Earlier this month, the US House of Representative unanimously passed H.R. 1839, known as the Reforming Access for Investments in Startup Enterprises Act of 2015 or the “RAISE Act of 2015.” What is this you say? Well it clarifies that if you own non-publicly tradeable shares...
Yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission proudly announced what Law360 confirmed is a record year in terms of new enforcement cases filed and monies disgorged by alleged and proven law violators. Over $4 billion in sanctions were levied and over 800 new cases brought in the...
How's that for an exciting blog post title? Actually for those of us slogging away on some old-fashioned pre-JOBS Act style private placements, the SEC no-action letter issued to Citizen VC, Inc. in August is very helpful indeed. In fact it goes further in creating...
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) regulates US broker-dealers, a "self-regulatory organization" run by the brokers themselves and overseen by the SEC. A very popular online resource is called BrokerCheck, which lets you pretty easily check the regulatory history and licenses held by broker-dealers and...
Earlier today, the SEC's Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies, comprised of a number of smart and thoughtful people I know, made some terrific recommendations to the Commission. The biggest, something for which many have been waiting for quite awhile: that private placement finders,...
As we know, the new Regulation A+ rules passed by the SEC preempt state review of public offerings under its newly designed Tier II for offerings up to $50 million. States still can, however, require a "notice filing" of the offering materials, much as is...
As we still await the first completed Tier II Regulation A public offering, and rumors are swirling that several are getting close, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), which regulates broker-dealers, has confirmed what most already know. In a release a few weeks ago, they...
We all know about the famous letter from one Virginia O'Hanlon in 1897 to the New York Sun newspaper asking if there really is a Santa Claus. Her father encouraged her and told her, if it's in the Sun it must be so. The paper wrote an editorial entitled,...
The big guys get hit and sanctioned for improper activity in the securities world. Big banks and investment banks all pay for misdeeds, some callously viewing it as simply a cost of doing business. The Enron and WorldCom scandals, among others, taught us that big...
As reported by Crowdfund Insider, Massachusetts and Montana filed their first "Opening Brief" in their case against the SEC trying to invalidate the regulations passed under Regulation A pursuant to the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act of 2012. Essentially, they say the SEC overstepped its...