1. On October 28, 2025, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins described the agency’s handling of off-channel communications over the last couple of years as “not the way a regulator should act.” Chairman Atkins was responding to a question posed by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association about his thoughts on “e-communication, off-channel, the whole issue … Read More
1. On September 29, 2025, the SEC charged Prophecy Asset Management, its CEO and CIO Jeffrey Spotts, and its largest sub-adviser Brian Kahn with defrauding investors by concealing hundreds of millions of dollars of losses while collecting millions in management and incentive fees. The defendants raised over $500 million from 2014 through 2020, misleading investors … Read More
1. On August 29, 2025, the SEC announced a settled administrative proceeding against Vanguard Advisers, Inc., one of the largest investment advisers in the world. This matter arises from Vanguard’s failure to adequately disclose conflicts of interest in connection with its recommendation to prospective clients and existing clients (collectively referred to as “clients”) to enroll … Read More
1. On July 29, 2025, the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) sought public comment on proposed amendments to four rules related to investment adviser advertising for State registered investment advisers. The proposal would update the NASAA rules to align them more closely to federal standards. By way of background, the SEC amended its investment … Read More
1. On June 29, 2025, two workers for the SEC’s EDGAR system were charged with insider trading. Federal prosecutors allege that Justin Chen, 31, and Jun Zhen, 29, exploited their privileged access to the SEC’s EDGAR system to trade ahead of market-moving announcements—pocketing more than $1 million in three months. Between March and June 2025, … Read More
1. On May 28, 2025, the SEC charged Kronus Financial Corporation and Finser International Corporation, along with their principal, Andrew Jacobus, for misappropriating over $17 million from 40 advisory clients, most of whom are Venezuelan nationals and include Catholic dioceses and elderly individuals. Jacobus raised approximately $39.7 million from advisory clients who believed they were investing … Read More
1. On April 29, 2025, the SEC charged Kenneth Alexander, Robert Welsh and Caedrynn Conner for operating a Ponzi scheme that raised at least $91 million from more than 200 investors. Defendants falsely represented that investors would receive twelve guaranteed monthly payments of between 3% and 6% per month with the principal investment to be … Read More
1. On March 27, 2025, the Senate banking committee held a confirmation hearing for Paul Atkins, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission. Atkins is expected to advocate for focusing on enforcement cases that affect investors and on crypto-friendly policies. https://www.banking.senate.gov/hearings/03/20/2025/nomination-hearing and https://www.banking.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/atkins_testimony_3-27-25.pdf 2. On March 27, 2025, the SEC filed … Read More
1. On March 3, 2025, Reuters reported that the SEC is offering some employees $50,000 if they choose to resign or to retire under an early retirement program, according to an agency memo. The SEC and other federal agencies have been looking at ways to cut staff and costs to meet demands from President Donald … Read More