Kevin Harnisch (US)

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New briefing note: SEC adopts heightened reporting requirements for private funds

In our latest briefing note we look at the SEC’s adoption of new amendments enhancing disclosure requirements for private funds. The amendments are designed to ‘enhance the ability of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) to assess systemic risk and to bolster the Commission’s oversight of private fund advisers and its investor protection efforts’.… Continue Reading

New FinTech Pulse podcast: US federal regulators’ regulatory enforcement activity against crypto exchanges

In a special edition of our FinTech Pulse podcast series, US partners Stephen Aschettino, Andrew Lom and Kevin Harnisch discuss the recent uptick in regulatory enforcement activity from federal regulators against crypto exchanges, with the SEC issuing a Wells Notice to Coinbase and suing Beaxy, and the CFTC suing Binance and seeking permanent injunctions to … Continue Reading

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to our readers

To all of our global readers we would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We will resume posting material following the festive period on 9 January 2023 although if there are any significant developments we will endeavour to provide an update.… Continue Reading

Another sky-high settlement: Airline fined more than US$150m for FCPA violations

On September 15, 2022, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes S.A. (GOL), an airline headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil, agreed to pay more than US$150m to resolve parallel investigations by criminal and civil authorities in the US and Brazil, stemming from … Continue Reading

US DOJ announces corporate criminal enforcement policy revisions

Following Deputy AG Lisa Monaco’s remarks at the White Collar Conference last year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) created a Corporate Crime Advisory Group to revise DOJ’s Corporate Criminal Enforcement Policies. On September 15, 2022, Monaco announced the group’s first major round of revisions. The revisions reiterate a focus on individual accountability, voluntary disclosure, and … Continue Reading

US SEC prevented from expanding fraudulent scheme liability

In a decision with significant implications for securities litigation and enforcement, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently rebuffed an attempt by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to broaden the scope of “scheme liability” under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Section 17(a) of the … Continue Reading

The SEC Plans to Continue Its Brisk and Broad Rule making

On June 22 2022, the SEC published its Spring 2022 regulatory agenda in which it outlined the Commission’s short and long-term regulatory interests. The SEC appears intent on proceeding with its fast-paced stream of proposed rule makings that have dominated the first half of this year. The agenda includes rule making related to climate change, … Continue Reading

US SEC proposes new ESG disclosure rules for funds and advisers

On May 25, 2022, the US Securities and Exchange Commission proposed new rules to enhance the regulatory framework for disclosures concerning investment funds and investment advisers’ environmental, social and governance-related (ESG) investing strategies (the Proposed Rules).  If adopted, the Proposed Rules would require SEC-registered advisers to include ESG factors and strategies for investors in fund … Continue Reading

US SEC settlement demonstrates the risks to investment advisers of using ESG investment decision-making metrics

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been increasingly vocal about its view that environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosures can be material to investors. To help combat ESG disclosure violations, the SEC created a Climate and Risk Task Force within the Division of Enforcement. As a result of the Task Force’s efforts, on … Continue Reading

Return of the monitorship: SEC and DOJ settle US$84M FCPA claims and impose monitorship on medical waste services company

In October 2021, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced revised US Department of Justice (DOJ) guidance on corporate monitorships, signaling a sharp change in the declining trend of the tool over the past few years. (NRF has previously examined the DOJ’s policy changes.) Recently, the DOJ and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced … Continue Reading

Happy Easter to our readers

To all of our global readers we would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Easter. We will resume posting material on 26 April although if there are any significant developments we will endeavour to provide an update.… Continue Reading

NRF contributes chapter to GIR’s Practitioner’s Guide to Global Investigations

The UK and US white-collar crime teams have again authored the chapter Production of Information to the Authorities in the sixth and latest edition of Global Investigations Review – The Practitioner’s Guide to Global Investigations. Information requests from regulators continue to raise a host of complex legal and practical issues for entities and individuals. The chapter sets … Continue Reading

Not Fair, But Not False

On January 27, 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit acquitted two former traders, Matthew Connolly and Gavin Campbell Black, who had been convicted by a jury for wire fraud as well as conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud in a scheme to manipulate the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”).  … Continue Reading

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to our readers

To all of our global readers we would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We will resume posting material following the festive period on 6 January 2021 although if there are any significant developments we will endeavour to provide an update.… Continue Reading

House Passes Bill Directing Disclosure of ESG Metrics

On June 16, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1187, the “ESG Disclosure Simplification Act of 2021” (“Act”), by a 215-214 vote. The Act, if passed by the U.S. Senate and signed into law by President Biden, would direct the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) to issue rules requiring public … Continue Reading

Post script: Airbus subsidiary pleads guilty to corruption offence

On 28 April 2021, Airbus’ UK subsidiary GPT Special Project Management Ltd (GPT) was convicted of corruption and sentenced to pay penalties of over £30m by the Crown Court in London. This case preceded the wider investigation into Airbus culminating in its US$3.9 billion global deferred prosecution agreement in 2020 (see our previous article here). … Continue Reading

Regulation Tomorrow Podcast – Episode 6 out now

Episode 6 of the Regulation Tomorrow Podcast is out now. In the latest edition of our monthly podcast, we take a look at some of the main regulatory news stories from across the globe in the financial services space. We begin with a look at the Woolard Review in the UK with Matthew Gregory, who … Continue Reading

Production of information to government authorities: a combined US and UK review

Information requests from regulators can raise a host of complex legal and practical issues for entities and individuals. Our experts in this field have set out the key considerations around the production of information to UK and US regulators, including information-gathering powers, privilege issues and increased global data sharing. Information-gathering powers Many UK regulators have … Continue Reading

Part II: Navigating the US presidential transition – cross-border business and regulatory perspective

United States | January 26, 2021 | 10:00 am ET | 3:00 pm GMT In the second installment of our post-election webinar series, George E. Pataki, former Governor of New York, and Sam Ramer, former Senior Associate Counsel to President Trump, will consider the latest developments regarding the US presidential election. With one party now … Continue Reading

Congress Expands SEC Disgorgement Authority

On January 1, 2021, the National Defense Authorization Act became effective after Congress overrode President Trump’s veto. Although unrelated to national defense issues, Section 6501 of the legislation amends Section 21(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to double the SEC’s statute of limitations for seeking disgorgement of a defendant’s unjust enrichment from five … Continue Reading

Download now | Global operational resilience and COVID-19 survey report

Financial institutions have had to deal with two challenges in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first challenge is financial – how to address and mitigate the sharp drop in the value of financial assets or loss of liquidity. The second challenge is operational – how to address the risk of failure of resources … Continue Reading
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