Week of September 14 - 20, 2026

🗓️ September 14, 2026

• SEC Charges Founder and his Two New Jersey-Based Companies in Alleged $16 Million Ponzi Scheme. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Ernest Ossei Boateng and his two New Jersey-based companies, Intercontinental Wealth Network LLC and I Wealth Network LP, for allegedly raising approximately $16 million from over 200 inexperienced investors through a Ponzi scheme from January 2020 to March 2026. Boateng allegedly misappropriated more than $5.8 million for personal expenses and used approximately $6.6 million for Ponzi-like payments, while engaging in high-risk day-trading that resulted in over $750,000 in losses. The SEC’s complaint seeks permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains with pre-judgment interest, and civil penalties against the defendants. 🔗 Read more
• SEC Grants Exemptive Relief from Certain Inline XBRL Filing or Submission Requirements. Washington D.C. - The Securities and Exchange Commission issued an order granting exemptive relief from certain Inline XBRL requirements adopted on Dec. 16, 2024, for specific forms and submissions used by market intermediaries. This relief aims to reduce compliance costs and enable market participants to allocate resources more efficiently, without sacrificing investor protection. SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins stated that this action supports the Commission’s efforts to transform the rulebook by eliminating immaterial requirements that burden the market. 🔗 Read more
• SEC Charges Two Promoters and Salesperson in Alleged $64 Million Offering Fraud. The Securities and Exchange Commission filed fraud charges against Paul Thomas Croft, Jonathan David Frost, and Matthew William Dira for a multimillion-dollar offering fraud between January 2021 and September 2023. Croft and Frost allegedly raised approximately $64 million from over 230 investors by selling promissory notes and membership interests, misappropriating funds for personal expenses and a tax business, and making Ponzi-style payments. Dira, earning over $500,000, continued selling securities despite warnings of a Ponzi scheme. Frost consented to a judgment barring him from securities activities and ordering him to pay disgorgement, interest, and penalties, while he previously pleaded guilty to related criminal charges. 🔗 Read more
• The EBA publishes updated list of validation rules as part of its regular quarterly reporting frameworks update. The European Banking Authority (EBA) has issued an updated list of validation rules as part of its quarterly review, identifying deactivated and reactivated rules. Competent authorities are reminded not to validate data against deactivated rules, and a small validation rules package, including a micro taxonomy package and Data Point Model (DPM) validation rules updates scripts, is required from release 4.0 onwards. The integration of validation rules in DPM 2.0 enhances consistency, traceability, and efficiency in the supervisory reporting process. 🔗 Read more

🗓️ September 15, 2026

• SEC Files Settled Action Charging Washington Resident with Insider Trading. The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a settled action against Jon P. Kipp for allegedly insider trading before Funko, Inc.’s announcement on July 13, 2023, that its CEO would take a leave of absence. Kipp sold all 247,335 Funko shares he owned on July 13, avoiding approximately $483,746.40 in losses, and has consented to a final judgment without admitting the allegations, which includes paying $1,073,009.73 in monetary remedies. 🔗 Read more
• CFTC Grants Multiple Whistleblower Awards Totaling Over $150 Million. Washington - The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced 10 whistleblower awards totaling more than $150 million in final award determinations issued between July and September 2026. Since its inception in 2014, the CFTC has awarded over $580 million to whistleblowers, linked to enforcement actions resulting in more than $5.1 billion in monetary sanctions. Eligible whistleblowers can receive between 10 and 30 percent of the monetary sanctions collected, with all awards funded from the CFTC’s Customer Protection Fund. 🔗 Read more
• CFTC Secures Court Order Directing Florida Man to Pay Over $6 Million for Options Fraud and Imposing Trading Bans. Washington - The U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut entered a default judgment against Michael Frederick Staryk, ordering him to pay $547,616 in restitution and a $5,907,720 civil monetary penalty, along with imposing permanent trading and registration bans. Staryk defrauded at least 26 U.S. retail clients by misappropriating funds meant for trading in options on commodity futures contracts. Additionally, a consent order was entered against Yvonne Stephanie Solerti-Coto and Global Financial Institution LLC, requiring them to return $110,509.86 in client funds they received without legitimate claim. 🔗 Read more

