Crypto custody, private-market access, and the FTC's first Robinson-Patman settlement in a generation — September 29–October 5, 2026
A sourced digest of the 38 SEC, FDA, and FTC developments from September 29–October 5, 2026, with the parties, procedural status, money at issue, and the deadlines to calendar.
The week of September 29–October 5, 2026 produced thirty-eight items across the three agencies: twenty-four SEC developments, nine FDA actions and five FTC developments. Three proposals invite written comment — two from the SEC and one from the FTC — and the FTC's impersonation rulemaking now has a fixed closing date of November 30.
Four SEC matters, two FDA matters and one FTC matter carry September 28 dates. Last Monday's edition closed at 08:12 UTC, before those landed. Their original dates are kept below and each is marked as carried in. This edition's own window opens September 29.
At a glance
| Agency | Development | Status or amount | Next action |
|---|---|---|---|
| SEC | Proposed rules on adviser and fund custody of crypto assets (Oct. 1) | Would cover self-custody in some circumstances and state trust companies as custodians; proposing release IA-7023 | Comment runs 60 days from Federal Register publication, which had not happened by October 5. 1 |
| SEC | Private-market retailization proposals and accredited-investor designations (Sept. 30) | Performance-based compensation, interval fund modernization, multiple share classes, plus a FINRA exam and five credentials as accredited-investor routes | Comments close Dec. 4, 2026. 2 |
| SEC | New Division of Examinations handbook (Oct. 1) | Replaces the examination brochure; covers risk assessment through the disposition letter | Map internal exam-response procedures to the handbook's stages. 3 |
| SEC | Meyer Global Management LLC and CEO Owen E.H. Meyer (Sept. 30) | Charged over private funds holding SpaceX and other pre-IPO securities; one fund forfeited a nearly $3,000,000 SpaceX investment | Complaint filed in the Southern District of New York; SEC seeks injunctions, disgorgement and penalties. 4 |
| SEC | Beyond Alpha Ventures LLC, Christopher Kenji Dinelli and Jacob David Frankel (Sept. 30) | Alleged fraud raising more than $8.7 million from 35 investors, many of them veterans | Complaint filed in the Southern District of New York; parallel criminal charges filed. 5 |
| SEC | Cryptoaiml Ltd. and TSAI Pro Ltd., with their foundations (Sept. 29) | Two complaints alleging online confidence scams that feigned SEC registration and took more than $12.5 million and $2.8 million | Filed in the Southern District of New York; the falsified Forms D have been removed from the SEC site. 6 |
| SEC | J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (Oct. 2) | Settled order: a statutorily disqualified person was involved in at least 800 security-based swap transactions from November 2021 to March 2024 | Cease-and-desist order and censure; no civil penalty disclosed. 7 |
| SEC | CityVest Capital Inc., CV Manager LLC and Alan P. Donenfeld (Oct. 2) | Settled order: $425,000 borrowed from three advised access funds without disclosure or approval | $10,000 civil penalty each from CityVest and Donenfeld. 8 |
| SEC | Latch, Inc., now doing business as Door (Oct. 1) | Settled order over improper revenue recognition around a 2021 SPAC merger and in later reports | $1,000,000 civil penalty. 9 |
| SEC | Travel + Leisure Co. (Sept. 30) | Settled action: undisclosed rescission projects removed more than 2,900 delinquent loans, about $77 million, from the portfolio and improved a disclosed performance measure | $975,000 civil penalty, subject to court approval. 10 |
| SEC | Above: Space Development Corporation, formerly Orbital Assembly, and two officers (Sept. 29) | Settled action: a Regulation Crowdfunding space-station start-up allegedly overstated timelines, patents and partnerships while raising about $2.9 million from more than 1,400 investors | Former COO to pay $50,000; three-year bars for the COO and the CEO. 11 |
| SEC | Seven "white-label" contracts-for-differences operators (Sept. 30) | Settled orders for acting as unregistered brokers in security-based swaps sold to US retail investors from 2019 to 2025 | Penalties from $60,000 to $125,000; association bars with reentry after two years. 12 |
| SEC | David Reichman, former chairman and CEO of Global Tech Industries Group (Oct. 2) | Charged with issuing tens of millions of shares to family and associates falsely described as payment "for services" | Complaint filed in the Southern District of New York; a relief defendant is also named. 13 |
| SEC | Zoe Financial Inc. (Sept. 28, carried in) | Settled order: the adviser did not adequately disclose a conflict from routing referrals to advisers that used its Zoe Wealth service | $450,000 civil penalty. 14 |
| FDA | Autus Size-Adjustable Valve (Oct. 1) | First heart valve approved to be expanded after surgery and the first with polymeric leaflets; Edwards Lifesciences holds the approval | Approved through premarket approval; 62 pediatric patients studied at 12 US sites. 15 |
| FDA | Pirtobrutinib (Jaypirca), Eli Lilly (Oct. 2) | Approved for previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma without a 17p deletion | Median progression-free survival not estimable versus 33.5 months for the comparator. 16 |
| FDA | Camzyos (mavacamten) (Sept. 30) | First drug approved for children weighing at least 30 kg with symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy | Boxed warning for heart failure; available only through a restricted program. 17 |
| FDA | Emcitate (tiratricol), Egetis Therapeutics (Sept. 28, carried in) | First approved treatment for MCT8 deficiency, also known as Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome | Once-daily oral suspension; patients on another thyroid medication must not combine the two. 18 |
| FDA | Counterfeit Ozempic charges (Sept. 29) | Two Indian nationals charged with conspiring to smuggle counterfeit Ozempic obtained from China | Charges filed in the Middle District of Florida; FDA criminal investigators assisted. 19 |
| FDA | Advisory committee recruitment (Sept. 30) | Two Federal Register notices seek voting members and consumer representatives across committees | Consumer representatives by Nov. 15, 2026; scientific and technical members by Nov. 30, 2026. 20 |
