SEC Issues Final Rule to Prevent Security-Based Swap Fraud and Undue Influence Over Chief Compliance Officers

The SEC has issued a final rule that amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) to:

• Attempt to “prevent fraud, manipulation, and deception in connection with effecting any transaction in, or attempting to effect any transaction in, or purchasing or selling, or inducing or attempting to induce the purchase or sale of, any security-based swap.”
• “[M]ake it unlawful for any officer, director, supervised person, or employee of a security-based swap dealer . . . or major security-based swap participant . . . or any person acting under such person’s direction, to directly or indirectly take any action to coerce, manipulate, mislead, or fraudulently influence the SBS Entity’s chief compliance officer . . . in the performance of their duties under the Federal securities laws or the rules and regulations thereunder.”

For more information, see the press release and fact sheet — as well as statements by SEC Chair Gary Gensler and Commissioners Caroline Crenshaw, Jaime Lizárraga, and Mark Uyeda — on the SEC’s Web site.