The SEC announced fraud charges against a Spokane Valley, WA, company and its owner for misleading investors with claims of raising billions of dollars of investment capital under the JOBS Act and investing it exclusively in American businesses. According to the SEC's complaint filed in federal court in Spokane, Daniel F. Peterson and his company, USA Real Estate Fund 1, sold common stock in USA Real Estate Fund from November 2010 to June 2012 to more than 20 investors in Washington and at least five other states. In the e-mails and periodic e-newsletters which he used to solicit USA Real

Nineteen Senate Democrats led by Senator Carl Levin have filed an amicus brief asking the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to overturn a federal district court decision that vacated the CFTC's position limit rules issued under Dodd-Frank, ISDA v. CFTC, 887 F. Supp. 2d 259 (D.D.C. Sep. 28, 2012) . The Senate Democrats' brief argues that Congress did not intend to require the CFTC to make a necessity finding before implementing position limits, but rather to promulgate such limits within the tight deadlines specified in the statute. Their argument supports the notion

Sen. Carl Levin, Chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, filed a letter yesterday urging the CFTC to apply U.S. derivatives safeguards to London and other non-U.S. offices of U.S. financial firms. The key paragraph of Senator Levin's letter is as follows: In particular, this letter recommends: (1) applying derivative safeguards to U.S. financial institutions and their foreign branches and agencies on an entity-wide basis; (2) applying the same derivative safeguards to foreign affiliates and subsidiaries that are under common control with a U.S. financial institution; (3)

The Loan Syndications and Trading Association ("LSTA") and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association ("SIFMA") have submitted a joint letter to the U.S. Treasury Department and the IRS asking that certain technical corrections be made to the definition of "limited life debt investment entity" in the final regulations issued under FATCA. The final regulations provided transitional relief for certain securitization vehicles, including issuers of collateralized loan obligations ("CLOs"), which are labeled "limited life debt investment vehicles" ("LLDIEs") treating such vehicles as

The Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee announced that the Committee cannot legally accept testimony from CFPB Director Richard Cordray with respect to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's ("CFPB") semi-annual report until he is validly appointed as the bureau's director. To date, the Senate has not confirmed any nominee to be the CFPB Director. While President Obama named Cordray to the position by recess appointment on January 4, 2012, a federal appeals court ruling on January 25, 2013 found that a similar process used to name individuals to the National Labor Relations