The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC"), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("FRB"), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC") seek comment on a notice of proposed rulemaking ("NPR") to strengthen the leverage ratio standards for the largest, most systemically significant U.S. banking organizations. The NPR was published in the Federal Register on August 20, 2013, with a 60-day comment period. See: OCC News Release; 78 FR 51101. See also: FRB, FDIC and OCC Issue Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the Supplementary Leverage Ratio for G-SIBs (July 9

FINRA issued an Investor Alert titled "Marijuana Stock Scams" to help investors spot and avoid deceptive marijuana-related investments. The alert warned investors about potential frauds involving "pump and dump" scams, in which con artists try to entice investors with optimistic and potentially misleading information to create demand for shares of small, thinly traded companies that have little or no history of financial success. See: "Marijuana Stock Scam"; FINRA Press Release.

The staffs of the SEC, FINRA, and CFTC's issued a joint advisory on business continuity and disaster recovery planning. The three regulators published their joint observations on how to best to improve response time and reduce recovery time after significant large-scale events. Additionally, the NFA required that its members fill out a questionnaire to help better tailor and customize recovery plans. See: Joint Continuity Planning; NFA Questionnaire. See also: SEC Press Release; CFTC Press Release; FINRA Press Release.

The SEC announced that hedge fund adviser, Philip Falcone, and his advisory firm, Harbinger Capital Partners, agreed to a settlement requiring them to pay over $18 million and admit wrongdoing. Among the charges to which Falcone accepted guilt were (i) improper personal dealings with the fund, (ii) favoring certain fund investors over others, and (iii) conducting a short squeeze in bonds. Falcone agreed to be barred from the securities industry for at least five years. The SEC had filed enforcement actions in June 2012 alleging, among other allegations, that Falcone improperly used $113

The Managed Funds Association ("MFA") and the Alternative Investment Management Association ("AIMA") submitted joint comments to the SEC in response to the SEC's proposed rules on cross-border security-based swap activities. The letter begins by complimenting the SEC on the approach that it is taking with regard to swaps rulemaking - e.g., adopting its rules as a whole, rather than in part - and for working with other regulators. The letter urges harmonization of regulation between the various regulators, including the CFTC and the SEC. More substantively, the MFA and the AIMA argue generally