Investment Adviser Enforcement

The Investment Adviser Enforcement Practice Group at Schoeppl Law, P.A. is led by Carl F. Schoeppl, a former senior federal prosecutor with the SEC.    Schoeppl Law, P.A. has represented  SEC registered investment advisers, Florida registered investment advisers, investment adviser representatives, associated persons with Florida registered investment advisers, hedge funds, and others in SEC examinations, Florida Office of Financial Regulation (“Florida OFR”) examinations, compliance interviews with SEC and Florida OFR examination staff, producing documents and information to SEC and Florida OFR examination staff, responding to SEC and Florida OFR deficiency letters, recommending corrective action to SEC and Florida OFR examination staff, responding to referrals by SEC and Florida OFR examination staff of certain alleged violations for prosecution by the SEC Division of Enforcement and Florida OFR Bureau of Enforcement, preparing white papers, preparing wells submissions, defending and resolving SEC enforcement actions, and defending and resolving Florida OFR administrative enforcement proceedings.

The SEC regulates investment advisers who manage $110 million or more in client assets, while state securities regulators have jurisdiction over advisers who manage up to $100 million. Advisers with less than $100 million in assets under management (“AUM”) must register with the state regulator for the state where the adviser has its principal place of business. When a state-registered adviser’s AUM reach the $100 million threshold, the adviser may elect to register with the SEC—but when the adviser’s AUM exceeds $110 million, it generally must register with the SEC.

The Florida OFR, Division of Securities administers and enforces compliance with the Florida Securities and Investor Protection Act (“FSIPA”).  The Division is organized into a Bureau of Registrations that registers firms and their employees and Bureau of Enforcement that conducts examinations of registered entities throughout the state and processes complaints.  The Florida OFR conducts examinations of registered investment advisers, associated persons, and notice-filed branch offices to determine compliance with FSIPA.  The Florida OFR examinations of Florida registered investment advisers are generally conducted on-site with no advance notice.

Our primary goal in an examination setting is to utilize our securities regulatory experience in the enforcement arena to assist clients in completing SEC and Florida OFR examinations without any referrals for prosecution by enforcement.  If this primary goal cannot be achieved due to the unique facts and circumstances of a given case and the matter is referred for prosecution, then we attempt to assist our clients by convincing SEC and Florida OFR enforcement staff in appropriate cases to resolve an investigation without any enforcement action against our clients.