2010 Year in Review: SEC and SRO Selected Enforcement Cases and Developments Regarding Broker-Dealers
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review 2010 Year in Review: SEC and SRO Selected Enforcement Cases and Developments Regarding Broker-Dealers www.morganlewis.com TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Executive Summary ..................................................................................................... 1 The SEC.............................................................................................................. 1 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act........................... 3 FINRA.................................................................................................................. 4 NYSE Euronext ................................................................................................... 5 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission .............................................................. 6 Personnel Changes and New Specialized Unit Chiefs ........................................ 6 Implementation of Enforcement’s Restructuring.................................................. 9 Enforcement Statistics....................................................................................... 10 Insider Trading, FBI MOU and Operation Broken Trust..................................... 14 Cooperation Initiatives ....................................................................................... 16 SEC Enters Into First Nonprosecution Agreement ............................................ 21 Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.................................................................. 25 SEC OIG Report Concerning Robert Allen Stanford ......................................... 25 SEC – CFTC Investigation Regarding the “Flash Crash” of May 6, 2010.......... 26 SEC and IRS Agreement Relating to the Municipal Bond Market ..................... 27 Cooperation with Foreign Regulators ................................................................ 27 SEC Enforcement Priorities Regarding Broker-Dealers .................................... 28 Enforcement Actions ......................................................................................... 28 Anti-Money Laundering........................................................................... 28 Fraudulent Trading Scheme ................................................................... 29 Insider Trading........................................................................................ 30 Marketing and Sales of Collateralized Debt Obligations ......................... 41 Municipal Bond Actions........................................................................... 44 Net Asset Value ...................................................................................... 47 Ponzi Schemes....................................................................................... 49 Proxy Disclosures ................................................................................... 50 Sales Practices ....................................................................................... 52 Securities Offerings ................................................................................ 54 Short Sales ............................................................................................. 54 Subprime Mortgage Holdings ................................................................. 55 TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) Page Supervision ............................................................................................. 58 Unregistered Offerings............................................................................ 66 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act............................. 68 Landmark Legislation Gives SEC New Enforcement Capability........................ 68 Changes to SEC Enforcement and Market Oversight ....................................... 69 Extension of Liability and Jurisdictional Regulations............................... 69 Enhanced Remedies............................................................................... 71 Securities Whistleblower Incentives and Protections.............................. 72 Regulation of Municipal Securities.......................................................... 77 Additional Procedural Enhancements for Enforcement Actions.............. 78 Financial Industry Regulatory Authority .................................................................. 81 Personnel Changes ........................................................................................... 81 Enforcement Statistics....................................................................................... 81 FINRA Enforcement Priorities............................................................................ 83 Targeted Examination Letters............................................................................ 85 FINRA Assumption of Market Surveillance and Enforcement Functions Previously Conducted by NYSE Regulation ........................................... 86 Access to FINRA Letters of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent and Complaints.............................................................................................. 87 Publication of NASDAQ Exchanges Disciplinary Decisions .............................. 87 Encryption of Certain Information Provided to FINRA ....................................... 87 Cooperation with Foreign Regulators ................................................................ 87 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act......................... 88 FINRA Enforcement Actions.............................................................................. 88 Anti-Money Laundering........................................................................... 88 Auction Rate Securities........................................................................... 93 Branch Office Sales Practice Issues and Interaction with Regulatory Examiners .................................................................................... 95 Credit Default Swaps .............................................................................. 96 Customer Confidential Information ......................................................... 99 Day Trading .......................................................................................... 100 E-mail Retention ................................................................................... 101 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) Page Error Account........................................................................................ 102 Financial Reporting............................................................................... 103 Form U-4 Amendments......................................................................... 104 High Frequency Trading ....................................................................... 106 Market Manipulation ............................................................................. 107 Misappropriation ................................................................................... 108 Mortgage-Backed Securities................................................................. 110 Mutual Fund Operations ....................................................................... 112 Regulation SHO and Short Sales ......................................................... 113 Research Report Disclosures ............................................................... 116 Retail Sales of CMOs, Reverse Convertible Notes and Certificates of Deposit................................................................................... 118 Sales Materials ..................................................................................... 122 Securities Lending ................................................................................ 123 Supervision ........................................................................................... 125 TRACE and OATS Reporting ............................................................... 132 Unregistered Securities......................................................................... 133 Unit Investment Trusts and Closed-End Funds .................................... 137 NYSE Euronext......................................................................................................... 140 iii Executive Summary This Outline highlights selected U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC” or the “Commission”), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) and NYSE Euronext enforcement actions and developments regarding broker-dealers during 2010.* The SEC In 2009, the SEC’s Division of Enforcement began a comprehensive review and reorganization. Over the last year, Enforcement worked on implementing many of the changes to its program that resulted from that review. One of the most far-reaching changes was the creation of five national specialized units within the Enforcement Division. The leaders of those units were announced in January 2010, and the groups have been staffed with attorneys and other experienced personnel throughout the country. The specialized units have identified a number of initiatives and brought significant enforcement actions in their area of expertise. Examples include several insider trading cases involving rings of tippers and traders initiated by the Market Abuse Unit, and the Structured and New Products Unit’s focus on collateralized debt obligations and other complex financial products. Enforcement’s restructuring also included the creation and staffing of two new offices: the Office of the Managing