Botentourt, a bank holding company, previously filed a Form 15 to (i) suspend its reporting obligation under Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act, and (ii) terminate the registration of its common stock under Section 12(g). According to this no-action letter, the division of Corporation Finance will not object to Botetourt Bankshares discontinuing its filing of periodic and current reports. Cross Reference(s): Exchange Act Rule 12h-3; Exchange Act Sections 15(d) and 12(g). View release in full here (links externally to SEC website).

The brother of Bernard was banned from working in the securities industry. Cross Reference(s): Exchange Act Section 15(b)(6); Advisers Act Section 203(f). View litigation release in full here (links externally to SEC website).

Where criminal convictions that had formed the basis of sanctions under the Advisers Act were dismissed, it was appropriate also to dismiss the sanctions under the Advisers Act. Cross Reference(s): Advisers Act Sections 203(a)(6) and 203(f). View litigation release in full here (links externally SEC website).

The SEC brought an interesting insider trading case where the (apparently unsuspecting) tipper was the head of a public company who disclosed nonpublic details of the company to a person with whom he had a "close friendship." According to the complaint, this information was expected to be maintained in confidence "by implicit understanding and express agreement . . . ." [It would be interesting to know to what extent the SEC is going to rely on the implicit understanding, rather than the express agreement.] As to other information, the complaint asserts that the information was "expected to be

The CFTC Division of Market Oversight announced the issuance of temporary no-action relief from CFTC Part 151. This temporary relief is intended to provide sufficient time to transition to fully compliant aggregation for which the relief is time-limited to no later than December 31, 2012. Note that the exemption is NOT self-executing. Firms must notify the CFTC of their intent to utilize the exemption. For a discussion of position limits generally, see the CPO/CTA Guide, Trading Chapter. View press release in full here(links externally to CFTC website). From that page, on the left hand top