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 a joint stipulation with Kraken, crypto trading platform, to dismiss, with prejudice, the Commission’s ongoing civil enforcement action against it. The SEC previously filed a complaint against Kraken with operating as an unregistered securities exchange, broker, dealer and clearing agency. https://www.sec.gov/enforcement-litigation/litigation-releases/lr-26278
3. On March 21, 2025, FinCEN issued a new interim rule exempting U.S. companies from the Corporate Transparency Act requiring the Treasury Department to track corporate ownership. The Corporate Transparency Act will only apply to foreigners and foreign companies. Foreign companies will not have to file information about any of their U.S.-based beneficial owners. A final rule will be issued by the end of this year. https://www.fincen.gov/news/news-releases/fincen-removes-beneficial-ownership-reporting-requirements-us-companies-and-us
4. On March 20, 2025, Representative Tim Walberg, R-Ill., called for Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer to withdraw the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule. A federal judge previously granted an administration request for more time to determine how to proceed with litigation related to the rule. https://walberg.house.gov/media/in-the-news/hill-michigan-republican-presses-chavez-deremer-rescind-biden-era-labor
5. On March 20, 2025, the SEC instituted administrative proceedings against Scott Mason, owner of Rubicon Wealth Management, LLC (“Rubicon”), a registered investment adviser, for misappropriating client funds for personal use and other unauthorized purposes, and misled clients by making materially false and misleading statements to them regarding his use of their funds. Mason was barred. https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/admin/2025/ia-6867.pdf
6. On March 19, 2025, the SEC obtained a final judgment by consent against Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc. (“CIRA”), a registered investment adviser, for failing to disclose material conflicts of interest and breaching its duty of care related to its recommendation to place clients in wrap accounts and its selection of mutual funds and money market sweep funds for clients. CIRA repeatedly breached its fiduciary duty to advisory clients by investing client assets in certain mutual funds and money market sweep funds that generated millions of dollars in revenue sharing payments to an affiliated broker-dealer, Cambridge Investment Research, Inc. (CIRI), instead of lower-cost share classes and investment options that would have yielded less or no revenue sharing. CIRA converted hundreds of accounts to its more expensive wrap account program without adequate disclosure and without analyzing whether doing so was in its clients’ best interests. CIRA also avoided paying millions of dollars of transaction fees as a result of its mutual fund recommendations and failed to disclose conflicts resulting from its investment adviser representatives’ receipt of forgivable loans in exchange for maintaining certain asset levels and tenure with CIRI.  CIRA was ordered to pay disgorgement of $10,164,698, prejudgment interest of $3,035,302 and a civil money penalty of $1,800,000. https://www.sec.gov/enforcement-litigation/litigation-releases/lr-26274
7. On March 19, 2025, the staff of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management updated its most Frequently Asked Questions regarding amendments to rule 206(4)-1, the Marketing Rule. The new guidance takes the form of two new questions-and-answers. The first question replaces previous guidance on extracted, gross performance. Investment advisers will now be allowed to market the extracted, gross performance of their portfolios so long as they also show the total net performance of the same portfolio. The second question is supposed to help clear up investment adviser industry-wide confusion over what, exactly, counts as “performance characteristics” under the marketing rule. https://www.sec.gov/rules-regulations/staff-guidance/division-investment-management-frequently-asked-questions/marketing-compliance-frequently-asked-questions
8. On March 17, 2025, the SEC charged David Yow Shang Chiueh and his investment advisory firm, Upright Financial Corp., for misconduct and for investing more than 25 percent of Upright Growth Fund’s assets in a single company over multiple years, causing losses of $1.6 million. Upright was ordered to pay disgorgement of $390,704 and prejudgment interest of $36,505. Chiueh and Upright was ordered to pay jointly a civil money penalty of $90,000. https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2025-55
9. On March 10, 2025, the SEC adopted a new rule that takes away the enforcement division’s 16-year-long authority to issue subpoenas and launch a formal investigation on its own. The adopted new rule means only the Commissioners themselves would be able to approve the start of an investigation, not the SEC staff, and that the process for investigating potentially violative conduct likely will be lengthier, because obtaining a formal order will now require seeking authorization from the Commission. Unless the Commissioners approve a formal order of investigation, SEC staffers are no longer empowered to administer oaths and affirmations, subpoena witnesses, compel their attendance, take evidence, and require the production of any books, papers, correspondence, memoranda, or other records which the Commission deems relevant or material to the inquiry. SEC-registrants (e.g., investment advisers, broker-dealers) are generally required to provide documents to the SEC pursuant to the staff’s voluntary requests for information, so those investigations may not be significantly impacted. For investigations involving non-SEC registrants, Enforcement staff may look to advance their investigations by issuing voluntary requests for information to the extent feasible, although there are limitations in doing so. https://www.sec.gov/files/rules/final/2025/33-11366.pdf
10. On March 14, 2025, the SEC filed an order setting an administrator’s bond amount regarding a settled administrative proceeding against OppenheimerFunds, Inc. and OppenheimerFunds Distributor, Inc., for making misleading statements in connection with the offer and sale of two fixed income funds managed by OppenheimerFunds, Inc.. Oppenheimer Funds, Inc. was ordered to pay disgorgement of $9,879,706, prejudgment interest of $1,487,190 and a civil money penalty of $24,000,000. https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/admin/2025/34-102676.pdf
