The SEC has ordered that the temporary conditional exemption from section 6(l) of the Exchange Act for persons that meet the definition of eligible contract participant is extended until 60 days after publication of the Product Definitions Adopting Release in the Federal Register. (The Product Definitions have been approved by both the CFTC and the SEC but have not been published yet in the Federal Register.) View order in full here (links externally to FDIC website)

The SEC filed a civil fraud action against former Connecticut resident Jerry S. Williams, a stock promoter, and two companies that he controlled, Monk's Den, LLC and First In Awareness, LLC. The Commission charged Williams with running a scalping scheme from which he made over $2.4 million. Scalping is a type of fraud in which the owner of shares of a security recommends that security for investment and then immediately sells it at a profit upon the rise in market price which follows the recommendation. View release in full here (links externally to SEC website).

FINRA has proposed a rule change to establish August 27, 2012 (rather than July 23) as the mandatory implementation date for its rule changes regarding the new FORM CMA (Continuing Membership Application). See NASD Rules 1012 and 1017; see also FINRA Regulatory Notice 12-33. View release in full here (links externally to FINRA website).

The SEC's Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued an Investor Bulletin to inform investors of recent safeguards approved by the SEC to address market volatility in U.S. equity markets. The Bulletin discusses the SEC's new rules relating to circuit breakers and to limit up and limit down mechanisms. For additional information, see the SEC's orders: National Market System Plan Approval Order Market-Wide Circuit Breaker Approval Order View release in full here (links externally to SEC website).

FINRA released its list of disciplinary actions for July 2012. In terms of actions against firms, the greatest number of actions seemed to involve trade reporting issues of various types, including as to TRACE, the Real-Time Transaction Reporting System for municipal securities, and OATS. There were also a number of disciplinary actions relating to AML or OFAC procedures, which is perhaps meaningful in light of the recent disciplinary action against HSBC (see the news of July 17 and 18). View report in full here(links externally to FINRA website).