The SEC approved FINRA's rule proposal to clarify the classification and reporting of certain securities to FINRA. The proposed rule change aims to address the appropriate classification of "hybrid" securities for trade reporting purposes. The new rule change will permit FINRA to include a capital trust security and a trust preferred security in the term "TRACE-Eligible Security." Under the approved rule change, FINRA will continue to use existing infrastructure to report the hybrid securities to the Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (TRACE). The implementation date will be 150 days

The SEC's Division of Corporation Finance updated Section 141 of "Securities Act Rules: Questions and Answers of General Applicability." The updates pertain to questions 141.03, 141.04 and 141.05, which deal with Securities Act Rule 147 ("Part of an Issue," "Person Resident" and "Doing Business Within" for purposes of Section 3(a)(11)). See: Revised Question 141.03; New Question 141.04; New Question 141.05.

In his recent post on the Harvard Law School's Forum on Corporate Governance, SEC Commissioner Luis A. Aguilar republished remarks made at the Mutual Fund Directors Forum's 2014 Policy Conference on April 2. Lofchie Comment: Commissioner Aguilar's speech was notable for its criticism of the FSOC's intrusion into areas of the expertise and authority of the SEC, particularly the FSOC's intrusion into the regulation of mutual funds. While the two Republican Commissioners had criticized the FSOC previously, Commissioner Aguilar effectively made critical views on FSOC the bipartisan and majority

A recent indictment in the Eastern District of Virginia highlighted efforts by the IRS and DOJ Tax Division to identify and prosecute those who engage in tax fraud and money laundering, including by targeting the foreign investment advisors, lawyers and other professionals who assist them. In the indictment, the U.S. government alleged that Joshua Vandyk, an American, and Eric St-Cyr, his Canadian business partner, helped undercover agents posing as U.S. clients to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, ownership and control of $200,000, which were represented to be the proceeds of

On April 9, the Department of Justice ("DOJ") and the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") announced that Hewlett-Packard Company ("HP") had agreed to pay approximately $108 million to settle criminal and civil charges that the company's foreign subsidiaries violated the anti-corruption, internal controls, and books and records provisions of the FCPA. The DOJ and SEC settlement papers are available for download below. The settlements involved approximately $2.7 million in payments made by the company's foreign subsidiaries to government officials in Russia, Poland and Mexico. The DOJ and