Earlier this month, the Managed Fund Association (“MFA”), the largest lobbyist for the alternative investment industry, petitioned the SEC to amend Rule 502(c) of Regulation D to eliminate the prohibition on general solicitation or general advertising with respect to private funds. This longstanding prohibition prevents private funds that are exempt from registration under the safe harbor of Reg D from engaging in “general solicitation” and “general advertising.” The ban, set forth in Rule 502(c), prohibits issuers from offering or selling “securities by any form of general solicitation or general advertising, including, but not limited to…Any advertisement, article, notice or other communication published in any newspaper, magazine, or similar media or broadcast over television or radio…”

As previously reported by JLG, in June 2011 the SEC adopted new rules implementing amendments to the Investment Advisers Act created by the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”). The Dodd-Frank Act increased the statutory threshold for registration by investment advisors with the SEC from $25 million in assets under management (“AUM”) to $100 million.

On January 4^th the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued a cease and desist order against an Illinois man, Anthony Fields, posing as a Registered Investment Adviser (“RIA”) who was using his LinkedIn account to scam investors, “offer[ing] more than $500 billion in fictitious securities through various social media websites.”