Enforcement

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s former director of enforcement Andrew Ceresney will rejoin Debevoise & Plimpton in early March after stepping down from his federal role at the beginning of the year, the firm announced in a statement.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is asking a federal court judge to deny former Miami budget director Michael Boudreaux’s motion to vacate a verdict that found him guilty of securities fraud, saying the former official’s arguments are meritless and do not meet the high burden required for such action.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed fraud charges and obtained an emergency asset freeze against a South Carolina businessman who allegedly siphoned funds raised from municipal bond investors that were meant to purchase or renovate senior housing facilities.

The Internal Revenue Service has published a new revenue procedure updating management contract safe harbors to address certain types of compensation, the timing of the payment of compensation, the treatment of land, and the methods of approval of rates.

Dougherty & Co. and its former employee Jeffrey Hill have agreed to $140,000 and $5,000 fines, respectively, to separately settle with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority over charges that Hill recommended and initiated numerous unsuitable trades for two elderly customers.

Ten investment advisory firms have agreed to pay penalties totaling $660,456 to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that they violated the SEC's investment advisor pay-to-play rule.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ordered UBS to hand over $18.2 million for misleading a family of investors in Puerto Rico closed-ended funds, the second highest fine for individual investors against UBS in these cases.

The Internal Revenue Service Whistleblower Office awarded more than $61 million to whistleblowers in fiscal 2016, the agency said Thursday.

Public pension and municipal advisors are among the examination priorities for the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2017, the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations announced Thursday.

Municipal market participants see a slowing of Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service guidance and rules in 2017, but plan to closely watch for tweaks to management contract guidance, final requirements for public approval of private activity bonds and political subdivision rules.