INSIDE COMPLIANCE – Page 12 – Loyola University Chicago School of Law

The Financial Services Industry and Its Regulatory Landscape: 2021

February 24, 2022Finance & Banking

Every year, hundreds of financial advisors and brokers across the country are convicted of a host of bad acts, which include conducting Ponzi schemes, misappropriating client funds and forging customer signatures. 2021 was no exception. Here are ten recent examples of how the legal system as well as regulators in the financial services industry, respond to allegations of fraud, misappropriation, improper hiring practices, and criminal activity.

criminalbroker-dealerCFPBJournal of Regulatory ComplianceFINRAfraudSEC

Lifting Mask Mandates: How Districts, Parents, and Students May Struggle to Comply

February 23, 2022Uncategorized

On Friday February 4, 2022, a judge in Sangamon County, Illinois issued a ruling that prohibited mask mandates for school districts across the state. The ruling followed a lawsuit filed by parents from Peoria-area schools against 140 school districts, the governor, the Illinois State Board of Education superintendent, and the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. The lawsuit challenged mask mandates and other COVID-19 procedures implemented by Governor J.B Pritzker as COVID-19 grew rampant. The ruling exposes the difficulties in implementing and complying with COVID-19 safety measures as schools return back to in-person learning.

Education#COVID19mask mandate

Nurse for Hire Services, the Next Uber?

February 22, 2022Uncategorized

The pandemic overloaded hospitals with increased patient volume, and after almost two years of battling COVID-19, health care worker burnout is at an all-time high. As a result of burnout, the healthcare industry is suffering from worker shortages, especially among nurses. Nursing shortages are straining hospital profitability, care delivery, and efficiency. Competition for labor will likely continue even after the pandemic. The healthcare labor shortage has attracted significant interest from venture capital. Venture capitalists are pouring millions into new healthcare worker staffing platforms. This week, a proposed measure was filed with the California attorney general’s office that could be on the ballot for the state’s voters this fall. The proposal seeks to classify certain healthcare workers as independent contractors, so that workers can find work online or through apps. The proposal to include health care in the gig economy presents the question of whether nurse staffing platforms will be the next Uber.

EmploymentLabor and EmploymentHealthcare Industryprivate equityRegulation

Expanding Generic Approval Benefits Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Patients

February 21, 2022Uncategorized

Prescription drug consumers are often left frustrated when confronted with limited generic versions, if any are available, and must resort to paying out-of-pocket for their prescriptions. This is due in part to how the FDA evaluates and approves new drug products prior to market entry. Applications for FDA approval of a drug product reach the FDA by pathways established under the federal Food Drug & Cosmetics Act (FDCA).

Journal of Regulatory Compliance

Stablecoins: Tying Cryptocurrencies to Other Assets

February 19, 2022Finance & Banking

Cryptocurrency has an air of mystery about it. It seemingly burst onto the scene a decade ago, and while some of the stories about it may seem outlandish, many of them are true. The first known Bitcoin purchase was for two pizzas and prices can fluctuate wildly based off of tweets. With the origins of such a thing being the subject of internet humor and its value being so volatile, what level of attention and care is due to it?

cryptocurrency regulationCryptocurrencycryptoethereumetherDepartment of the TreasuryBitcoinIRSfinancetaxtetherstablecoinsstablecoinSEC

2022: U.S. Privacy Chaos, Continued?

February 17, 2022Uncategorized

Conversation surrounding the hodgepodge of state data privacy legislation in the U.S. has long been a subject of frustration within the U.S. and abroad. 2021 saw a drastic uptick in awareness and a need for meaningful comprehensive consumer privacy laws. With both data privacy and cybersecurity repeatedly making front page news over the last year, and even becoming high priority within the Biden Administration, it has become one of the few issues on which people across the political spectrum can agree. But will 2022 be the year that comprehensive federal privacy legislation becomes a reality? Don’t count on it.

Congressdata privacydata privacy lawsJournal of Regulatory ComplianceFTCfederal data privacy lawsPrivacy & Securityprivacy

The ATF Has Become Too Weak to Do its Job

February 16, 2022Uncategorized

On January 19, 2022, a searchable database of inspection reports from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) became publicly accessible. The ATF carries out firearms compliance inspections to ensure that federal firearms licensees (FFLs) are complying with federal gun control regulations, as well as local laws. Brady, the organization responsible for compiling the inspection database, reports that even when FFLs have violated regulations, the ATF only rarely revokes their licenses.

complianceenforcementatfJournal of Regulatory Compliancefirearm regulationguncontrolGovernment OversightRegulation

Flawed Repatriation Legislation Receives Long Overdue Reform

February 15, 2022Uncategorized

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was passed on November 16, 1990, to protect the rights of indigenous descendants, Indian tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations to indigenous human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony. Thirty-one years later, the federal government is finally taking steps to improve the outdated and flawed legislation. But is it really enough to fix the problem, or is it just a Band-Aid on a broken system?

NAGPRAIndigenous JusticeRegulation

NATO Membership and the Rising Tensions Between Ukraine and Russia

February 11, 2022Uncategorized

Russia has recently been assembling their troops along their shared border with Ukraine in what is seemingly amounting to a planned invasion of the country. While Ukraine is warning that Russia is attempting to destabilize and invade the country, Russia denies any potential plans to attack and insists that NATO support for Ukraine is a threat on Russia’s border. As the world watches in suspense, the United States and other NATO members are at a crossroads as to whether Ukraine may join the pact.

BidenInternational AffairsJournal of Regulatory ComplianceNATOUkraineUnited NationsPutinrussia

Insider Trading Isn’t Illegal if You Are a Member of Congress

February 11, 2022Fraud & Abuse, Finance & Banking

Jon Ossoff, the freshman Senator from Georgia, has made it clear that he intends to put forth a bill that would ban members of Congress from trading individual stocks. This is a policy that seems likely to fail, but that doesn’t make it any less necessary. It is estimated that members of Congress and their families bought and sold over $500 million worth of assets. That’s not to say that all these trades were based on information not available to the general public, but it is clear that there is a massive conflict of interest in allowing law makers to trade stocks when their job is intrinsically tied to making decisions that affect the price of stocks.

complianceenforcementJournal of Regulatory Compliancefinancial regulationfinanceRegulation