On August 7, 2020, the SEC issued a Cease-and-Desist Order and imposed sanctions against Rialto Capital Management, LLC (“Rialto”) for violations of the Advisers Act arising out of Rialto’s misallocation of expenses. Rialto serves as the investment adviser to several private funds, as well as two co-investment vehicles.  The limited partnership agreements for each of…

On July 10, 2020, the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (“OCIE”) issued a cybersecurity risk alert in which it discussed the flood of bad actors orchestrating phishing campaigns designed to penetrate financial networks to access internal resources and deploy ransomware.  OCIE’s alert indicated that ransomware attacks on SEC registrants appeared to become more…

The Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) released updated fallback language for new originations of U.S. dollar-denominated syndicated business loans that reference LIBOR and new variable-rate private student loans on June 30, 2020.  The language is intended to address the disruption that could occur should the termination of LIBOR indeed occur at the end of 2021.…

On June 25, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission, Comptroller of the Currency and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced a final rule that will allow banks to invest in private funds including hedge funds, qualified opportunity zone funds (QOFs), and other private equity funds. Indeed, the…

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 established the Investor Advisory Committee (the “IAC”) to advise the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to protect investor interests and to promote investor confidence and the integrity of the securities marketplace.  The IAC has held three sessions on the topic of environmental, social, and governance…

Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) proposed a new regulatory framework under Rule 2a-5 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “40 Act”) to shed light on the role of the board of directors of a registered investment company or business development company (“Boards”) with respect to fund valuation.  Historically, Boards…

On March 4, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued proposed amendments (the “Proposals”) in Release No. 33-10763, “Facilitating Capital Formation and Expanding Investment Opportunities by Improving Access to Capital in Private Markets ” (the “Release”) affecting certain exempt offering rules to reduce impediments to fundraising under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1933 (“Securities…

Earlier this week it was announced by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it had settled with Block.one, creator of EOS, regarding allegations of issuing unregistered securities during an initial coin offering (ICO) that raised a record-breaking $4 billion. The fine assessed by the SEC was a mere $24 million. Chump change in comparison to the billions collected…

On July 23, 2018, Delaware amended the Delaware limited liability company act (the “LLC Act”). The two key amendments were to (a) permit a divisive or divisional merger and (b) create provisions related to a registered series. Divide Away! (aka Divisive Mergers) The LLC Act now permits a divisive or divisional merger. Under new Section…

During 2018 a number of significant changes to the Cayman Islands regulatory regime occurred. As a result, fund vehicles now have significantly increased obligations as regards obligations in relation to Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”) including appointing compliance officers and potentially making additional filings. Further, the deadline for compliance with the regime relating to the disclosure of…