Mum's The Word At California's Civil Rights Department Regarding Fair Investment Practices By Investment Advisers Law (AKA SB 54)

wrote about a bill, SB 54, that would have required institutional investors, securities and real estate brokers, and others to report on the diversity status of "founding teams".  At the time, I criticized the bill as being "so poorly drafted as to...

DFPI Posts Annual B-D/IA Report To The Legislature

The California Department of Financial Protection & Innovation recently posted its 2023 Annual Report to the Legislature regarding its broker-dealer and investment adviser programs. The report's title is a bit of a misnomer as most of the data in...

Nonsensical Bill Requiring Founding Team Diversity Reports Advances

In April, I reported on SB 54 (Skinner), a bill that would have required institutional Investors, securities and real estate brokers, and others to report on the diversity status of "founding teams".  At the time, I criticized the bill as being "so...

California Bill Would Require Some Advisers To Venture Capital Firms To File Diversity Reports, But What About Preemption?

As I discussed in this post from earlier this month, SB 54 would have required institutional investors, securities and real estate brokers, and others to report diversity status of startup founding teams. The bill has since been substantially...

Nearly 700 Reports Financial Abuse of Elders/Dependent Adults Received By DFPI

In 2019, I wrote about a then pending proposal, SB 496 (Moorlach), to add broker-dealers and investment advisers to the category of mandated reporters of known or suspected financial abuse of elders or dependent adults. This legislation was later...

California's Alarmingly Expansive Definition Of "Investment Adviser"

Is someone who predicts a future stock market crash and advises reallocating investments to precious metals or real estate an investment adviser?  A recent complaint filed the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, California and 29 other states takes...

Unlicensed Broker-Dealers And Investment Advisers Face Treble Damages

In Yokell v. Draper, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117427, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley wrote that "California Code of Civil Procedure section 1029.8 provides a private right of action for persons harmed by "[unlicensed persons who cause...

The Brochure Rule And Fund Advisers - This Surely Is Stupid Stuff!

Seven years ago, the Securities and Exchange Commission amended Part 2 of Form ADV to require investment advisers to provide new and prospective clients with a brochure and brochure supplements written in plain English. The SEC's stated purpose was...

Investment Advisers And Broker-Dealers Face Scant Likelihood Of California Examinations

The California Department of Business Oversight recently issued a report on its Broker-Dealer/Investment Adviser Program. This report was required by the Budget Act of 2014. Although short, the report provides some interesting data about...

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