The CFTC issued a letter that extends time-limited no-action relief from certain transaction-level requirements under the CEA. These requirements include transactions when entering into swaps with non-U.S. persons, that are not guaranteed or conduit affiliates of a U.S. person, and that are using the SD's personnel or agents located in the United States to arrange, negotiate or execute such swaps. The no-action relief follows a November 14, 2013 DSIO Advisory which stated that persons regularly arranging, negotiating or executing swaps for or on behalf of an SD are performing core, front

The SEC announced that two individuals, who provided tips and assistance to help the SEC bring enforcement action, would receive a whistleblower award of over $875,000, to be split evenly between them. Together with these two individuals, a total of eight whistleblowers have been given awards by the SEC whistleblower program since it began in late 2011. See: SEC Order Determining Whistleblower Award Claim. See also: Cabinet Whistleblower Page (available to Cabinet subscribers only). Related Cadwalader analyses: Before the Whistle Blows: Understanding and Addressing the Expanding Scope of

The SEC charged the co-owner of two Bitcoin-related websites with publicly offering shares in both ventures without registering either of them. According to the SEC Order, the co-owner of SatoshiDICE, a Bitcoin-betting game, and FeedZeBirds, which promised to pay Bitcoins to Twitter users who forwarded its sponsored text messages, published prospectuses on the Internet. According to the Order, the co-owner actively solicited investors to buy shares in the companies on Bitcoin-related websites as well as Facebook. Despite these general solicitations, no registration statement was filed with the

The Senate approved Timothy Massad as the new Chairman of the CFTC, as well as Chris Giancarlo (R) and Sharon Bowen (D) as Commissioners. With Mark Wetjen (D) and Scott O'Malia (R), the CFTC now has a full complement. Both Massad and Giancarlo were approved by voice vote, while Sharon Bowen was approved by a roll call vote of 48 to 46. Click here to see the results of the roll call vote on Commissioner Bowen.

The Managed Funds Association ("MFA") finalized a discussion paper on Article 13(3) of EMIR. The paper explains what the MFA considers to be the key issue regarding the European Commission's adoption of an implementing act on equivalence with respect to the United States. The MFA stated that certain alternative investment funds ("AIFs") which are legally incorporated outside the United States, but are either managed by a U.S.-based manager or majority-owned by U.S. persons, are thus considered "U.S. persons" subject to CFTC derivatives rules. If the European regulators do not regard AIFs as