The SEC penalized Morgan Stanley Co. LLC for violating the market access rule when it failed to uphold credit limits for a customer firm with a "rogue trader" who engaged in the fraudulent trading of Apple stock. The SEC found that that the firm did not have the risk management controls necessary to prevent the rogue trader from entering orders that exceeded pre-set trading thresholds. Se e: SEC Order.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (the "Court") reversed the convictions of two portfolio managers central to an investigation of illicit trading at hedge funds and networking firms and dismissed the indictment, as it pertained to the two managers, "with prejudice." In United States v. Newman and Chiasson, the United States of America (the "Government") alleged that analysts at various advisers to hedge funds and investment firms obtained material, nonpublic information from employees of publicly traded technology companies and passed the information to the portfolio

The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs held a hearing, titled "Cybersecurity: Enhancing Coordination to Protect the Financial Sector," which discussed regulatory efforts to address cyber threats and vulnerabilities and coordinate information-sharing among banking industry, regulatory community and financial industry stakeholders. The following witnesses testified at the hearing: Mr. Brian Peretti, Director for the Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Compliance Policy, U.S. Department of the Treasury (written testimony); Dr. Phyllis Schneck, Deputy Under

The NFA ordered NFA member and previously registered CFC retail foreign exchange dealer FXDirectDealer LLC ("FXDD") to pay a fine, and to operate solely as an NFA member introducing broker, for failing to (i) implement an adequate anti-money laundering ("AML") program and (ii) supervise the firm's operations and employees. See: NFA Decision; NFA Complaint. See also: AML Specialty Page (available to Cabinet subscribers only).

FINRA named Joseph M. Mecane as the Floor Member Governor on its Board of Governors. Previously, Mr. Mecane served as Executive Vice President of NYE and Head of U.S. Equities for NYSE at Intercontinental Exchange Group, Inc. FINRA is overseen by a 24-person Board of Governors, with 13 seats held by public governors and 10 by industry governors. Governors are appointed or elected to three-year terms and may not serve more than two consecutive terms. See: FINRA Press Release.