On November 18, 2025, the SEC Division of Examinations announced its 2026 examination priorities. Each year, the Division releases its annual examination priorities to (1) inform investment advisers, broker-dealers, and investors of the Division’s upcoming points of emphasis and (2) provide a roadmap for firms to effectively direct their compliance…
The compliance deadlines for the SEC’s amendments to Regulation S-P, adopted on May 15, 2024, are approaching. For investment advisers with $1.5 billion or more in assets under management, the compliance deadline is December 3, 2025. Advisers with fewer than $1.5 billion in AUM have six more months, with a…
Two recent SEC enforcement cases highlight the importance of registered investment advisers presenting true and accurate records to the Commission. While the facts of each case differ, they show that the documents’ falsification is worse than their insufficiency. In the first case, a CCO allegedly submitted around 170 falsified forms…
The SEC recently settled cherry-picking charges against a Minnesota investment adviser and its sole owner. North East Asset Management Group and its owner, Gregory Zandlo, settled the Commission’s claims without admitting or denying its findings. The SEC found that, through his firm, Mr. Zandlo shifted profitable trades to certain accounts…
Regulators continue to emphasize the importance of registered investment advisers’ conflict-of-interest disclosures. The SEC recently settled a case with Transamerica Retirement Advisors, LLC (“Transamerica”) regarding account transfers with insufficient conflict of interest disclosure. While Transamerica settled without admitting or denying the allegations, the Commission’s findings are as follows: Transamerica, a…
The SEC recently charged New York-based investment advisers Two Sigma Investments LP and Two Sigma Advisers LP (collectively, “Two Sigma”) with breaching their fiduciary duties for failing to reasonably address known vulnerabilities in their investment models. In its Order, the SEC also found compliance and supervisory failures related to those…
The Corporate Transparency Act (“Act”) became effective January 1, 2024. The goal of the Act is to provide a framework for the collection of beneficial ownership information from non-exempt entities in order to protect national security interests and bring the United States up to international standards. The Act requires that…
On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued a final rule that drastically changes the employment landscape by banning most types of noncompete provisions nationwide and rendering some existing ones unenforceable. The rule was adopted following a review of the non-competition landscape by the FTC. That review of…
With the end of the federal government’s fiscal year, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) once again recently released results from the enforcement program, covering November 2022 through October 2023. The release included cumulative totals and highlighted individual cases and enforcement areas of concentration. The annual release serves as a…
The SEC’s Division of Examinations recently released their Observations from Examinations of Newly-Registered Advisers. Issued as a Risk Alert, the release provides guidance for what investment advisers new to SEC registration should expect, but also warns were previously examined advisers failed to meet the SEC’s expectations. The SEC typically initiates…