Most securities regulations, by design, create a gray world where compliance is not crystal-clear, but, rather, subject to interpretation.  After all, what you think constitutes “reasonable” supervision and what FINRA or the SEC think is reasonable may very well be two extremely different things.  Indeed, it is the existence of subjective standards of conduct like this that, ultimately, put food on my table, as people and firms hire me to advocate on their behalves that…

FINRA Enforcement has often been accused (again, admittedly, by me, and not too infrequently) of going after the “low-hanging fruit,” that is, taking the easy case when it presents itself.  Putting aside the question whether this observation is accurate or not – for what it’s worth, I think the answer is that it is often, but not always, true – a recent case triggers a better, more nuanced question: does FINRA Enforcement sometimes bring the…

The controller has been passed to a new team of players in Washington. New players prefer to hit the reset button and start a new game, not pick up where the prior player left off. We know how our new players like to play the game. They want to control every aspect of the game through regulation, occasionally, using the cheat code to attempt to regulate by enforcement. Securities regulators’ recent interest in gamification exemplifies…

Sorry for the flurry of posts this week, but the development Chris writes about here was not expected, and it is important enough that I decided to push it out today, on the eve of a three-day weekend. – Alan Today FINRA announced in a press release here that it has withdrawn from SEC consideration its proposed rule changes regarding the expungement process.  The proposed rule changes were dramatic and included the creation of a…

So I spent last week – the whole week – doing an arbitration with JAMS.  It involved some of the typical elements of a FINRA claim, e.g., allegations of the sale of an unregistered security, of an “investment” gone bad, of misrepresentations and omissions in connection with the “sale” of that “investment,” but for reasons not pertinent here, the case did not have to be heard in the FINRA arbitral forum.  Anyway – and I…

I have been in a JAMS arbitration the last week or so, so thanks to Chris — Mr. Expungement — for his thoughts about PIABA’s study. –  Alan In a move that surprised nobody, PIABA[1] recently released an updated study on expungement awards from 2019/2020, and, in the most predictable fashion, they continue to complain that the expungement process is rigged and that brokers who seek expungement continue to “game” the system.  We’ve blogged …

I am writing this while flying home from my first business trip in over 15 months.  I have to tell you, it is more than a bit of a strange feeling to be out and among people again.  While my face is sore from wearing this N95 mask nearly non-stop for three days, my hands are dry and rough from all the washing, and I basically hid in my hotel room if I didn’t have…