I recently attended a professional CFO roundtable as a subject matter expert on Obamacare compliance issues for employers. It was an excellent discussion which included CFO’s from firms ranging in size from less than 50 to more than 250 employees. Coming out of the CFO roundtable, the biggest challenge centers around tracking employees with precision so as to ensure the employer avoids the excise taxes (penalties) under IRC § 4980H. Several participants echoed this sentiment saying: “It’s not practical for us to even know how many employees we have at any given moment right now. How am I supposed to make sure I’ve offered coverage to everyone I am supposed to?” What’s clear is that working to comply with Obamacare’s Employer Shared Responsibility provisions, and the Notice and Reporting provisions, will require a significant change in how Applicable Large Employers’ HR, Finance, and Legal Departments interact with one another. Behind Obamacare’s requirements lie employers’ continuing responsibilities under ERISA, HIPPA and state labor laws. Organizations that don’t formulate their Obamacare compliance systems with those other rules in mind can build significant amounts of risk into their business. Many businesses seemed to be still in the first stages of figuring out how to work Affordable Care Act compliance into their organizations. Other organizations have already decided it’s impractical to work compliance in-house and plan to outsource the tasks to third-parties. News reporters like to highlight those employers looking at “manipulating hours” (i.e. reducing or controlling hours to control employees’ entitlement to employer-sponsored health insurance). However this strategy poses a lot of risks and must be executed almost flawlessly to obtain its benefits. Employers manipulating hours run the risks of incurring overtime (for those employees picking up the slack), or worse yet, the risk of exempt employees becoming non-exempt under state wage &…

In early February, FINRA initiated disciplinary proceedings against Charles Schwab & Co. claiming the firm violated FINRA rules by requiring its customers to sign account documents containing broad “class action waivers.” FINRA claims Schwab amended its customer agreements in October 2011 […]

These are the Top Ten Unsuitable Securities Investments to Watch Out For during 2012, as compiled by FINRA. For most investors, these investments may be unsuitable; complex; very risky and not easily understood: 1. Private Placements- Risks- highly illiquid; minimal disclosure; […]

In January, the Federal Reserve announced it will keep interest rates low until at least late 2014 in a continued effort to buttress the fledgling economic recovery. In what has become a market dominated by low interest rates, yields on Treasuries also […]

As the latest in a series of large fines levied against the nation’s few remaining wirehouse firms in early 2012, FINRA announced on Wednesday, January 25, that it fined Merill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith $1 million for refusing to arbitrate promissory […]

FINRA started the new year off by levying a $725,000.00 fine against Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., for failing to disclose potential conflicts of interest in certain research reports the firm published from January 2007 through March 2010. According to FINRA, Citigroup (a) […]

Investment Placement Group (IPG), an independent brokerage firm headquartered in downtown San Diego, agreed in late December to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approximately $4 million in penalties to settle charges that the firm failed to supervise Aurelio Rodriguez, one […]

We established this blog to share stories and information about topics relevant to our practice. Our intent is to highlight local stories, as well as national subject matter, that we think you will find interesting. We will regularly update this blog and encourage […]

The New York Court of Appeals handed a significant consumer victory to investors and current Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman in its December 20, 2011 ruling in Assured Guaranty (UK) Ltd., v. JP Morgan Investment Management, Inc. The Court’s decision decided the frequently […]

Bankruptcy Court judge in Manhattan, New York ruled today that James Giddens, the trustee appointed to liquidate MF Global Inc. following the firm’s October 2011 bankruptcy, may distribute an additional $2.2 billion to the firm’s former customers. While a small […]

It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book, and new clients routinely contact our firm after falling victim to it. A member of your community organization, a friend from work or perhaps even your child’s soccer coach recommends a new, “guaranteed” […]

On November 30, 2011, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued a Regulatory Risk Alert outlining effective policies and procedures for broker-dealer branch inspections and broker supervision. The alert serves as a reminder of existing Securities Exchange Act and […]

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the self-regulated organization responsible for overseeing brokers and broker-dealers, has sanctioned eight firms and ten individuals for recommending private placement investments without a reasonable basis to customers. Among the firms sanctioned are: NEXT Financial Group; Investors […]

In a recent court decision, New York Federal Judge Jed Rakoff denied a motion to approve a settlement between Citigroup and the SEC arising out of charges that Citi misled investors about collateralized debt obligations. Judge Rakoff rejected the highly publicized […]

November 26, 2011. We see more and more private placements being sold to unsuspecting investors, most of whom have little or no idea of the risks inherent in these investments. With very few exceptions, a private placement is a high risk investment; typically highly illiquid […]

Registered representatives, investment advisers and others employed in the securities industry are required to disclose certain prior criminal convictions, including some “expunged” convictions, to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) or the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in connection with their employment. […]

Obama signs new bill to quicken patent application process and curb frivolous patent lawsuits: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/16/us-patent-obama-idUSTRE78F4FY20110916?feedType=RSS&feedName=smallBusinessNews&rpc=43

November 15, 2011. Unsuitable investments continue to be sold to unsuspecting clients of major brokerage firms. On November 15, 2011 FINRA, ordered JP Morgan Chase to reimburse clients $1.9 million for losses those investors sustained when JP Morgan sold them high risk, unsuitable unit […]

Up-front, forgivable notes have been used by brokerage firms for many years as a way to entice high producing brokers to join- and, hopefully, remain- at the firm recruiting the talent. Virtually all firms use these notes as a recruiting […]

The SEC has subpoenaed various financial firms to investigate possible insider trading before US S&P credit rating downgrade” http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/20/news/economy/sec_sp_investigation/index.htm?iid=SF_BN_River