Nov. 23, 2022 —The Securities and Exchange Commission today released its Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2022 to 2026, outlining agency objectives to fight against fraud, maintain a robust and relevant regulatory framework, and sustain a skilled and diverse workforce to serve America’s investors and capital-raising entrepreneurs alike. “Our capital […]
Brokers
Commentary, news and links of interest to financial advisers.
Twitter to Pay $182 Million in Class Action Attorneys’ Fees
In addition to paying $810 million settlement to resolve a shareholder class action against Twitter Inc., it will have to pay an additional $182 million in attorneys fees, according to Reuters. The lawsuit, filed in 2016, well before Musk brough up the issue, accused the social media company of deceiving […]
December 7 Deadline to Comment on New Expungement Proposal
With only 4% of customer complaints being expunged, FINRA is bowing to pressure, presumably from the customer attorneys’ bar, to again make it more difficult to remove false claims from a broker’s public record. FINRA’s recent proposed amendment seeks to make expungement an even more extraordinary remedy by preventing anyone […]
SEC Charges Unregistered Brokers that Facilitated more than $1.2 Billion in Primarily Penny Stock Trades
Nov. 17, 2022 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Jeffrey K. Galvani, Stuart A. Jeffery, and two New York-based entities they controlled with operating as unregistered broker-dealers that facilitated more than $1.2 billion of securities trading, primarily in penny stocks. The SEC’s complaint alleges that Galvani and Jeffery […]
New Private Fund Reporting Rules Proposed
The Securities and Exchange Commission today voted to propose amendments to Form PF, the confidential reporting form for certain SEC-registered investment advisers to private funds. The amendments, which the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is concurrently considering to propose jointly with the SEC, are designed to enhance the Financial Stability […]
SEC Adopts Compensation Recovery Listing Standards and Disclosure Rules
Oct. 26, 2022 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today adopted rules to require securities exchanges to adopt listing standards that require issuers to develop and implement a policy providing for the recovery of erroneously awarded incentive-based compensation received by current or former executive officers. The final rules require a […]
SEC Proposes New Oversight Requirements for Certain Services Outsourced by Investment Advisers
Oct. 26, 2022 — The SEC proposed a new rule and rule amendments under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 to prohibit registered investment advisers from outsourcing certain services and functions without conducting due diligence and monitoring of the service providers. “Registered investment advisers — more than 15,000 of them […]
UBS Pays $14.1 Million Defamation Award to Compliance Officer
After years of appealing the arbitrators’ decision, UBS finally pays. The appeals of the original arbitration award increased the amount UBS had to pay by a reported $3 million. According to AdvisorHub, in his arbitration complaint filed in June 2018, the compliance officer alleged UBS defamed him on his U5 […]
Morgan Stanley Deferred Comp Claims
Morgan Stanley may have violated ERISA rules when it cancelled certain deferred compensation assets for brokers who left the firm. We are investigating claims for Morgan Stanley advisors who were denied their deferred compensaton payments when they left the firm. There is a proposed class action pending, but individual advisors […]
Duties When Processing Transactions for Russian Elites
AdvisorHub is reporting that FINRA issued an alert on Friday warning about the compliance obligations triggered due to sanctions the U.S. government has imposed on individuals and entities in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The FINRA alert noted that following a White House Executive Order, the Department of […]