The U.S. District Court of the Southern District Court of New York ruled that ex-Goldman Sachs trader, Fabrice Tourre, must pay over $800,000 in civil penalties in order to settle the SEC's charges that Tourre misled investors in mortgage deals leading up to the financial crisis. Judge Katherine Forrest, who presided over the case, barred Goldman Sachs from reimbursing Tourre. However, the court did not bar any other third party from reimbursement. According to the August 2013 order, Tourre was found guilty in six of the seven fraud charges that the SEC brought against him for defrauding

The Futures Industry Association ("FIA") announced the election of its board of directors at the FIA annual meeting. Fifteen directors were elected, including eight regular member directors for two-year terms, two regular member directors for one-year terms, four associate member directors for two-year terms, and one associate member director for a one-year term. Following the election, the new board elected the association's officers and public directors. See: FIA New Directors and Officers.

With the approach of a planned referendum on the future of Crimea on March 16, the United States Congress has moved to increase pressure on Russia and its supporters in Ukraine through a combination of threatened sanctions and promised support for Ukraine's new government. First, on March 6, the House passed a bill providing $1 billion in loan guarantees to aid the new government of Ukraine and support the country's financial stability (see linked H.R. 4152). Next, in a resolution passed with a strong bipartisan majority on March 11, the House condemned the violation of Ukrainian sovereignty

The CFTC announced that a public roundtable is scheduled for March 18, 2014, to discuss risk management practices by CPOs. The roundtable will cover the following issues: risk management procedures in the operation of various types of commodity pools, including registered investment companies, public commodity pools, private funds, and funds of funds; and risk management controls relating to investment risk, operational risk, and compliance or regulatory risk. See: CFTC Meeting Announcement and Agenda.

The SEC approved the MSRB proposal to consolidate its extensive interpretive guidance on the fair-practice obligations of municipal securities dealers into three new rules and amendments to an existing rule.The MSRB will codify into new MSRB Rule G-47 the existing requirement under Rule G-17 ("Conduct of Municipal Securities and Municipal Advisory Activities") that municipal securities dealers disclose material information to customers at or prior to the time of the municipal securities trade. The new time-of-trade disclosure rule does not substantively change the current obligations, but