The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) recently released its annual list of top investor threats. NASAA consists of 67 state, provincial, and territorial securities administrators in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Canada, and Mexico.
Surprisingly, investment advisers are now on the list.
NASAA cites the Madoff scandal as an example of what can go wrong. “The Bernie Madoff case opened a number of eyes and ears to the problems that could exist undetected in an investment advisory firm,” NASAA said. NASAA also cited that state enforcement actions against advisers are on the rise, with the number of cases filed against investment adviser firms nearly doubling in 2011.
Based on a high-profile scandal and an invigorated state regulator emboldened by a new task, investment advisers are now lumped in with notorious investment traps like oil and gas drilling schemes and gold scams. We are confident that the pendulum will swing the other way in due course as it always does.
Eckerle Law offers a highest-quality and cost-effective alternative to the traditional law firm model for a wide variety of transactional and regulatory matters serving all your business law needs. Our experienced attorneys also provide a full range of compliance services for investment advisers, offering compliance tools that are tailored to fit the ever changing regulatory landscape as well as your business needs.
If your company would like to strengthen its business practices, please contact us today so we can leverage our experience to create real-life business and legal solutions to help your business thrive.