New Harbor Capital has announced it has completed a majority investment in Advent Home Medical.

Advent, based in Pontiac, Mich., is an at-home respiratory care company providing services and medical equipment to patients throughout their post-acute lifecycle.

New Harbor Capital, based in Chicago, invests in lower middle market companies. Founded in 2013, the firm…

Ocean Development Partners, LLC (MA) and Ocean Development Partners (RI) v. Dmity Deych, et al. was filed in the Superior Court of Suffolk County, Massachusetts on March 11, 2021, seeking damages and equitable relief for federal statutory and state law claims related to the defendants’ purported scheme to defraud the purchasers of certain real estate.

Plaintiffs are limited liability companies located in Massachusetts and Rhode Island that entered into an agreement to purchase a real estate development project and luxury vacation community (the “Investment”).  The defendants are individuals and entities who, largely unbeknownst to plaintiffs, likewise had an ownership or other interest in the Investment.

On March 11, 2021, President Joe Biden signed into law H.R. 1319, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The American Rescue Plan’s $1.9 trillion in spending, contains numerous provisions impacting healthcare, including medical insurance, services delivery and providers.

The American Rescue Plan also provides $5 million to the HHS Office of Inspector General…

“Information security is critical to the operation of the financial markets and the confidence of its participants. . . The Division is acutely focused on working with firms to identify and address information security risks, including cyber-attack related risk . . .” SEC Division of Examinations, 2021 Examination Priorities, at 24.

On March 3, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s newly renamed Division of Examinations (EXAMS) (formerly the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE)) announced its 2021 examination priorities.  Information security and operational resiliency ranked number two out of the top five priorities sending a clear message that the SEC is focused on emergent security threats, particularly cyber-attacks, resulting from the sudden and unprecedented increase in remote operations.

Mar v. Mohr, et al. was filed in a California state court on February 11, 2021 as a putative class action for $170 million in civil damages against alleged co-conspirators of a retirement planning fraudster’s business.  Specifically, the complaint alleges violations of California securities law, fraud and deceit, intentional misrepresentation, and negligent misrepresentation.

The named plaintiff is an individual investor who seeks to represent two classes amounting to over 100 other investors.  The defendants include an individual (“Mohr”) and his corporate entity, EquiAlt, LLC.  Mohr purported to provide retirement planning services alongside his licensed business of selling life insurance.  Mohr’s attorney (“Wassgren”) and unnamed Doe defendants are also included in the suit.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to address a circuit split regarding the standard for establishing that a statement material to a claim for payment is false under the False Claims Act (FCA); specifically, whether the FCA requires pleading and proof of an “objectively false statement,” or whether liability can be based on allegedly false opinions. While the Courts of Appeals have taken conflicting positions on these issues, the circuit split is not as deep as would appear and the variation in standards are likely to have a minimal impact on ultimate outcomes. Nevertheless, with these varying standards for establishing falsity, healthcare providers and government contractors should take proactive steps to ensure signed certifications pertinent to a claim reflect appropriate diligence and decision-making and convey reasonably and honestly held opinions.

On March 2, 2021, Governor Northam signed into law Virginia’s own Consumer Data Protection Act (“Virginia CDPA” or the “Act”), a bill that brings together concepts from the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as well as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA). It is the first of its kind legislation on the East Coast. The law will go into effect on January 1, 2023.

The drafters of the Virginia CDPA appear to have benefited from observing the pitfalls and problems that arose in the development and implementation of both GDPR and CCPA. The Virginia bill deftly avoids several of those by incorporating narrower, more tailored definitions that clearly exclude categories of data and businesses over which there was (and continues to be) some confusion with respect to both the EU/UK and California compliance regimes. It also adopts, in concept, the framework of the GDPR, and even some of its language. Like GDPR, it characterizes the party who initially collects and controls personal data as the “controller” and obligates that party to be a good steward of the data, through transparency with the consumer, accountability for sharing the data with third parties (“processors”), and a duty to implement appropriate data security to safeguard the data. It will be enforced by the Virginia Attorney General. Notably, there is no private right of action under the Act.

On March 3, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Examinations (EXAMS) (formerly the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) released its 2021 examination priorities.

Notably, while the majority of the examination priorities echo OCIE priorities from prior years, this year’s EXAMS priorities include a greater focus on climate-related risk and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) matters. This is consistent with the Commission’s increased emphasis on ESG matters in other contexts, as well as that of other regulators. This year’s priorities also include examinations relating to Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) compliance, considerations relating to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and a continued focus on complex products.

EXAMS’s leadership also calls out its newly operational Event and Emerging Risks Examination Team (EERT), which is tasked with enhancing the Division’s ability to identify and tackle emerging and exigent risks as they arise.

The examination priorities are organized around largely perennial themes, and we discuss each such theme below.