With the approach of a planned referendum on the future of Crimea on March 16, the United States Congress has moved to increase pressure on Russia and its supporters in Ukraine through a combination of threatened sanctions and promised support for Ukraine's new government. First, on March 6, the House passed a bill providing $1 billion in loan guarantees to aid the new government of Ukraine and support the country's financial stability (see linked H.R. 4152). Next, in a resolution passed with a strong bipartisan majority on March 11, the House condemned the violation of Ukrainian sovereignty

The Government of the British Virgin Islands ("BVI") announced that, on March 6, 2014, it concluded negotiations with the United States and initialed the final text of an Intergovernmental Agreement ("IGA") with respect to FATCA. The IGA is a Model 1B Form IGA (nonreciprocal), that will require BVI financial institutions required to comply with FATCA to provide certain information with respect to U.S. account holders to the BVI International Tax Authority, which will automatically exchange such information with the United States. According to the BVI, the IGA provides for various exceptions

The CFTC announced that a public roundtable is scheduled for March 18, 2014, to discuss risk management practices by CPOs. The roundtable will cover the following issues: risk management procedures in the operation of various types of commodity pools, including registered investment companies, public commodity pools, private funds, and funds of funds; and risk management controls relating to investment risk, operational risk, and compliance or regulatory risk. See: CFTC Meeting Announcement and Agenda.

The SEC charged top executives at AgFeed Industries with conducting an accounting fraud in which they repeatedly reported fake revenues from their China operations in order to meet financial targets and prop up the stock price. The SEC found that AgFeed Industries, a China-based company that publicly traded in the U.S. before merging with a U.S. company in September 2010, used a variety of methods to inflate revenue from 2008 to 2011, including fake invoices for the sale of feed and the purported sale of hogs that didn't exist. The SEC alleged that AgFeed later tried to cover up its actions by

The attached videotape shows certain highlights of the House Subcommittee hearing Regulation NMS.