Chief Legal Architect and a co-founder of Caffrey.AI
Steven Lofchie is the Chief Legal Architect and a co-founder of Caffrey.AI, an AI platform built for law firms, banks, and the financial regulatory industry. He is also a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, where he advises financial institutions on securities laws, the Commodity Exchange Act, and broker-dealer regulation. Ranked by Chambers USA every year since 2007, he is the author of “Lofchie’s Guide to Broker-Dealer Regulation,” long considered the leading treatise on the subject.
Recent Articles & Comments
Commissioner Lee has been a persistent critic of the SEC's declining to mandate disclosure, in a standardized form, as to climate change risks.
One way for her to strengthen her position would be to propose very specific suggestions as to what such standardized disclosure would look like for different types of issuers (e.g., for energy, technology, manufacturing, entertainment). There are undoubtedly groups and individuals who would assist in proposing such a standardized model.
…The divided SEC vote reflects the sharp philosophical divide between the Commissioners. The three Republican Commissioners, who supported the rule changes, were primarily motivated by the belief that expanding the categories of persons who are permitted to invest in private placements would facilitate capital raising by small businesses, particularly by very small businesses. Conversely, the two Democratic Commissioners, who dissented, were primarily concerned that failing to raise wealth…
The SEC's approval of this offering does nothing to resolve any legal uncertainty as to the regulatory treatment of digital assets.
The registration statement asserts that the instruments being offered are securities and does not suggest that there is any material likelihood that they will be transformed into a non-security. The registrant concedes that there are already numerous other platforms that offer trading in cryptocurrencies. Likewise, there are many other broker-dealers that…
CAT raises considerable cybersecurity risks that far exceed any regulatory value of the project. (See, e.g., .) At a time when the United States is highlighting the cyber risks posed by a video streaming service used by teenagers, the SEC should be giving a good bit more concern to whether there is any material reason to order the aggregation of so much economic data. While reducing the amount of such data is a good ameliorative step, many basic questions remain: (i) is this exercise worth…