8/30/2010
It's a situation almost any adviser could find itself in these days when valuations fluctuate or defy easy assessment. Earlier this month the SEC dropped subpoenas on several parties related to a pension board's $3 million investment in a real estate investment trust (REIT).One of those subpoenas la ...
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8/23/2010
IA Watch has obtained a new SEC document request letter being used in a current sweep exam of advisory firms. The seven-page letter focuses "on the due diligence processes employed when investment advisers evaluate alternative investment options," especially "private equity, venture capital, fund of ...
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8/23/2010
Rhonda Breard filled the airwaves around Seattle with ads selling her financial advisory services using a line taken from the Beach Boys' song Help Me Rhonda. That should have been a tipoff.Earlier this month a judge sentenced Breard to 6½ years behind bars after she pleaded guilty to mail fraud con ...
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8/16/2010
It's perhaps a firm's greatest examination fear: a surprise visit. Unannounced exams are rare. The newest SECdocument request letter you'll find at iawatch.com comes from a surprise exam of an RIA conducted earlier this year.Despite some reports, there has been no rash of surprise exams (IA Watch, M ...
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08/12/2010
A copy of the letter Gary Aguirre sent to the SEC in January 2009, which he believes sparked a re-opening of the SEC's investigation into Pequot Capital Management.
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08/11/2010
A copy of an SEC document request letter issued in 2010. Our source tells us this letter came from a “surprise exam” of an RIA.
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08/09/2010
This is a compilation of state rules for reporting elder abuse. Gary Gushard, an attorney with Tucker Arensberg in Pittsburgh, compiled this list.
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8/2/2010
James Dawson washed out of professional basketball and now the former investment adviser has been barred from the advisory industry for three years for cherry picking. Last week the Commission sustained the action after finding Dawson traded in one account throughout the day and after hours allocate ...
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7/26/2010
The newest SECdocument request letter that we share with you at www.iawatch.com hails from OCIE headquarters in Washington. It illustrates the interest examiners are taking in advisers who manage unregistered and private funds.For example, it asks about the adviser's equity interest in the funds and ...
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7/26/2010
It looks like Mark Lay will spend the next decade behind bars. The former head of the now-defunct RIA MDL Capital Management Inc. in Pittsburgh this month lost his appeal of a conviction on Advisers Act and mail and wire fraud, sustaining a 12-year prison term for losing millions of dollars of funds ...
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