Former Louisiana deputy sheriff and Russian resident Steven Seagal agreed to a Cease and Desist (“C&D”) Order by the SEC, finding violations of the non-touting provisions of Securities Act § 17(b) and imposing civil penalties for acting as a Twitter and Facebook “brand ambassador” for cryptocurrency Bitcoiin2Gen without disclosing it was a paid endorsement.
The Order required Seagal to forego such opportunities for any issuer for three years, disgorge his endorsement fees and pay a civil penalty of a like amount over the coming year.
In 2017, the SEC’s Office of ...
This is Part 3 of a seven-part series of posts looking at some broad legal issues affecting crypto-currencies.
A. Regulatory Catch-Up.
As is often true of emerging technologies, the crypto-rush of the last few years has left regulators of all types struggling to catch up. The resulting confusion increases entrepreneurial and transactional risks, and also increases fraud risks (about the only thing all regulators agree about).
Various United States federal regulators have expressed interest in crypto-currencies, and claimed some jurisdiction over,
- The Securities and Exchange ...
Mick Mulvaney's tenure as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB" or "the Bureau"), a position he has held since November of 2017, is coming to an end. It is anticipated that President Trump's nominee, Kathleen Kraninger, will take over as the Bureau's director once confirmed by the Senate. In a speech to the Women in Housing and Finance group on May 29, 2018, Mulvaney announced that the Bureau is working closely with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to implement a "regulatory sandbox" that will enable financial technology ("FinTech") firms to ...