How Can Fund Managers Address the Regulatory, Compliance, Privacy and Ethics Issues Raised by Social Media?

On November 28, 2012 – a week from today – Richards Kibbe & Orbe LLP (RKO), Berkeley Research Group (BRG) and the Hedge Fund Law Report will host a complimentary, CLE-eligible webinar entitled “How can fund managers address the regulatory, compliance, privacy and ethics issues raised by social media?”  Topics to be covered in the webinar include: tapping into the benefits of social media for hedge fund advisory businesses while maintaining necessary control and oversight; navigating the complexities of user privacy, regulatory compliance and ethics; components of a model social media policy for fund managers; and implications of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act and rules for social media use.  The participants in the webinar will be: Eva Marie Carney, a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of RKO; James Walker, a partner in the New York office of RKO; Charles Lundelius, a director at BRG; and Karina Bjelland, a managing consultant in BRG’s Financial Institutions Practice.  Michael Pereira, publisher of the Hedge Fund Law Report, will moderate the discussion.  As a preview of the material to be discussed during the webinar, the Hedge Fund Law Report conducted a comprehensive interview with the four participants.  Our interview covered, among other topics: the definition of social media; ways in which hedge fund managers are using social media; authority governing the use by fund managers of social media; the chief ways in which the JOBS Act will impact the use by private fund managers of social media; whether the prohibition on public offerings in Sections 3(c)(1) and 3(c)(7) of the Investment Company Act will curtail the expanded solicitation and advertising rights granted by the JOBS Act; the tension between the CFTC’s “de minimis” exception from commodity pool operator registration requirements and the JOBS Act; steps to be taken by a private fund manager to ascertain the “accredited” status of investors sourced via social media; rules governing a fund manager’s recordkeeping obligations with respect to social media; best practices with respect to mobile devices; the interaction between federal and state privacy laws and monitoring and archiving of employee social media communications; insider trading concerns raised by social media; and social media activity that may fall within the ambit of the SEC’s rules on testimonials.  The full text of our interview with Carney, Walker, Lundelius and Bjelland is included in this issue of the Hedge Fund Law Report.

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