🗓️ September 16, 2026

• Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement. The Federal Open Market Committee unanimously decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate by 1/4 percentage point to 3-3/4 to 4 percent, supporting the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate. Economic activity is expanding solidly, with domestic spending resilient despite elevated uncertainty from geopolitical developments, while inflation remains high, prompting the policy action to support a timely return to the 2 percent goal. The Committee is maintaining ample reserves in the banking system and will deliver price stability. 🔗 Read more
• SEC Proposes Rescission of Shareholder Proposal Rule and Reforms to Proxy Solicitation Process. Washington D.C. - The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed to rescind Rule 14a-8, citing its overreach into state law and lack of substantiated justifications, which may have discouraged state-level shareholder proposal laws. Additionally, the Commission proposed amendments to Rule 14a-4(c) for greater flexibility in proxy voting and modernized the proxy solicitation process by eliminating certain requirements and deadlines. These proposals aim to ensure the Commission’s rules align with its statutory authority and reflect current market practices and technologies. 🔗 Read more
• SEC Agrees to Settle Litigation with Co-Founders of San Franciso Biotech Company. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint on March 18, 2021, against Jessica Richman and Zachary Apte, co-founders of uBiome, Inc., alleging they misled investors about the company’s growth by duping doctors into ordering unnecessary tests. Without admitting the allegations, Richman and Apte consented to final judgments, which include a three-year officer-and-director bar, a prohibition from participating in securities transactions for three years, and a $125,000 penalty each. The SEC’s litigation was conducted by Thomas Eme and David Zhou and supervised by Jason M. Bussey and Jason H. Lee. 🔗 Read more
• European Parliament confirms Thomas Gstädtner as Executive Director of the EBA. Thomas Gstädtner has been confirmed as the new Executive Director of the European Banking Authority (EBA) by the European Parliament, following a selection process by the EBA Board of Supervisors. He expressed his honor and commitment to building on the EBA’s strong foundations and promoting a resilient European financial sector. François-Louis Michaud, Chair of the EBA, congratulated Gstädtner, highlighting his experience and leadership as crucial for the EBA’s continued evolution in a changing financial landscape. 🔗 Read more

🗓️ September 17, 2026

• SEC Issues “Innovation Exemption” to Facilitate the Trading of Tokenized NMS Stock and Request for Comment. Washington D.C. - The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a temporary, conditional exemptive relief to Tokenized Securities Venues (TSVs) from the definition of “exchange” in the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, allowing them to trade tokenized National Market System (NMS) stock using innovative permissioned automated market makers and liquidity pools. This “Innovation Exemption” aims to facilitate onchain trading of certain tokenized stocks while the SEC considers further actions, and it includes conditions to protect investors, such as limits on trading symbols and volume, and requirements for smart contracts to be auditable and public. The exemptions will expire five years after publication, and the SEC invites public comment on potential modifications and next steps. 🔗 Read more
• CFTC Staff Issues No-Action Position to Providers of Passive Software. Washington - The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Market Participants Division has issued a no-action position for providers of passive software, similar to Staff Letter 26-09, making it broadly available. This position means that, under certain conditions, the MPD will not recommend enforcement action against these providers or their personnel for not registering as an introducing broker or associated person, as long as their software facilitates trading with registered entities. 🔗 Read more
• FDIC Board of Directors Approves Proposed Rule on State Bank Parity. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Board of Directors approved a notice of proposed rulemaking to amend regulations for parity between state banks and national banks. The proposed rule would ensure that when host state laws do not apply to a national bank, they also would not apply to an out-of-state state bank providing services in the host state, with the law of the state bank’s chartering state applying instead. The rule would not change the interest rates state banks can charge, which are governed by section 27 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act. 🔗 Read more
• FDIC Board of Directors Approves Proposed Rule to Modernize and Reform the FDIC’s Framework for Reviewing Bank Merger Transactions. Washington - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Board of Directors approved a notice of proposed rulemaking to modernize and reform the merger transaction review process under the Bank Merger Act (BMA). Notable reforms include accounting for credit unions and centrally booked deposits in competitive effects analysis, establishing a letter filing process with “deemed approval” for “de minimis merger transactions,” and tailoring merger filing requirements to reduce burden and processing times. The proposed rule aims to substantially reduce regulatory burden and ensure faster, more predictable, and appropriately tailored reviews of merger transactions. 🔗 Read more

🗓️ September 18, 2026

• Federal Reserve Board announces termination of enforcement action with SNB Bancshares and Bank of Eufaula. The Federal Reserve Board announced the termination of the enforcement action against SNB Bancshares, Inc., and Bank of Eufaula, both located in Eufaula, Oklahoma. The written agreement was dated August 7, 2024, and the enforcement action was terminated on September 3, 2026. 🔗 Read more
• Federal Reserve Board issues enforcement actions with former employee of Northstar Bank, former employee of American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc., and former employee of Regions Bank. The Federal Reserve Board announced enforcement actions against three former employees. Charles Alan Wright, a former employee of Northstar Bank, is subject to a consent prohibition order for misappropriating customer funds. Stephanie K. Hudders, formerly with American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc., faces a similar order for misapplication of funds and conflicts of interest, while Elvisha White, a former employee of Regions Bank, is penalized for check fraud. 🔗 Read more
• SEC Charges Former Employee of Venture Capital Firms for Misappropriation of Investor Money. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Ellen Polcari with orchestrating a fraudulent scheme from April 2023 to March 2025, misappropriating approximately $1.28 million from funds that collectively raised $28.67 million from at least 85 investors. Polcari allegedly directed investors to wire funds to accounts she controlled and fraudulently transferred stock shares to herself, selling them for $56,000. The SEC’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, seeks permanent injunctions, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, civil penalties, and a conduct-based injunction. 🔗 Read more
• The EBA publishes its final Guidelines on the management of third-party risk, delivering a more proportionate and consistent framework aligned with DORA. The European Banking Authority’s (EBA) Guidelines aim to simplify its regulatory framework by focusing on third-party arrangements supporting critical or important functions (CIFs) to reduce unnecessary burdens while maintaining sound risk management. These Guidelines promote a holistic approach to third-party risk management across ICT and non-ICT services, covering the full lifecycle of arrangements and incorporating stakeholder feedback and international standards. A two-year transitional period is provided for smooth implementation. 🔗 Read more