Participants at Hedge Fund Compliance Summit Detail Best Practices with Respect to Insider Trading, SEC Examinations, Risk Mitigation, Marketing Materials, Valuation and Avoiding Investor Lawsuits: Part Two of Two

On November 15 and 16, 2010, Financial Research Associates, LLC and the Hedge Fund Business Operations Association presented a Hedge Fund Compliance Summit at the Princeton Club in New York City.  In our issue of November 24, 2010, we detailed the key insights of Summit participants on topics including insider trading; the use by hedge fund managers of consultants and expert networks; sharing of information among personnel at different hedge fund managers; market rumors; insider trading considerations in connection with bank debt trading; and how to prepare for, handle and follow up on SEC examinations.  See “Participants at Hedge Fund Compliance Summit Detail Best Practices with Respect to Insider Trading, SEC Examinations, Risk Mitigation, Marketing Materials, Valuation and Avoiding Investor Lawsuits: Part One of Two,” Hedge Fund Law Report, Vol. 3, No. 46 (Nov. 24, 2010).  As we observed in that article, the timing of the Summit was fortuitous because two weeks after it, The Wall Street Journal and other sources disclosed a wide-ranging, inter-agency insider trading investigation focusing on hedge fund managers, expert networks and other alternative research providers, investment banks and others.  See “Lessons for Hedge Fund Managers and Expert Network Firms from the Government’s Criminal Complaint against Don Chu, Formerly of Primary Global Research LLC,” Hedge Fund Law Report, Vol. 3, No. 47 (Dec. 3, 2010).  This article finalizes our coverage of the Summit.  Specifically, this article summarizes the most relevant points made by Summit participants with respect to: the revised “accredited investor” definition in Dodd-Frank; the consequences of violating Regulation D, and how to mitigate those consequences; how to negotiate the apparent conflict between the prohibition on general solicitation of Regulation D and the expanded disclosures required by revised Form ADV, Part 2; the importance of consistency between marketing materials and fund documents; recordkeeping with respect to hedge fund manager websites; the distinction between specific representations in and collective impressions created by marketing materials; rules with respect to presentation of performance information; four specific items that the SEC looks for in valuation policies and procedures of hedge fund managers; six specific red flags that the SEC looks for with respect to valuation in the course of inspections and examinations of hedge fund managers; big boy letters; what provisions in side letters may, in the view of the SEC, need to be disclosed to hedge fund investors; and why the fraud exclusion in D&O and E&O insurance policies may often be moot.

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