Category:Finance & Banking
Employment Contracts: The History of Non-Compete Agreements and the Future of Garden Leave Provisions
Non-competes are a traditional approach for employers seeking to place a restrictive covenant on an employee post termination or resignation. Recent studies show as high as 39.8 percent of all private sector employers are requiring non-competes, regardless of age or position. These agreements are typically signed by an employee near the date of hire, or over the course of employment, and typically limit the employee from working for or with competitors post-employment; sometimes even placing further restrictions regarding geographical areas or time periods.
Largest Alleged Violation in FEC History – Investigation Blocked, Case Closed
In June, the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) announced that they would not investigate allegations that two of former President Trump’s campaign committees illegally misreported hundreds of millions of dollars in spending. If true, these allegations would constitute the “largest alleged violation in FEC history” according to FEC Commissioner Ellen L. Weintraub. The initial complaint alleged that the committees failed to disclose payments to friends and family members of the former President, such as Lara Trump, who is Trump’s daughter-in-law, and Kimberly Guilfoyle – Donald Trump Jr.’s fiancé. In it’s decision, the FEC’s Republican Commissioners voted not to investigate the matter, which is therefore no longer being pursued. This situation illustrates how the FEC has consistently failed to investigate the Trump reelection campaign for alleged violations of campaign finance law.
Preventing the Engine of Doom: A Lesson on Financial Crisis
The Great Financial Crisis of 2008 was a story of greed. In markets where incentives lead to bad behavior, disparately affecting a great deal of society, we rely on regulatory oversight. A domino effect of decisions spanning decades resulted in a global economic disaster, but it could have been prevented with effective regulators.
OFAC Publishes New Guidelines Regarding the Russia Investment Ban
On June 6, 2022, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) released new and revised guidelines regarding the Russian investment ban established by Executive Orders 14071, 14066, and 14068. As a result of the executive orders, sanctions can be imposed on individuals or entities determined to have operated in the accounting, trust and corporate formation services, or management consulting sectors of the Russian Federation economy. OFAC has consistently been updating and revising the guidelines to keep the guidelines as clear and consistent as possible, in an attempt to keep Americans doing business in Russia out of legal trouble.
SEC Looks to Modernize the Fund Names Rule
On May 25th, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a proposal to the Investment Company Act of 1940 Rule 35d-1 which expands on a rule that mostly regulates fund names. The SEC has decided to take these measures to combat “greenwashing”; a marketing ploy used by fund investors to draw in socially conscious investors for investments that are anything but sustainable. The SEC believes investors lack comparable, consistent, reliable information on ESG products. This article will discuss these new proposals and what they mean for important stakeholders.
Big-Name Company Exodus in Illinois: How Companies Leaving Illinois Affects the State and Its Future Outlook
Several big-name companies, corporations with recognizable names, headquartered in Illinois are exiting the state in mass numbers for a variety of reasons. This blog discusses the impacts and outlook for Illinois as this corporation exodus affects the state’s revenue streams. It also looks at how lawmakers, in-house lawyers, and internal compliance teams can keep companies in Illinois.
Earlier this summer, Ken Griffin, CEO of Chicago’s largest hedge fund, Citadel, announced that it is moving the firm’s headquarters to Miami. This news follows the departure of several other companies that were headquartered in Chicago like Boeing, Caterpillar, and grocery stores like Aldi.
Is Stablecoin Really Stable?
On June 22nd, ten-year-old Yuna was reported missing by her teachers. Just one week later, the police discovered a sedan in the southernmost coast of South Korea, two hours away from Yuna’s home. The three bodies recovered belonged to Yuna and her parents, both in their thirties. The police suspected suicide. Among the parent’s last online searches included “LUNA,” “sleeping pills,” and “how to commit suicide.” Evidence further suggested that Yuna’s parents were unemployed, invested their lives savings into the cryptocurrency market, and struggled from financial debt of $100,000.
Online Daily Fantasy Sports – Gambling or Derivatives Trading?
Patrick Gilsenan Senior Editor Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Weekend JD Dec. 2022 The question of why it’d be legal to gamble in the stock market but not the Super Bowl has been made moot in recent years. In the wake of recent Supreme Court decisions and state legalization, sports betting is widespread and …
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Musk, Twitter, and Poison Pills
Although the business world and the public at large have been fascinated by the words and actions of Elon Musk for several years, that fascination has reached new heights over the past several weeks. The business world recently learned that Musk has spent his time in recent weeks criticizing Twitter, buying a large stake in the company, accepting a seat on Twitter’s board, rejecting the seat on Twitter’s board, and then offering to buy Twitter and take the company private. Twitter responded to this offer by implementing a so-called “poison pill.”
Stablecoins III: The Stablecoin TRUST Act of 2022
On Wednesday, April 6, 2022, Senator Pat Toomey of Virginia released a discussion draft of the Stablecoin Transparency of Reserves and Uniform Safe Transactions Act of 2022, also known as the Stablecoin TRUST Act (“the TRUST Act”). This new legislation, introduced in the United States Senate, aims to create a three-pronged regulatory framework for the issuers of stablecoins in the United States. Like similar bills on the topic of stablecoin, such as the Stablecoin Innovation and Protection Act of 2022, the bill is short at only fourteen pages long. Where the bills differ is immediately noted in the more robust definitions section of the TRUST Act which lays out a six-part definition of “payment stablecoins” that covers the design intent of a stablecoin, who can issue a stablecoin, whether the holder can inherently earn interest, and where the stablecoin transactions are recorded.