Regulation and Compliance issues for Wealth Professionals can be challenging to navigate especially when the SEC is involved. Catch the latest news and analysis on compliance updates that impact financial advisors.
However, the Labor Department stressed that there would be "related guidance" released in the coming days, and would continue to research how the fiduciary exemption could be improved.
A federal judge also granted an SEC injunction against David Hu, former CIO of International Investment Group, whose schemes lost $100 million in investors' funds, according to the DOJ.
Despite a possible delay coming from the Biden administration, RIAs should consider updating their procedures to comply with some, but not all, of the new requirements.
The DOJ and SEC filed parallel actions against Isaiah Goodman, arguing he used investors' funds for personal expenses and made "Ponzi-like payments" to new investors.
According to the SEC complaint, the defendants would raise funds from clients without investing them, and would often use them to pay for personal expenses.
Despite raising capital from investors for six years, Fraud Guarantee never developed any insurance products or sold policies to investors and never generated any revenue, according to the SEC.
The rule is based off a model designed by the National Association for Insurance Commissioners that was intended to align with the SEC's Regulation Best Interest.
The Massachusetts Securities Division alleges that Bruce Cameron invested more than $30 million of client assets into securities related to energy and over-concentrated the accounts of at least 10 investors.
In a parallel action to the DOJ’s, the Securities and Exchange Commission also charged GPB and a broker/dealer that marketed its securities with running an allegedly Ponzi-like scheme that raised over $1.7 billion.
