The SEC Cross-Border Working Group (which focuses on non-U.S. companies that issue securities in the United States) charged China MediaExpress and CEO Zheng Cheng for falsely reporting significant increases in business operations, financial conditions, and profits immediately upon becoming a publicly traded company through a reverse merger. According to the complaint, after China MediaExpress materially misrepresented the company's financial condition, its stock price tripled to more than $20 a share. The SEC complaint seeks financial penalties, permanent injunctions, disgorgement, and an

The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada ("IIROC") and the International Organization of Securities Commissions ("IOSCO") has announced the fifth joint investor education conference in Toronto, Canada. Global investor education leaders will gather on Thursday for a two-day conference to look at changing investor behavior across life stages and discuss financial literacy improvement. See: Joint Press Release.

The Alternative Investment Management Association's released the second quarterly report for 2013, outlining the latest regulatory developments for implementing Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive, including key issues for non-EU managers and firm preparedness. In addition, the Report addresses implementation of the final FATCA regulations. See: AIMA Journal, Q 2013.

In a speech at the 2013 Insured Retirement Institute Government, Legal Regulatory Conference, SEC Director of Investment Management Norm Champ discussed (a) the Division of Investment Management's new Risk and Examinations Office ("REO"), (b) the SEC's internal communications and (c) issuer's disclosures to investors, particularly focusing on prospectus disclosure for insurance products. According to Director Champ, the Risk and Examinations Office (i) maintains an industry monitoring program focusing on financial analysis of the investment management industry, including monitoring various

The Treasury's Office of Financial Research, Chairman Matthew Reed, released material focusing on the benefits of legal entity identifiers ("LEIs") to financial market participants and government regulators worldwide. LEIs are expected to be adopted by all legal entities engaged in financial market transactions globally, and are expected to be valuable in regulatory reporting. The Treasury materials focus on certain LEI basics, explaining that an LEI is a 20-digit, alphanumeric code that connects to business information. This code, which conforms to specifications developed by the