Client Alerts & Publications

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted 3 to 1 to adopt highly anticipated new and amended rules, forms and guidance relating to registered investment advisers’ and broker-dealers’ conduct and interactions with retail customers.  

In a case of particular significance to parties that enter into forward contracts as means of hedging the future price of commodities used in their business, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio has found that a “forward contract merchant” must be in the business of entering into forward contracts in order to generate a profit, not merely as a hedge.

On April 25, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York reversed a bankruptcy court’s finding that a bank’s imposition of a freeze on a married couple’s bank account upon the filing of their Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition, pending instructions from the Chapter 7 trustee, violated the automatic stay.

The 2019 update of Chapman's book, "The Regulation of Marketplace Lending: A Summary of the Principal Issues," addresses the latest true lender developments, the OCC charter for fintech companies, CFPB changes and how they may affect regulatory priorities and enforcement, the roles of banks in marketplace lending, and servicing and collection issues.

In a recent decision, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York held that liquidated damages provisions calculating damages based upon stipulated loss value schedules designed to provide the lessor/owner participant with a return on investment of 4% (and not as a proxy for actual damages) violated New York public policy and were unenforceable as penalties.

Having failed in attempts to accelerate the termination of a CDO, an investor group holding senior notes filed an involuntary petition against an issuer to liquidate the CDO before its stated maturity under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

In a decision that upends the expectations of the municipal bond market, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has ruled that the “special revenue” provisions of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code do not compel the payment of debt service on certain municipal bonds during the pendency of a bankruptcy proceeding.

On March 28, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged the former controller of the College of New Rochelle, a New York-based not-for-profit college, with violating, and aiding and abetting violations of, the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws.

Pension shortfalls. Crumbling infrastructure. Wage pressures. These are only a few of the budgetary pressures facing state and local governments. It’s no surprise that, with so many demands on limited tax dollars, funds needed to address social problems are being diverted.

Fund sponsors are increasingly considering two similar types of registered closed-end investment companies known as “interval funds” and “tender offer funds” as an attractive alternative to open-end mutual funds, ETFs and traditional closed-end funds.

On March 20, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted to propose amendments to existing rules and forms that, if adopted, would modify the registration, communication, offering and reporting processes applicable to registered closed-end investment companies and business development companies regulated under the Investment Company Act.