The SEC rejected an appeal by a former registered investment adviser firm and its owner regarding charges of securities fraud violations of Investment Advisers Act Sections 206(1), 206(2) and 206(4) ("Prohibited Transactions by Investment Advisers"). The charges were based on alleged material misrepresentations made to prospective clients concerning the adviser's "Buckets of Money" retirement wealth management strategy. The SEC found that the accused firm misrepresented that it had performed backtests that "proved" that a model portfolio following the "Buckets of Money" strategy during

Daniel M. Gallagher issued his final statement as Commissioner on his "bittersweet" departure from the SEC. He thanked the staff and noted that he expects to remain involved in the important policy debates facing the U.S. capital markets in the years to come," including through his lecture series with the Securities Law Program at Catholic University Columbus School of Law.

FINRA published an Election Notice announcing the nominee to fill the Small Firm vacancy on the National Adjudicatory Council ("NAC"). The sole Small Firm NAC Member candidate is Joshua Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of Arete Wealth Management, LLC, in Schaumburg, Illinois. Mr. Rogers will begin his term on January 1, 2016.

FINRA proposed revisions to the content outline and selection specifications for the Financial and Operations Principal ("Series 27") and the Introducing Broker-Dealer Financial and Operations Principal ("Series 28") examination programs. The proposed revisions for both examination programs would update the material to reflect changes to the laws, rules and regulations covered by the examinations and to incorporate their functions and associated tasks. FINRA also proposed to make changes to the format of the content outline of both examination programs.

SEC Commissioner Kara Stein called for greater transparency in the capital markets. She argued that even though a "new digital age" has transformed the way in which securities are traded, "opaque" areas of the market remain and must be addressed. Commissioner Stein remarked that in order to ensure that investors are given enough accurate information to make informed decisions, "dramatic reforms" must be adopted in the Alternative Trading Systems ("ATS") markets, which are also called "dark pool" markets. She warned that it is unclear whether dark pools continue to "perform the functions that