CompaniesBIO

The Securities and Exchange Commission today reopened the public comment periods for 11 Commission rulemaking releases and one request for comment due to a technological error that resulted in a number of public comment s submitted through the Commission’s internet comment form not being received by the Commission. The majority of the affected comments were submitted in August 2022; however, the technological error is known to have occurred as early as June 2021. To ensure that interested persons, including any affected commenters, have the opportunity to comment on the affected releases or to resubmit comments, the Commission is reopening the comment periods for the affected releases until 14 days following publication of the reopening release in the Federal Register. As further described in the reopening release, all commenters who submitted a public comment to one of the affected comment files through the internet comment form between June 2021 and August 2022 are advised...

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against 15 broker-dealers and one affiliated investment adviser for widespread and longstanding failures by the firms and their employees to maintain and preserve electronic communications. The firms admitted the facts set forth in their respective SEC orders, acknowledged that their conduct violated recordkeeping provisions of the federal securities laws, agreed to pay combined penalties of more than $1.1 billion, and have begun implementing improvements to their compliance policies and procedures to settle these matters. The following eight firms (and five affiliates) have agreed to pay penalties of $125 million each: Barclays Capital Inc.; BofA Securities Inc. together with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc.; Citigroup Global Markets Inc.; Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC; Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. together with DWS Distributors Inc. and DWS Investment Management Americas, ...

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against a number of investment advisers that failed to comply with requirements relating to safekeeping client assets and/or to timely update their SEC disclosures to reflect the status of audits of financial statements for the private funds they advised. The advisers, all of which agreed to settle the SEC’s charges and pay combined penalties of over $1 million, are BiscayneAmericas Advisers L.L.C., Garrison Investment Group, LP, Janus Henderson Investors US LLC, Lend Academy Investments, LLC, Polaris Equity Management, Inc., QVR, LLC, Ridgeview Asset Management Partners, LLC, Steward Capital Management, Inc., and Titan Fund Management, LLC. According to the SEC’s orders, certain advisers failed to have audits performed or to deliver audited financials to investors in certain private funds in a timely manner, thereby violating the Investment Advisers Act’s Custody Rule, and certain advisers failed to promptly file a...

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Energy Innovation Capital Management, LLC (EIC), a California-based exempt reporting adviser, with charging excess management fees from two venture capital funds. EIC has returned $678,681 plus interest to the funds and their limited partners, and has agreed to settle the SEC’s charges by paying a $175,000 penalty. According to the SEC’s order, EIC’s limited partners hip agreements for the two venture capital funds allow it to charge management fees during certain times based on the funds’ invested capital in individual portfolio company securities, and require EIC to reduce the basis for these fees if certain events occur, such as write-downs of such securities. The order finds that, from January 16, 2020, through March 31, 2022, EIC overcharged management fees by making a number of errors in its favor. As the order states, the errors include: Failing to make adjustments to its management fee calculations for individual port...

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged two North Carolina-based executives, Gregory E. Lindberg and Christopher Herwig, and their Malta-based registered investment adviser, Standard Advisory Services Limited, for defrauding clients out of more than $75 million through undisclosed transactions that benefited themselves and their companies. According to the SEC’s complaint, from July 2017 through 2018, Lindberg and Herwig, through Standard Advisory, breached their fiduciary duties to their advisory clients by fraudulently causing them to engage in undisclosed related-party transactions that were not in the best interest of their clients. The SEC’s complaint further alleges that the defendants misappropriated more than $57 million in client funds and that Standard Advisory collected more than $21.4 million in advisory fees generated in connection with these schemes. In an attempt to conceal the fraud, Lindberg allegedly orchestrated the schemes through complex investment...