TheCorporateCounsel.net

Today’s Wall Street Journal (on page A2) and the Financial Times are running stories that sources say the SEC is likely to delay the Section 404 deadline by a few months. ComplianceWeek.com has even more info on this. Yesterday, I called the SEC’s Office of Public Affairs and got this quote: “The Commission is aware of the deadline and they are prepared to move it if need be.” Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Speaking of Deadlines

A number of SEC filing deadlines land on Saturday, February 14th – from 10-Qs and Schedule 13Gs to Form 5s and Schedule 13Fs. As many of you know, if a deadline falls on a weekend, Rule 0-3 under the Exchange Act moves the due date for ’34 Act filings to the next business day – which is Tuesday, February 17th in this case as Monday is a federal holiday. Don’t you hate how these deadlines always fall on Valentine’s Day! I know my wife does…

A New Trend – the Commissioner Enforcement Dissent

Last month, SEC Commissioner Campos dissented from an enforcement action because he felt the SEC should have taken stronger action. That may well have been the first time that a Commissioner has written a dissent to an enforcement matter (whereas its not uncommon for a Commissioner to vote against a matter in a closed Commission meeting).

Last week, Commissioner Glassman issued a dissent of her own in a different enforcement matter. Particularly since this dissent consisted of merely a few paragraphs, this could be the start of commissioners sharing their thoughts more often on enforcement matters with the public.