11. On March 12, 2025, SEC staff issued no-action guidance letter regarding Rule 506(c) of Regulation D under the Securities Act of 1933 (Securities Act). Under the no-action guidance letter, issuers will be allowed to reasonably rely on self-certifications from investors as to their accredited investor status if they meet certain minimum investment requirements —$200,000 for a single person and $1 million for a company. The SEC stated that commission staffers “agree that a high minimum investment amount is a relevant factor in verifying accredited investor status” and that—so long as a fund manager has “no actual knowledge” that a putative accredited investor doesn’t meet the standards’ wealth thresholds and that the investment isn’t “being financed in whole or in part by any third-party”— then a fund manager “could reasonably conclude that it has taken reasonable steps to verify that purchasers of securities sold in an offering under rule 506(c) of Regulation D are accredited investors.” https://www.sec.gov/rules-regulations/no-action-interpretive-exemptive-letters/division-corporation-finance-no-action/latham-watkins-503c-031225
12. On March 12, 2025, the SEC instituted administrative proceedings against Geneos Wealth Management, Inc., a dually registered investment adviser and broker-dealer, for a series of failures with its mutual fund share class selection practices and its receipt of revenue sharing payments. Geneos failed to adequately disclose in its SEC Forms ADV, Part 2A or otherwise, failed to disclose to its clients compensation that it received through agreements with two third-party broker-dealers and conflicts arising from that compensation. Geneos failed to adopt written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent violations of the Advisers Act and the rules thereunder in connection with its mutual fund share class selection practices and its revenue sharing arrangements with the clearing brokers. Geneos was ordered to pay disgorgement of $386,185, prejudgment interest of $36,807 and a civil money penalty of $250,000. https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/admin/2025/34-102642.pdf
13. On March 10, 2025, the SEC filed a complaint against Ronald Pallek alleging he defrauded at least 87 investors in a scheme that raised over $1.5 million. The SEC’s complaint alleges Pallek raised funds from investors promising to double their money within a year by investing in an Iron Condor options trading strategy. The complaint further alleges that Pallek misrepresented the risks of investing using the Iron Condor strategy and lied to investors that he had sufficient funds to cover any potential trading losses. The complaint also alleges that Pallek sent investors false account statements and used some investor funds to make Ponzi-like payments to early investors. In the fall of 2023, when some investors requested the return of their funds, the complaint alleges that Pallek falsely told them that his bank had frozen his accounts but later admitted to investors that he had lost the money trading. https://www.sec.gov/enforcement-litigation/litigation-releases/lr-26264
14. On March 7, 2025, the SEC charged Momentum Advisors LLC, a registered investment adviser, its former managing partner Allan Boomer, and its former chief operating officer and partner Tiffany Hawkins, for breaches by Boomer and Hawkins of their fiduciary duties when they misused fund and portfolio company assets. Hawkins misappropriated approximately $223,000 from portfolio companies in a private fund she managed with Boomer and that was advised by Momentum Advisors. Hawkins concealed her misconduct from Momentum Advisors, from the portfolio companies’ bookkeeper, and from SEC staff. Boomer failed to reasonably supervise Hawkins despite red flags of her misappropriation. Momentum Advisors was ordered to pay a civil money penalty of $235,000. Hawkins was ordered to pay a civil money penalty of $200,000. Boomer was ordered to pay a civil money penalty of $80,000. https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2025-53
15. On March 6, 2025, the SEC announced that it is providing extensive guidance and resources to assist filers with upcoming access and account management enhancements to the security of the agency’s Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval (“EDGAR”) system. On March 24th, a new EDGAR Filer Management dashboard will go live on the SEC’s website and filers can begin enrolling in “EDGAR Next” by submitting an amended Form ID. Enrollment in EDGAR Next will remain open until Dec. 19, 2025. However, filers should enroll no later than Sept. 12, 2025, to avoid interruption in the ability to file. https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2025-52
16. On March 5, 2025 the SEC instituted administrative proceedings against Rimar Capital, LLC, a registered investment adviser, and, Rimar Capital USA, Inc., Itai Royi Liptz, and Clifford Boro, for engaging in fraudulent conduct related to an offering and for false and misleading statements. Liptz, with the help of Rimar USA board member Boro, raised nearly $4 million from 45 investors for the development of Rimar LLC, an adviser that purported to use artificial intelligence to perform automated trading for advisory client accounts. Liptz was ordered to pay disgorgement of $202,604 and prejudgment interest of $11,007. Liptz and Boro was ordered to pay a civil money penalty of $310,000. https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/admin/2025/34-102531.pdf
17. On March 3, 2025, the General Services Administration (GSA) announced to SEC employees that it will be ending the leases on the headquarters of three of the SEC’s larger regional offices: Chicago, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. Staff in Philadelphia and Chicago are expected to exit their offices by the end of August and staff in LA by the end of September. The GSA is working with the SEC to find new office space for the affected staffers and if offices are not found in time SEC staff will be placed on full-time telework. Recent press reports have claimed that the directors of the SEC’s ten regional offices have been told they will be let go in coming weeks.