The Securities and Exchange Commission is worried that life insurance companies are taking advantage of vague language in VA contracts to make substantial changes that could hurt investors. It appears…

The SEC filed suit against an Adviser and its five principals which included the Adviser’s General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, for stealing money from a public pension plan. According…

Last week FINRA fined LPL Financial LLC $7.5 million for e-mail violations. This is the largest fine brought by FINRA solely for e-mail violations, but it is indicative of the…

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced fraud charges and an asset freeze this week against a trader at a Dallas-based investment advisory firm, Cushing MLP Asset Management, who improperly profited…

Sutherland Partners reviewed FINRA’s monthly disciplinary notices and found that in 2012 FINRA brought slightly more disciplinary actions but assessed a double-digit increase in fines. This was the fourth consecutive…

A large proxy advisory firm is being required to pay a $300,000 fine and retain an independent compliance consultant for failure to implement policies and procedures that would prevent employees…

The SEC has initiated an action against a firm that is not required to be registered. The SEC has stated that the firm cherry-picked profitable trades. The firm principals used…

In testimony before a Congressional Subcommittee, SEC Chairman Mary Jo White described how the proposed 2014 SEC budget would add significant additional resources to supervise investment advisers. She indicated that…

The Chief Counsel of the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets, David Blass, raised concerns during his speech given April 5th, that private equity fund sponsors may be ignoring broker-dealer…

On Tuesday, a state senate committee unanimously approved a bill that would make Florida a “notice-filing” state, which means that representatives of out-of-state SEC registered financial firms seeking to do…

Elisse Walter, in a recent speech to NASAA voiced her concerns about the often ineffective compliance programs at smaller advisory firms. She said, “We recognize that small firms present special…

A private fund sponsor has agreed to settle an enforcement action alleging that its violations of the custody and compliance rules allowed a rogue employee to misappropriate client funds. According…