The SEC charged a consultant and his friend with insider trading regarding an impending acquisition of a company, in violation of Securities Exchange Act Rule 10b-5 ("Employment of Manipulative and Deceptive Devices"). The SEC alleged that the consultant to a restaurant chain tipped his friend with confidential details about its bidding process that he learned while providing executive coaching services to the chain's top management executives. The SEC charged that the consultant then purchased "risky, out-of-the-money call options" for the restaurant chain's securities and tipped his friend

The SEC Division of Investment Management granted no-action relief regarding Section 203(l) ("Registration of Investment Advisers") of the Advisers Act and the definition of "venture capital fund" thereunder for certain investment managers. In particular, the letter relates to whether a fund can be considered a "venture capital fund" if certain companies it invests in do not technically meet the definition of "qualifying portfolio company" under IAA Rule 203(l)-1 ("Venture Capital Fund Defined").

The SEC issued an investor alert that educates investors about warning signs and red flags for investment scams offered on the radio. The SEC cautioned that while many radio programs that discuss investments are legitimate and operate under the law, these radio programs could also be a part of a fraudulent scheme designed to deceive investors or the public at large. Such schemes could include touting, "pump and dump," scalping and ponzi schemes. The alert also listed warning signs of potential investment fraud, such as promises of high investment returns and pressure to buy "right now."

The SEC request for comment on the MSRB's (i) proposed rule change to revise the effective date of new Rule G-18 ("Best Execution of Transactions in Municipal Securities"), and (ii) related proposed amendments to Rule G-48 ("Transactions with Sophisticated Municipal Market Professionals") and Rule D-15 (on the definition of "Sophisticated Municipal Market Professional") was published in the Federal Register. The MSRB's proposed new effective date of Rule G-18 and the related amendments would be 120 days from the date of publication of implementation guidance on those rule changes, but no later

FINRA proposed amendments to reporting rules concerning over-the-counter transactions in equity securities to FINRA Facilities to (i) allow the submission of "clearing-only, non-regulatory reports" relating to previously executed and reported transactions and (ii) exempt such reports from certain reporting requirements under FINRA rules. FINRA proposed adopting a new subparagraph (4) under FINRA Rules 7130(g), 7230A(i), 7230B(h) and 7330(h) ("Submission of Non-Tape Reports Associated with Previously Executed Trades") to create a uniquely identified category of submissions to FINRA that are