Photo of Theodore Edwards

Theodore counsels registered funds, private funds, their managers and sponsors in connection with organizational, offering, transactional, and compliance matters. He regularly works with a variety of different fund structures, including open-end and closed-end funds, private equity and hedge funds. Theodore also counsels investment advisers on various matters, particularly with respect to registration and disclosure issues. He has significant experience with investment company status issues under the Investment Company Act of 1940.

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 July 22, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) declared nine registration statements effective under the Securities Act of 1933 for spot Ether ETFs, clearing the way for the ETFs to begin trading on July 23. Spot Ether ETFs are exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that invest directly in Ether, a digital asset that supports the

On February 9, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced settlements with 16 firms relating to record-keeping violations stemming from off-channel communications totaling $81 million. The 16 firms were five broker-dealers (BD firms), seven dually registered broker-dealers and investment advisers, and four affiliated investment advisers (IA firms). Off-channel communications are unapproved methods of communication used for business-related 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).