On May 19, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) charged a broker-dealer, BTIG, LLC (“BTIG”), with repeatedly violating the (i) order-marking and (ii) locate provisions of Regulation SHO, in connection with more than 90 sale orders from a single hedge fund customer. Regulation SHO regulates short sales of securities and is aimed, in large…

The New York State Legislature passed a statutory solution to reduce the risks associated with the transition away from USD LIBOR.  New York Senate Bill 297B/Assembly Bill 164B (the “NY Bill”), proposed by the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (“ARRC”) and sponsored by New York Senator Kevin Thomas, was designed to solve transition issues for legacy…

In 2012, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (“JOBS”) Act introduced Regulation Crowdfunding (“Reg CF”) to the regulatory framework governing exempt offerings, enabling eligible companies to offer and sell securities through crowdfunding.  The JOBS Act was created to ease securities regulations and to encourage the private funding of U.S. small businesses by reducing costs associated with…

On March 4, 2021, the SEC announced the creation of a Climate and ESG Task Force in the Division of Enforcement to led by Kelly L. Gibson, the Acting Deputy Director of Enforcement (the “Task Force“)  The Task Force’s purpose is to better police the market, pursue misconduct, and protect investors, according to Kelly L.…

New fallbacks for derivatives linked to key interbank offered rates (IBORs) have come into effect ensuring a viable safety net is in place in the event an IBOR becomes permanently unavailable while firms continue to have exposure to that rate. The fallbacks, published by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA), will be incorporated…

Representatives Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), Andy Levin (D-MI) and Katie Porter (D-CA) released H.R. 1068[1] on February 16, 2021, known as the “Carried Interest Fairness Act” (the “Act”).  The Carried Interest Fairness Act would tax carried interest compensation at ordinary income tax rates and treating it as wage income subject to employment taxes.  Capital gains taxation…

On December 22, 2020, the SEC amended the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended, with respect to advertisements and payments to solicitors by investment advisers.[1] The amendments create a single rule (the “Rule”) that supplants the existing advertising and cash solicitation rules, marking the first time in more than 40 years that the SEC…

In 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) renewed its focus on private investment funds while easing limits on private placements generally.  As the SEC observes, private fundraising easily surpasses public fundraising including with respect to private investment funds.  The following discussion recaps a few of the key developments affecting private offerings, private funds and…

The EB-5 Regional Center Program will be extended through June 30, 2021 as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. This legislation does not address the EB-5 per-country-caps limit or other major reform issues that had been raised just a short time ago in Congress but separates EB-5 Regional Center Program reauthorization from future federal…

The SEC has brought its first enforcement action against a public company relating to disclosure of the financial effect of the pandemic. The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated, without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, agreed to a cease-and-desist order and payment of a $125,000 civil penalty, settling charges of making misleading disclosures in two Form 8-Ks:…