With the SEC prioritizing protection of retail investors, investment advisers are facing increased scrutiny for misappropriation offenses. Adviser representatives are becoming more creative, making it harder for investment advisers to detect misappropriation. It may be easy for investment advisers to rely on software and automated-alerts to safeguard client assets, but the days of solely…

Recent developments in privacy law and a rise in class action lawsuits related to data collection offer a cautionary tale about understanding legal and ethical boundaries of monitoring “on-the-clock” employee conduct. With a hodgepodge of federal, state, and local legislation governing employee privacy rights, employers are often left to navigate a complicated legal landscape while balancing the practical need to understand how employees are using company information and equipment.  Employers, for example, have a legitimate interest in protecting company trade secrets, detecting unlawful transmission of unlicensed material, and improving work productivity.  Employees, on the other hand, may have a reasonable expectation of privacy in certain contexts while at work.

This quandary begs the question, where do employers draw the line?

The Blackstone Group has announced the closing of its acquisition of Clarus. The business will now operate as Blackstone Life Sciences.

Blackstone indicated that its new private investment platform will invest across the lifecycle of companies and products within life sciences sectors.

Historical funds will retain the Clarus name.

Blackstone had previously announced its acquisition…

This Post is a “Part II” to our recent blog post describing the CFPB’s current plans to consider new rules that may narrow lenders’ exposure to “disparate-impact” liability under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”), as well as other federal developments along the same lines, particularly with respect to auto lending. Today, we report on…

This post recently appeared in our sister publication, Consumer FinSights.

In its recently published Fall 2018 Rulemaking Agenda, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection announced that it is considering future rulemaking activity regarding the requirements of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”) – specifically, “concerning the disparate impact doctrine in light of recent…

On October 16, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a report on the results of investigations made by the SEC’s Division of Enforcement into nine public companies that were victims of cyber-related frauds.  In each case, the SEC investigation focused on whether the target companies had complied with the applicable requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (Act). The Act requires public companies to devise and maintain a system of internal control over financial reporting designed to provide reasonable assurance that, among other things, transactions are executed in accordance with company management’s authorization, that transactions are properly recorded and that access to assets is permitted only with management’s authorization.

Ultimately, the SEC did not pursue enforcement actions against any of these companies, but released the report to advise public companies that cyber-fraud incidents must be taken into account when designing and maintaining internal control procedures.