The recent conviction of Michael Steinberg, a former senior trader at SAC, highlights the power of the government to obtain a conviction when armed with the ability to have a jury charged on a conscious avoidance theory of fraud. The case proceeded...
The Court of Appeal recently ruled in Virgin Atlantic Airways v Jet Airlines (India) & Zodiac Seats UK and others that the English courts cannot go behind the European Patent Office's ("EPO's") decision to grant a European Patent. This is part of...
On December 11, HUD issued a final rule defining what constitutes a “qualified mortgage” (QM) for purposes of loans insured by the FHA. The final rule largely adopts HUD’s proposal, which was the subject of our October 2013 Special Alert....
On December 13, 2013, the IRS issued Notice 2014-5 which provides temporary relief for satisfying the nondiscrimination requirements under Section 401(a)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) for plan sponsors that maintain defined benefit...
The Commissioner of the California Department of Business Oversight on November 22 issued an order directing all DBO licensees (which would include California Finance Lender licensees and residential mortgage lender licensees, among others) to...
The regulatory authority of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) covers “options” which are adroitly defined as “transaction(s) . . . held out to be of the character of, or . . . commonly known to the trade as . . . ‘option(s)’. . ....
This week, Senator Max Baucus, the outgoing Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee who has been developing a comprehensive overhaul and simplification of the federal income tax, introduced a bill that would scrap 42 existing federal energy tax...
In This Issue: Leading the Past Week; Legislative Branch; Executive Branch; and Upcoming Hearings. Excerpt from Leading the Past Week - For the first time in a couple of years, the Christmas plans of Congress and their staff (except for the...
Why Quantity is not an Adequate Substitute - If your inbox looks anything like mine, it’s likely bombarded with daily messages about what is “most important” or “critical” for your compliance training program. You’ve probably been pitched or sold...
RULINGS, OPINIONS, ETC. - Modification of “Use-or-Lose” Rule for Health FSAs - Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Notice 2013-71 modifies the “use-it-or-lose-it” rule for health flexible spending accounts (health FSAs) set forth under Section 125...
