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Anonymous ID: ae12c7 Dec. 23, 2020, 9:29 a.m. No.12147004   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7013 >>7091 >>7350 >>7485

SEC Chief of Staff Sean Memon Announces Plans to Conclude Tenure

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2020-339

Washington D.C., Dec. 23, 2020 —

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Sean Memon will conclude his tenure as the agency's Chief of Staff in January 2021.

 

Mr. Memon joined the SEC as Deputy Chief of Staff in May 2017 and was named Chief of Staff in June 2019. As Chief of Staff, Mr. Memon served as principal advisor to Chairman Clayton on legal, policy and management matters affecting each aspect of the agency's mission, including rulemaking, enforcement, examinations and internal agency operations. Often representing the SEC in interagency policy initiatives, Mr. Memon worked closely with cross-divisional teams within the SEC and with other federal agencies and international bodies, including the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the CFTC, the FDIC, and the OCC as well as the Financial Stability Oversight Council and Financial Stability Board. Mr. Memon played a key role in the SEC's efforts to ensure continued orderly market operations in response to the COVID-19-related economic stresses in 2020.

 

"Applying his remarkably broad and deep knowledge of the global financial system and our domestic regulatory framework, Sean has been an indispensable asset to me and the Commission," said SEC Chairman Jay Clayton. "Sean deftly handles the most important and complex issues facing the Commission, identifying effective, consensus-based solutions using his unique combination of technical expertise, commitment to mission and inclusive approach to leadership. It has been my great pleasure to serve alongside Sean and witness firsthand the many lasting contributions he has made to our markets and our investors."

 

"It has been the honor of my professional career to manage the affairs of the Commission under Chairman Clayton," said Mr. Memon. "This agency is a special place, principally because of the unwavering, collective commitment of its 4,500 talented women and men to our markets and investors. I will always be grateful to Chairman Clayton and his fellow Commissioners for this opportunity, as well as to the SEC's expert staff in our home office and eleven regional offices for their encouragement and dedication to our mission. I am proud to have been their colleague."

 

Modernizing the Securities Regulatory Framework

 

During Mr. Memon's time working with Chairman Clayton, the SEC advanced more than 70 final rules across its policy divisions and offices, representing a historically productive rulemaking period for the agency. These rules and other initiatives, many of which modernized rule sets that had not been substantively updated in decades, included:

https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2020-339

Anonymous ID: ae12c7 Dec. 23, 2020, 9:30 a.m. No.12147013   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7091 >>7350 >>7485

>>12147004

SEC Issues Statement and Requests Comment Regarding the Custody of Digital Asset Securities by Special Purpose Broker-Dealers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2020-340

Washington D.C., Dec. 23, 2020 —

The Securities and Exchange Commission today issued a statement and request for comment regarding the custody of digital asset securities by broker-dealers in order to encourage innovation around the application of Securities Exchange Act Rule 15c3-3 to digital asset securities.

 

The statement sets forth the Commission's position that, for a period of five years, a broker-dealer operating under the circumstances set forth in the statement will not be subject to a Commission enforcement action on the basis that the broker-dealer deems itself to have obtained and maintained physical possession or control of customer fully paid and excess margin digital asset securities for the purposes of paragraph (b)(1) of Rule 15c3-3. These circumstances, among other things, include that the broker-dealer limits its business to digital asset securities, establishes and implements policies and procedures reasonably designed to mitigate the risks associated with conducting a business in digital asset securities, and provides customers with certain disclosures regarding the risks of engaging in transactions involving digital asset securities.

 

In addition, the Commission is requesting comment to provide the Commission and its staff with an opportunity to gain additional insight into the evolving standards and best practices with respect to custody of digital asset securities. Such insights will serve to inform any potential future Commission action in this space.

 

The Commission statement and request for comment are published on the Commission’s website and will become effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. The Commission welcomes engagement from interested parties on these issues.

https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2020-340

Anonymous ID: ae12c7 Dec. 23, 2020, 9:51 a.m. No.12147221   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7265 >>7350 >>7485

>>12147091

SEC Charges Ripple and Two Executives with Conducting $1.3 Billion Unregistered Securities Offering

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2020-338

Washington D.C., Dec. 22, 2020 —

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that it has filed an action against Ripple Labs Inc. and two of its executives, who are also significant security holders, alleging that they raised over $1.3 billion through an unregistered, ongoing digital asset securities offering.

 

According to the SEC's complaint, Ripple; Christian Larsen, the company's co-founder, executive chairman of its board, and former CEO; and Bradley Garlinghouse, the company's current CEO, raised capital to finance the company's business. The complaint alleges that Ripple raised funds, beginning in 2013, through the sale of digital assets known as XRP in an unregistered securities offering to investors in the U.S. and worldwide. Ripple also allegedly distributed billions of XRP in exchange for non-cash consideration, such as labor and market-making services. According to the complaint, in addition to structuring and promoting the XRP sales used to finance the company's business, Larsen and Garlinghouse also effected personal unregistered sales of XRP totaling approximately $600 million. The complaint alleges that the defendants failed to register their offers and sales of XRP or satisfy any exemption from registration, in violation of the registration provisions of the federal securities laws.

 

"Issuers seeking the benefits of a public offering, including access to retail investors, broad distribution and a secondary trading market, must comply with the federal securities laws that require registration of offerings unless an exemption from registration applies," said Stephanie Avakian, Director of the SEC's Enforcement Division. "We allege that Ripple, Larsen, and Garlinghouse failed to register their ongoing offer and sale of billions of XRP to retail investors, which deprived potential purchasers of adequate disclosures about XRP and Ripple's business and other important long-standing protections that are fundamental to our robust public market system."

 

"The registration requirements are designed to ensure that potential investors – including, importantly, retail investors – receive important information about an issuer's business operations and financial condition," said Marc P. Berger, Deputy Director of the SEC's Enforcement Division. "Here, we allege that Ripple and its executives failed over a period of years to satisfy these core investor protection provisions, and as a result investors lacked information to which they were entitled."

 

The SEC's complaint, filed today in federal district court in Manhattan, charges defendants with violating the registration provisions of the Securities Act of 1933, and seeks injunctive relief, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, and civil penalties.

 

The SEC's investigation was conducted by Daphna A. Waxman, Jon A. Daniels, and John O. Enright of the SEC's Cyber Unit. The case is being supervised by Kristina Littman, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division's Cyber Unit. The SEC's litigation will be conducted by Jorge G. Tenreiro, Dugan Bliss, Ms. Waxman, and Mr. Daniels, and supervised by Preethi Krishnamurthy.

https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2020-338