Securities Law & Corporate Counsel Blog

On July 30, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced it was bringing charges against San Antonio-based CEO, Victor Lee Farias, and his firm, Integrity Aviation & Leasing (“IAL”), for defrauding investors, including police officers and other first-responders, out of approximately $14 million.

The formation of a registered investment adviser (“RIA”) can be both an exciting and daunting process. On the one hand, the opportunity for financial professionals to achieve independence and the prospect of increased revenues as an independent RIA is an attractive possibility.

On July 10, 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) released proposed changes to the rule requiring institutional managers to file Form 13F reports.

The changes include raising the reporting threshold from $100 million to $3.5 billion and eliminating the exclusion of smaller positions from the Form 13F report.

On Friday, June 26, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) released updated responses to FAQs regarding Form CRS. Notwithstanding the timing of the updated FAQs, the additional guidance offers supplementary and expanded information regarding the SEC’s stance on important considerations for the Form CRS including:

In recent years, there has been a considerable increase in the number of financial advisors who are looking to break-away and transition to careers with registered investment advisory firms (“RIAs”) or even launching their own RIA seeking more independence, control, growth opportunities, and increased compensation.

On June 1, 2020, Xavier Becerra, the Attorney General for California, submitted the final package of regulations for the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) to the California Office of Administrative Law (“OAL”). For businesses required to comply with the CCPA, the package outlines the requirements for privacy notices, methods for submitting requests to know and delete consumer information, verification of consumers, special rules regarding minors, and non-discrimination.

On May 28, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced that San Jose-based block chain services firm BitClave PTE Ltd. (“BitClave”) agreed to settle charges related to an unregistered initial coin offering (“ICO”) of digital asset securities.

On May 12, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced that Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (“MSSB”) agreed to settle charges that it provided misleading information regarding transaction costs and services to retail clients in its wrap program for the period from 2012 to 2017.