The recently amended rules and new brand standard for municipal dealers’ advertising will be presented in full in this CLE course. New formal guidance for dealer and advertiser use of social media and how regulators are applying the modernized standards including the new rule will be discussed. The course will also present the recent sweep of the 529 educational savings plans and marketing for such products as well as how these rules impact marketing and advertising efforts. Applying the amendments to MSRP Rule G-21, applying Rule G-40, social media guidance and FINRA”s self-reporting initiative will all be addressed.
Amy C. Sochard is the Senior Director in FINRA’s Advertising Regulation Department. The department protects investors by ensuring broker-dealer members of FINRA use advertisements and other sales communications that are fair, balanced and not misleading. Ms. Sochard leads the department’s investigative and targeted examination activities. She also serves as liaison to other FINRA departments involved in examinations, including the departments of Enforcement and Member Regulation.
In addition, Ms. Sochard oversees staff dedicated to the routine review of advertisements and other sales communications filed with the department by broker-dealers. Ms. Sochard assists in the development of rules and interpretations for communications with the public and social media, and she routinely speaks at industry events on these topics. Prior to joining FINRA’s predecessor (NASD),
Ms. Sochard worked with a real estate syndication firm in Washington, DC. She received a bachelor’s degree with distinction in English from the University of Virginia and studied poetry writing at Columbia University.
Christopher Kelly serves as the Regional Chief Counsel for the North Region of FINRA’s Enforcement Department. As Regional Chief Counsel, Mr. Kelly oversees the work of the Enforcement Staff in the Boston, New Jersey, and Philadelphia District Offices. Prior to joining FINRA, Mr. Kelly served as Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey. In that role, Mr. Kelly supervised more than 35 Assistant U.S. Attorneys in the Office’s white collar units: Economic Crimes, National Security, Healthcare and Government Fraud, and Cybercrime.
Prior to his promotion to the position of Deputy Chief, Mr. Kelly served as the Chief of the Economic Crimes Unit at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, where he oversaw the Office’s prosecution of complex economic crimes, including crimes involving insider trading, securities fraud, tax evasion, bank fraud, corporate fraud and embezzlement. Mr. Kelly also served as the lead prosecutor on several complex matters, including U.S. v. Tiger Asia, one of the first ever criminal prosecutions of a hedge fund. Mr. Kelly graduated from Duke University and Harvard Law School. Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, he was an associate at the law firm Dechert LLP. Mr. Kelly also clerked for the Honorable Joseph E. Irenas, U.S. District Court Judge for the District of New Jersey.