Robert E. Plaze

Photo of Robert E. Plaze

Robert Plaze’s experience gives him a unique understanding of the SEC and the federal securities laws affecting our clients. Following nearly 30 years in the SEC’s Division of Investment Management, most recently as Deputy Director, Bob is a partner in Proskauer’s Registered Funds Group.

At the SEC, Bob was responsible for policy development and management of the key regulatory initiatives affecting investment companies and investment advisers, including rules governing fund and adviser compliance programs, money market funds, fund corporate governance, personal trading, custody and brokerage practices, prohibitions on “pay to play” practices, and protection of investor privacy. After the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act, Bob was responsible for rulemaking requiring advisers to private funds to register with the SEC, providing new exemptions from registration and requiring reporting by certain exempt advisers.

Connect: Read more about Robert E. Plaze
Firm/Organization: Proskauer Rose LLP
Blogs: Blockchain and the Law, The Capital Commitment

Latest Articles

Fund managers take note – after over a year of warning, this month the SEC announced a pair of settlement orders with respect to registration requirements for a fund and broker dealer operating in the crypto and digital assets space. It was the agency’s first ever enforcement actions applying the investment company and broker-dealer registration provisions of the securities laws to businesses involved in digital securities. As we’ve written on Proskauer’s Blockchain and the …
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The SEC announced a pair of settled orders on Tuesday extending additional provisions of the securities laws over ICOs and other digital assets – the agency’s first ever enforcement actions of their kind. As the SEC has been suggesting for over a year, because digital assets offered and sold in initial coin offerings (“ICOs”) are likely to fall under the definition of securities, businesses that invest in them, or that offer, sell or trade…
On April 12, 2018, the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations issued a risk alert listing the most common compliance issues concerning fees and expenses charged by SEC-registered investment advisers.  Advisers should review their practices, policies and procedures to ensure compliance with their advisory agreements and representations to clients in light of the fee and expense issues noted in the risk alert. Here are the top six: Fee-Billing Based on Incorrect Account Valuations. Billing…
The CFTC and SEC made numerous headlines Friday in their ongoing efforts to provide regulatory oversight of cryptocurrency markets. The CFTC announced the filing of two civil enforcement actions against allegedly fraudulent cryptocurrency-related investment schemes. The SEC’s Division of Investment Management, meanwhile, issued a letter raising concerns about registered investment companies’ (including ETFs’) investments in cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency-related assets. And the SEC and CFTC issued a joint statement emphasizing their collective aim to root out…
If a team from the SEC arrives at your office and says, “We are conducting an on-site examination and would like to talk to the CCO right now,” are you prepared? A handful of registered investment advisers have faced surprise SEC exams in recent months. These exams come in two flavors: either a “for cause” exam arising from SEC staff concerns relating to a specific ongoing issue, or a standard exam that for some reason…
The SEC staff recently published an alert highlighting the most common deficiencies seen in investment advisers’ marketing materials.  Based on its recent examinations and initiatives, the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) issued its risk alert to highlight compliance issues relating to Rule 206(4)-1 (the “Advertising Rule”).  Here are the top six: Misleading Performance Results. Misleading One-on-One Presentations. Misleading Claim of Compliance with Voluntary Performance Standards. Cherry-Picked Profitable Stock Selections. Misleading Selection of…
According to recent news reports, the DOJ and the SEC are investigating the possible improper use of third-party broker quotes by hedge fund managers to value illiquid debt securities in their portfolios. Prosecutors are reportedly focused on possible instances where fund managers allegedly solicited predetermined or improper quotes from brokers, and used those estimates to inflate their own valuations of thinly-traded mortgage bonds. In addition, the co-head of the SEC’s Asset Management Unit recently …
We are pleased to announce that Proskauer has released Regulation of Investment Advisers by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, by Robert E. Plaze, who recently joined Proskauer as a partner.  Bob previously served as Deputy Director of the Division of Investment Management of the SEC.  This publication, which draws on Bob’s nearly 30 years of service with the SEC, is the definitive outline summarizing SEC regulatory issues for Investment Advisers. Regulation…