On September 4, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an order against three investment adviser firms for violating the whistleblower protections of Rule 21F-17(a) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. This rule prohibits any person from taking action to impede an individual from communicating directly with the SEC about possible securities law violations, including enforcing or threatening to enforce a confidentiality agreement with respect to such communications.
On May 3, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted significant amendments to Form PF, the confidential reporting form for certain SEC-registered investment advisers to private funds.[1] The final amendments will require (1) new “quarterly event” reporting for all private equity fund advisers (PE Fund Advisers, defined as investment advisers having at least $150 million in private equity fund assets under management) regarding certain events; (2) expanded reporting for “large private equity fund advisers” (Large PE Fund Advisers, defined as investment advisers having at least $2 billion in private equity fund assets under management); and (3) new “current” reporting for “large hedge fund advisers” (Large HF Advisers, defined as investment adviser having at least $1.5 billion in hedge fund assets under management).