, essentially, of making a number of material misrepresentations and omissions in… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in AML,Compliance,Disciplinary Process,Enforcement,FINRA,SEC,SupervisionIf you’re reading this, then you undoubtedly already know that FINRA and SEC are, simply, AML crazy. Rightly or wrongly, they are both focusing more than ever on broker-dealers’ fulfillment of their supervisory obligation to be sensitive to the laundry list of red flags first articulated in a Notice to Members back in 2002 that… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Compensation,Compliance,Disclosure,FINRA,Hiring practices,Rule 2272Two years ago, FINRA first proposed to the SEC a rule that would require brokers to disclose to clients not only when they receive compensation (including signing bonuses and other payments) to switch from one broker-dealer to another, but, worse, the amount of that compensation. The industry was seriously not pleased with the rule. FINRA,… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in AML,CCO,CCO liability,Compliance,Culture,FINRA,Senior Investors,SIFMAThe Rick Ketchum Show. Today’s sessions opened with what was likely the highlight of the entire conference, Rick Ketchum’s swan song “conversation” with Ira Hammerman, GC of SIFMA, before he toddles off into retirement. Granted, these interviews never remotely approach Sixty Minutes intensity, but this year’s featured even more coddling than ever: What would you… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in 17(a)(3),Administrative Proceedings,appeal,Defenses,Enforcement,FINRA,SECYears ago, I handled the defense of a FINRA Enforcement case that still galls me. The client sent a series of emails, over many months, about a particular security to customers who already owned the stock. The point of the emails was largely to provide updates, and, from time-to-time, to suggest that the customers consider… Continue Reading
By Heidi VonderHeide on Posted in Annual Report,Examination,SECTis the season for announcing the year’s top examination priorities. This week, the SEC released its own examination priorities. Top priorities include: liquidity controls; public pension advisers; product promotion; exchange-traded funds; and variable annuities. Thematically, the SEC’s priorities adhere to its larger objectives: protecting retail investors (especially retirement savings); assessing market-wide risks; and utilizing data analytics… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Confidential customer information,Examination,FINRAA few months ago, I blogged about how FINRA rarely holds itself to the same standards of conduct that it expects from member firms, and I gave some examples. The other day, a good friend of mine brought to my attention yet another example, this one so blatant it can only make you laugh. As you… Continue Reading
By Alan Wolper on Posted in Compliance,Conflict of Interest,Examination,FINRA,SupervisionI posted several blogs this summer about our victory over the SEC in the Robare case (which, naturally, has been appealed by the SEC’s unhappy Division of Enforcement). One of the key elements in our ability to prevail in that matter was my client’s extensive use of outside securities consultants to assist in the preparation and… Continue Reading
