Happy Friday. Markets are closed today for the holiday and it is tax day this Tuesday. Enjoy the weekend!
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SEC Brings Actions Against Authors on Investment Article Platforms – platforms like Seeking Alpha and SumZero have been popular places for investment managers to post articles about their investment ideas. Managers post for a number of reasons including to hone their own investment thesis, hear counterarguments and to generally be part of a community actively involved in the discussion of ideas. We routinely work with managers who are posting articles on these platforms and help them think about the compliance obligations they have with respect to any postings.
The SEC just announced a major series of enforcement actions against 27 individuals for posting fake and fraudulent articles on these platforms. Settlements have already ranged from $2,200 to almost $3 million. While the standard hedge fund manager we deal with is unlikely to be involved in the creation of fake or fraudulent articles (or using these platforms to manipulate positions), these enforcement actions show that the SEC is actively looking at information posted on the internet as a way to find persons involved in securities violations. Most registered managers will already have social media policies in place that should deal with situations like this, including how to document the posting, but we also recommend that managers discuss articles with their attorneys or compliance personnel before posting. We believe that (to the extent it has not already happened) the SEC will be closely scrutinizing internet postings during routine manager examinations and that managers need to make sure any such actions are not manipulating the markets (in addition to making sure there is no appearance of manipulation).
FINRA 360 Announced – FINRA just announced a new initiative to “evaluate various aspects of its operations and programs to identify opportunities to more effectively further its mission.” The initiative is was announced as FINRA 360 in Regulatory Notice 17-14 and focuses on the following, in addition to other FINRA rules: CAB Rules, Funding Portal Rules, Numerous FINRA rules and the Trading Activity Fee. The goal of FINRA 360 is to ”increase efficiency and reduce unnecessary burdens on the capital-raising process without compromising important protections for issuers and investors” which we think is a step in the right direction. However, we have previously discussed two FINRA initiatives (here re CABs and here re scrapping the 7) as perhaps a bit misguided. In any event, we think FINRA is taking a great step here and we also believe that this provides an opportunity for the industry to provide FINRA with meaningful feedback and ideas. All are encouraged to comment and comments are due by May 30, 2017.
Greyline Solutions Expands Compliance Offering to Broker-Dealers – the regulatory compliance consulting company Greyline Solutions (editors note: I am a minority owner in this business) announced the upcoming acquisition of Vista Compliance which will add significant broker-dealer expertise to its RIA offerings. For more information, please see the press release.
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Bart Mallon is a founding partner of Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP and focuses his legal practice on the investment management industry. He can be reached directly at 415-868-5345.