On Tuesday, December 30, 2014, the Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") issued General License No. 5, authorizing certain activities prohibited by Executive Order 13685 that are necessary to wind down operations involving Crimea. E.O. 13685 generally prohibits new investments in Crimea, as well as the trade in goods, services or technology with Crimea. Through February 1, 2015, the new License permits activities related to the divestiture of investments held in Crimea prior to the December 19, 2014 effective date of E.O. 13685. This includes the winding down of

The SEC Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued an Investor Bulletin to provide information to investors who were harmed by securities fraud or other securities law violations. The SEC explained that, when an investor is harmed by a violation of federal securities laws, a number of different processes exist to help investors recover money that was lost through fraudulent investment schemes. In the Investor Bulletin, the SEC explained that, in some cases, a court or the SEC may order the individual or firm to disgorge the ill-gotten gains or pay a monetary penalty, which then may be

SIFMA recommended that the market close for the New Year's holiday in the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan. SIFMA recommended an early close at 2:00 p.m. EST on Wednesday, December 31, 2014, and a full market close on Thursday, January 1, 2015, for trading U.S. dollar-denominated fixed-income securities in the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan in observance of the New Year's Day holiday. See: U.S. Market Close Recommendations; UK Market Close Recommendations; Japan Market Close Recommendations; Press Release.

In the latest installment of the Energy Metro Desk, CFTC Commissioner J. Chris Giancarlo outlined his wish list for the CFTC in 2015. According to Commissioner Giancarlo, in 2015, the CFTC will actively complete outstanding Dodd-Frank rule implementation, fix flawed rules and work with the new Congress. However, he noted that his biggest wish is for a change in the "tone of the public debate" of CFTC-related issues that will be discussed and covered by the mainstream media. Commissioner Giancarlo pointed out that previous reporting on post-financial-crisis reforms has generated the "constant

The CFTC extended the no-action relief granted in CFTC Letter 14-127. The relief provides additional time for futures commission merchants ("FCMs") to comply with CFTC rules requiring FCMs to obtain acknowledgement letters from certain depositories. CFTC Rules 1.20, 1.26, 22.5 and 30.7 and the Appendices require that an FCM deposit customers' funds only with depositories that have provided it with an acknowledgement letter in which such depositories agree to provide the Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight ("DSIO") Director with direct, read-only electronic access to transaction