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Category Archives: Securities Laws

What is Securities Law, Why Does it Matter, and What are the Basics of Compliance?

October 6, 2017

You’ve probably heard this term securities law floating around, but you’re a small or medium-sized company. What does it matter to you? Truth is, it matters a lot. A lot of people think of the FCC, investigations, big things on security law, so they think it’s companies like General Electric, IBM, Google, Facebook, other companies that are publicly traded on the stock market. Those are the ones that need to worry about securities law, not smaller companies, but guess what? It’s not so.… Read the rest

Wrong Ways to Take Risks

June 30, 2017

We’re on the entrepreneurial journey together. I own two businesses: The R. Shawn McBride Law Firm and McBride for Business. You take risks, my clients take risks, and I take risks.

I understand risk and have become comfortable with it. I know I may invest time or money in a project and it may not return results. That’s okay. Other projects will have a tremendous upside as I learn, adjust and build. That is part of the business owner’s journey.… Read the rest

What’s an Investment Company in the Very Basics, and Why You Care

May 17, 2017

I was recently corresponding with a client who was throwing around the words “investment company,” and what they were actually forming was a company that was buying an asset. Saying “investment company” is something you want to be very careful about because it has a very specific meaning in the securities regulations under state and federal law. There’s, in fact, an entire act, the 1940 Act, which was enacted about investment companies. Of course, it’s been modified and updated since then, but there’s a whole set of laws about an investment company.… Read the rest

Start with the Right Team: Get a Great Accountant Early

February 9, 2017

R. Shawn McBride recently published an article to the McBride For Business Blog on a topic that might be of interest: Start with the Right Team: Get a Great Accountant Early.

He talks about one of the keys for business success is having the right team.

This posting is intended to be a tool to familiarize readers with some of the issues discussed herein.  This is not meant to be a comprehensive discussion and additional details should be discussed with your attorneys, accountants, consultants, bankers and other business planners who can provide advice for your circumstances. … Read the rest

Keys to Protect Your Business: The Laws of Empowerment To Excel in Your Business

January 4, 2017

R. Shawn McBride recently published an article to the McBride For Business Blog on a topic that might be of interest: Keys to Protect Your Business: The Laws of Empowerment to Excel in your Business.

He examines why it’s critical when putting plans together that there be an element of protection.

You can see the full article here.

This posting is intended to be a tool to familiarize readers with some of the issues discussed herein.  This is not meant to be a comprehensive discussion and additional details should be discussed with your attorneys, accountants, consultants, bankers and other business planners who can provide advice for your circumstances. … Read the rest

Two Lessons from Goldman Sachs’s $36.3 Million Penalty for Unauthorized Use and Disclosure of Confidential Supervisory Information

January 3, 2017

Previously, we discussed the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) order against Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (“Morgan Stanley”) in connection with the company’s failure to safeguard customer information (see the SEC order here).  As we reported earlier, there have been a number of high profile data breaches lately, resulting in big administrative penalties and consent orders against violators.  The Federal Reserve Board’s (“FRB”) order on August 2, 2016 (the “order”), directing The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (“Goldman Sachs”) to pay a $36.3 million civil monetary penalty—significantly bigger the $1 million penalty that Morgan Stanley was ordered to pay in June—for its unauthorized use and disclosure of confidential supervisory information, is the latest such event.… Read the rest

Definition of Accredited Investor To Be Expanded? (Part III)

November 21, 2016

On February 1, 2016, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2187, titled “Fair Investment Opportunities for Professional Experts Act.”[1]  The bill, whose stated purpose is to direct the SEC to revise its regulations regarding the qualifications of natural persons as accredited investors, seeks to expand the definition of accredited investor.  Specifically, the bill proposes to add non-financial measures of sophistication to include the following persons in the pool of accredited investors: (i) any natural person who is currently licensed or registered as a broker or investment adviser by the SEC, FINRA, or any similar self-regulatory organization, or the securities division of a state responsible for licensing or registration of individuals in connection with securities activities; and (ii) anyone the SEC determines, by regulation, to have demonstrable education or job experience to qualify such person as having professional knowledge of a subject related to a particular investment and whose education or job experience is verified by FINRA or any similar self-regulatory organization. … Read the rest

Definition of Accredited Investor To Be Expanded? (Part II)

November 10, 2016

In our last post, we looked at the recent recommendations by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies (the “Committee”) to expand the definition accredited investor.[1]  For those who are familiar with the Committee’s activities, this was not the first time it recommended expanding the definition of accredited investor.  In March 2015, for example, the Committee recommended that any modifications to the definition should have the effect of expanding, not contracting, the pool of accredited investors.… Read the rest

All postings are intended to be planning tools to familiarize readers with some of the high-level issues discussed therein. No posting is intended to be a comprehensive discussion and additional details should be discussed with your transaction planners including attorneys, accountants, consultants, bankers and other business planners who can provide advice for your circumstances. This article should not be treated as legal advice to any person or entity.


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