The Mississippi Securities Division is the closest regulator to the investing public of Mississippi. Among other tasks, they protect investors from fraud and abuse and make sure those licensed securities professionals doing business in the state are in compliance with the necessary securities laws. Today, securities regulators face a quickly changing landscape of new technology
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SEC Division of Examinations Announces 2023 Examination Priorities
The SEC’s Division of Examinations last week announced its 2023 “examination priorities.” The division’s annual announcement of priorities provides valuable insight into the categories of registrants most likely to be the subject of an SEC examination and the issues most likely to be a focus of those examinations. In determining its priorities, the division employs…
Q&A with the Mississippi Securities Division: From Ponzi Schemes to Cryptocurrency
State securities regulators saw a busy 2021, and 2022 looks to continue in much the same fashion. Some of the more active topics for regulators have included protecting senior investors, stopping fraudulent investment schemes targeting individual investors, and battling the ever-present threat of Ponzi schemes. Another big headline for regulators was cryptocurrency companies and the…
O Canada! What Canada’s Nationwide Legalization of Cannabis Means for American Financial Institutions
Today marks a significant shift in cannabis policy, both domestically and internationally, as Canada becomes the first industrialized nation in the world, and only the second nation overall, to legalize cannabis. This follows the passage of The Cannabis Act in June of this year, which legalized cannabis at all levels of government.
With this blessing…
The Supreme Court Levels the SEC Playing Field
In a highly anticipated decision, the United States Supreme Court ruled the practice employed for years by the Securities and Exchange Commission of choosing administrative law judges to hear SEC enforcement actions, violates the Appointments Clause of the Constitution. The Supreme Court, in Lucia v. Securities and Exchange Commission, held that administrative law judges…
SEC Encourages Advisors to Self-Report Fiduciary Violations by June 12, 2018
The SEC announced a self-reporting initiative for investment advisors who admit violations of the federal securities laws relating to certain mutual fund share class election issues while promptly returning money to harmed investors. The initiative is entitled the “Share Class Selection Disclosure Initiative” and is focused on those advisors who have put clients into high-fee…
SEC Wants the Truth and Nothing but the Truth in Advertising
Tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth: that’s the message to registered investment advisors from the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) in a recent risk alert about the SEC’s Advertising Rule (Rule 206(4)-1).
The rule prohibits advisors from making untrue statements of material fact and from otherwise including misleading…
Supreme Court Decision Provides Significant Protection to Securities Industry, Limits SEC Enforcement
In a decision previewed in an earlier post, the United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Kokesh v. Securities and Exchange Commission that the five-year statute of limitations in 28 U.S.C. section 2462 applies to SEC enforcement actions seeking the remedy of disgorgement. Resolving a Circuit split, the Supreme Court ruled that disgorgement is…
Securities Legislative Update – Elderly Investors 2017
The SEC recently approved FINRA’s proposed rule aimed at preventing fraud and abuse of senior investors. On March 30, FINRA issued Regulatory Notice 17-11, setting the effective date for the new rule as February 5, 2018. The notice provides for the adoption of new FINRA Rule 2165, which will permit members to place temporary holds…
Is There a Statute of Limitations on Disgorgement?
How long does the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have to bring a lawsuit asking for disgorgement of unlawful gains? The United States Supreme Court will decide that issue this term in Kokesh v. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Under federal law, no “action, suit or proceeding for the enforcement of any civil fine, penalty,…