Private Investment Funds Partner Discusses SEC Enforcement of PE Funds in Fund Fire

An article titled “SEC Tightens Screws on Private Equity,” published in the Jan. 7 issue of Fund Fire, quotes private investment funds partner Jason E. Brown (Boston) on the impact of the SEC Director of the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examination’s May 2014 speech identifying extensive “violations of law” and “material weaknesses in controls,” discovered while examining the practices of private equity firms.

Mr. Brown suggests that this speech indicated areas on which the SEC will focus in reviewing the practices of private equity firms and described the speech itself as having “more effect than virtually any speech on private equity I can think of from the SEC,” adding, “it caught the attention of the industry, and it also caught the attention of investors.