SEC Sanctions RIA for Charging Excessive Advisory Fees

On August 25, 2023, the SEC accused a dually registered investment adviser/broker-dealer with overcharging thousands of clients. The firm overcharged approximately 10,945 investment advisory accounts by more than $26.8 million in advisory fees. The firm agreed to pay...

Webinar – Prohibited Exemption Training for Investment Advice Fiduciaries

On December 18, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published its final prohibited transaction exemption addressing investment advice fiduciaries to Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). RIA...

SEC Enforcement Actions Signal Continued Scrutiny of 12b-1 Fees, Revenue Sharing Arrangements, and Wrap Fee Programs

In recent weeks, the SEC has continued to bring enforcement actions against Registered Investment Advisers (RIAs) that breached their fiduciary duty to advisory clients. These enforcement actions demonstrate the SEC’s concerns about RIAs that breach their fiduciary...

SEC Enforcement Actions Against Firms with Weak Cyber Policies

Rule 30(a) of Regulation S-P, better known as the Safeguards Rule, requires firms to adopt written policies and procedures to address the administrative, technical, and physical safeguards that are necessary to protect customer records and information. On August 30,...