Bloomberg BNA Publishes Akin Gump Article on SEC Examinations of Electronic Communications
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Bloomberg BNA’s Daily Report for Executives has published the article “Electronic Communications in SEC Examinations and Investigations,” written by Akin Gump litigation partner Peter Altman and associates Kelly Handschumacher and Brett Manisco. The article examines the current legal framework relating to electronic communications by employees of hedge funds and offers some observations on what to expect from the SEC “given its current approach to electronic communications collection and review.”
Altman, Handschumacher and Manisco begin with a discussion of which electronic communications an investment adviser has to preserve, writing that it covers “a wide variety of matters including investment advice, buy/sell orders, receipt and distribution of funds or securities, and the performance of managed accounts or recommended securities.”
The authors then note which communications the SEC can request in an examination. While the scope can vary from one situation to another, the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, they write, “takes the position that it has the authority to request all records of [investment advisers], not just those required to be maintained” under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. The SEC, they add, can also subpoena certain communications, if necessary.
To read the full article, please click here.