On June 18, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) issued a more than 200-page concept release about ways to simplify, improve and harmonize exempt offerings, including private placements, Regulation Crowdfunding and others. The SEC raises numerous issues for comment, such as, for example, whether and how the “accredited investor” definition should be changed,… Read more »
Monthly Archives: June 2019
UK High Court Finds That Parent Can Assume Liabilities of Subsidiary
In a decision dated April 10, 2019, Vedanta Resources PLC et al. v. Lungowe et al., the UK high court determined, in a decision on which the case did not depend, that a parent company can indeed assume liabilities of a subsidiary if the parent assumes a duty of care for the acts of the… Read more »
SEC Adopts New Broker-Dealer Rules on Standard of Behavior
On June 5, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) adopted new rules, including: (i) Regulation Best Interest, raising the requirement for broker-dealers recommending securities to retail clients from determining that the securities are suitable to acting in the best interests of clients, and requiring certain specified disclosure, care in carrying out transactions, written… Read more »
SEC Claims ICO Is Unregistered Securities Offering
On June 4, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) filed a claim in the District Court for the Southern District of New York alleging that the Initial Coin Offering (the “ICO”) of Kik Interactive Inc. (“Kik”) was an illegal unregistered securities offering. From May 2017 to September 2017, Kik raised about $100 million through… Read more »
Federal Court in New York Finds in Interim Decision Against OCC FinTech Charters
In an order dated May 2, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found that certain claims brought by the N.Y. Department of Financial Services (the “DFS”) that the Office of the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency (the “OCC”) does not have the authority to issue charters to non-depositary fintech… Read more »
European Union’s AIFMD Amended with New Rules on “Pre-Marketing” and “Reverse Solicitation”
On April 6, 2019, the European Parliament approved a new Directive and a new Regulation, each on Cross-Border Distribution of Collective Investment Undertakings (respectively, the “CBDF Directive” and the “CBDF Regulation”; together, the “CBDF Legislation”). Among other things, the CBDF Legislation amends the Alternative Investment Funds Directive (the “AIFMD”) to make clear that to be… Read more »
Supreme Court Finds Bankrupt Licensor of Cannot Rescind Trademark
On May 20, 2019, the Supreme Court, in an 8-1 decision authored by Justice Elena Kagan, decided that a trademark holder who becomes bankrupt can reject, but not rescind, a license contract. In Mission Product Holdings, Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC, 587 U.S. ___, No. 17-1657, Slip op. (May 20, 2019), Kagan wrote that Section 365… Read more »