On April 3, President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order declaring a national emergency with respect to the situation in South Sudan. The Order is based on a determination that the widespread violence and unrest in that country – including human rights abuses and attacks on peacekeepers and humanitarian operations – pose a threat to U.S. foreign policy and national security. The Order does not target the country of South Sudan, but rather those persons (individuals and entities), including leaders of any militant groups or other entities responsible for or complicit in, or found to have

The SEC announced that the whistleblower who received the first award under the agency's new whistleblower program will receive an additional $150,000 payout after the SEC collected additional funds in the case. The whistleblower has now been awarded a total of nearly $200,000 since the award was announced on August 21, 2012. The SEC stated it expects to collect additional money from defendants in this case, as some are making payments under a periodic payment schedule ordered by the court. See: SEC Press Release. See also: SEC Office of the Whistleblower Page; SEC Order Issuing First Award

The CFTC held a public roundtable to address issues concerning end-users and Dodd-Frank. The roundtable consisted of three panels discussing the obligations of end-users under CFTC Rule 1.35 ("Records of Commodity, Interest and Related Cash or Forward Transactions"); the appropriate regulatory treatment of forward contracts with embedded volumetric optionality ("EVO"); and the appropriate regulatory treatment for purposes of the $25 million (special entity) de minimis threshold for dealing activity to government-owned electric utilities, which triggers registration as a swap dealer. Click here

To better track and understand the evolving Ukraine-related sanctions lists issued and amended by various jurisdictions, Cadwalader prepared a consolidated index of sanctioned individuals and entities, available here. As names are added (or removed) from the lists, we will post updated indexes. See: Russian and Ukrainian List of Sanctioned Individuals and Entities. See generally: The Cabinet Sanctions Page (accessible to Cabinet subscribers only). Related news: The Latest on Ukraine (with Turza Comment) (April 2, 2014); Ukraine Update (with Turza Comment) (March 27, 2014); U.S. Issues

The SEC announced that it is seeking comments on a recommendation by its Investor Advisory Committee regarding disclosure by target date mutual funds.