The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act has many new or updated rules and regulations for organizations in the financial markets. One in particular is Title Seven, which gives the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) the authority to set rules for swap dealers and major swap participants regarding the records they are required to retain in connection with swap transactions and the method and duration of retention. With this authority the CFTC came up with regulations establishing and governing the duties of swap dealers and major swap participants. These rules are so detailed and apply to so many…
Author: Ariel Bouskila
Does current financial reporting by the federal government comply with the requirements of the United States Constitution? This is a central question that Congress needs to address but will not. This memorandum attempts to answer that question. It will surprise few that the conclusion reached in this memorandum is that the federal government’s financial reporting falls far short of Constitutional requirements and that the proposed Exposure Draft does little more than maintain the current status quo with respect to fraudulent financial reporting by the federal government. The Exposure Draft reflects the fact that our political leaders have subverted the democratic…
The new registration exemption in connection with Rule 506 offerings and crowdfunding portals significantly expand the scope of activity that non-broker-dealer registered entities may conduct. Section 201(c) of the JOBS Act provides that in connection with securities offered and sold in compliance with Rule 506 of Regulation D certain intermediary parties will not be subject to broker-dealer registration. Parties that do not receive compensation in connection with the purchase/sale of the security, take possession of the customer funds in connection with such security, and are not subject to statutory disqualification, may now engage in a broad range of conduct previously…
In the wake of a sweeping financial crisis that crippled U.S. capital markets and left millions of Americans out of work, Congress passed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act in 2012 to revitalize the economy. Commonly known as the “JOBS Act,” the statute was intended to create jobs for Americans by improving access to public capital for private companies contemplating an initial public offering (“IPO”). Indeed, a task force convened by the U.S. Treasury Department determined that over the last two decades, firms less than five years old accounted for all net domestic job growth. However, the same task force…
On February 27th the Second Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments between plaintiff-appellees, hedge funds NML and Aurelius, and appellants led by the Republic of Argentina (Argentina). Argentina is joined by Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon), the Exchange Bondholders Group, and Fintech Advisory. The appellant’s are challenging the November 21st ruling by District Court Judge Griesa of the Southern District of New York that ordered Argentina to pay principal and interest owed to defaulted creditors (NML and Aurelius) as well as prohibited BNY Mellon from facilitating Argentina’s interest payments to its current bondholders without also paying the…
A recent surge in law firm insolvencies has revealed unaddressed questions in New York Partnership Law. For example, despite a surplus of decisions on New York’s application of the Unfinished Business doctrine to contingent fee matters, the parallel issue of hourly matters had not reached New York courtrooms until recently. In separate cases decided months apart applying New York law, Dev. Specialists, Inc. v. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, 477 B.R. 318 (S.D.N.Y. 2012) (“Coudert”), and Geron v. Robinson & Cole LLP, 476 B.R. 732 (S.D.N.Y. 2012) (“Thelen”), two Southern District judges rendered contrary conclusions on whether the state’s highest…
In 1805, it would have been “utterly repugnant to the genius of our laws” to provide the government with impunity from statute of limitations restrictions for a penalty action, and now, two hundred years later, the United States Supreme Court has reiterated that maxim. Statutes of limitations have long been an integral aspect of the United States legal system. These statutes promote efficiency and certainty with regards to a plaintiff’s ability to recover damages, while also preserving a defendant’s ability to produce evidence in support of his or her defense before that evidence disappears over time. Many statutes of limitations,…
Has the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) aided and abetted Congress in deceiving the American citizenry with respect to the financial results and financial position of the United States Government? The Statement and Account Clause of the U.S. Constitution requires “a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time” yet there are $77 trillion in net present value costs associated with the nation’s social insurance programs and several multi-trillion enterprises that the government controls (e.g. Federal Reserve System, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) that are not…
Yesterday, in S.E.C. v. Cuban, No. 08-CV-2050, 2013 WL 791405 (N.D. Tex. March 5, 2013), a federal district court denied Mark Cuban’s motion for summary judgment. The court held that although the question was “in some respects a close one,” there was sufficient dispute over the evidence entitling the SEC to present its case to a jury. Barring settlement, this highly publicized case – predicated on the “misappropriation” theory of insider trading – will now proceed to trial. Factual and Procedural Background The SEC’s civil enforcement action arose from Mark Cuban’s June 2004 sale of his 6.3% ownership interest in…
It seems that we are locked in some kind of cycle. Every few years there is a corporate scandal, followed by some public castigation of the offending parties, some new legislation to make sure that it never happens, and then it all fades from the public eye—until it happens all over again. Around the turn of the millennium, the United States was faced with an unprecedented show of the depths that corporate executives will go to for fortune—the Enron, Tyco, Worldcom and Arthur Anderson scandals shocked the conscience of many Americans. In response, the federal government passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act…