| FDA | Quarterly safety-signal list (Sept. 30) | New safety information or potential signals of serious risk for April–June 2026, each still under evaluation | Pharmacovigilance teams should screen the list against their products and labeling. 21 |
| FDA | Warning letters posted Sept. 29 | Ten letters, with issue dates from February to September 2026 | Compare the batch against your own contractor and supplier list. 22 |
| FDA | Tobacco premarket framework (Sept. 28, carried in) | The agency says it intends to evaluate changes to the premarket tobacco product application framework, possibly through new rulemaking | No date set; the FDA says it will keep processing submissions meanwhile. 23 |
| FTC | Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits LLC (Oct. 2) | Proposed stipulated order settles the FTC's 2024 Robinson-Patman case; covers nearly all of Southern's sales to the five largest chain retailers in 26 states | Order subject to court entry; an independent monitor can trigger cash payments to harmed small businesses. 24 |
| FTC | Lens.com Inc., its owner and Speed Commerce LLC (Oct. 2) | FTC with Utah and Nevada sued over mandatory "Taxes & fees" that often double the advertised price of contact lenses | Complaint filed; no ruling yet. 25 |
| FTC | Corteva, Inc. (Sept. 28, carried in) | Settlement ends a post-patent loyalty program the FTC alleged kept cheaper generic pesticides off distributors' shelves | Ten-year stipulated order; litigation against Syngenta continues. 26 |
| FTC | Impersonation rule comment deadline (Oct. 1) | The advance notice of proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register | Comments close Nov. 30, 2026. 27 |
| FTC | Rulemaking petition of Malik Tony Singleton (Sept. 30) | Petition for rulemaking published for comment | Comments close Oct. 30, 2026. 28 |
SEC
Two proposals that would widen what advisers and funds can hold and sell
The Commission voted on October 1 to propose rules and amendments under the Investment Advisers Act and the Investment Company Act that would build a custody framework for crypto assets held by registered advisers and regulated funds. The proposal would let crypto assets be held in self-custody in some circumstances, allow state trust companies to serve as custodians, and update requirements for adviser financial statement audits and for broker-dealer custodial services used by registered funds. Chairman Paul S. Atkins framed the proposal as filling a gap: "our rules and regulations have not kept pace," he said, describing the current custody rules as "the grey of uncertainty created by custody rules crafted for a bygone era." The comment period runs for 60 days after the proposing release is published in the Federal Register, and that publication had not happened by October 5. 12930
The second proposal, adopted on September 30, is broader in reach. It would expand the ability of registered investment advisers to take performance-based compensation from certain clients, including regulated funds; amend fund registration and reporting forms to require disclosure of that compensation; modernize the interval fund framework so repurchases can be scheduled to match a portfolio's liquidity; and replace existing exemptive orders with a rules-based framework for closed-end funds to issue multiple share classes. In a separate request, the Commission sought comment on designating the passage of a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority exam, and of holding certain credentials in good standing, as new routes to accredited-investor status. The credentials under consideration are a US certified public accountant license, a Chartered Financial Analyst charter, a Certified Financial Planner certification, and the FINRA Investment Banking Representative license (Series 79) and Research Analyst licenses (Series 86 and 87). All of these landed in the Federal Register on October 5, and comments close December 4, 2026. 23132
The Division of Examinations published a third item the same week. Its new handbook, "The SEC Exam Handbook: A Practical Guide on Process and Engagement," replaces the earlier examination brochure and walks through every stage of an exam, from the risk assessment that opens one to the disposition letter that closes it. Keith Cassidy, the division's director, said the aim was to make the process "more consistent and predictable." Firms that keep their own playbook for exam notifications and document requests can now compare it against the division's published account of the same sequence. 333
Three cases built on pre-IPO access and on who the investors trusted
On September 30 the Commission charged private fund adviser Meyer Global Management LLC and its chief executive, Owen E.H. Meyer, with defrauding investors in funds that held SpaceX and other pre-IPO securities. The complaint, filed in the Southern District of New York, alleges a series of schemes from at least December 2021 in which the defendants misused client fund assets and misled the underlying investors, moved client money out of some funds to cover Meyer's personal expenses, and sent investors statements that inflated their account values. In one scheme involving three funds, the complaint alleges, the defendants required investors to sign releases accepting less than they were owed before they could receive anything. In another, the defendants repeatedly failed to address a capital call owed by a fund that had invested in SpaceX, and the fund forfeited its nearly $3,000,000 investment. The SEC seeks injunctions, disgorgement with interest, civil penalties and a conduct-based injunction against Meyer. 434
A second case filed the same day turns on the same theme at a smaller scale and a different kind of trust. The SEC charged Christopher Kenji Dinelli, a former naval officer, and Jacob David Frankel with raising more than $8.7 million from 35 investors through the fund Beyond Alpha Ventures LLC and the advisory firm Beyond Equity LLC. The complaint alleges the two targeted veterans and people who provide medical services to veterans, and told them the money would go into an options-trading strategy or into special purpose vehicles said to hold pre-IPO shares of two private companies. It alleges the fund lost money consistently while the two advertised returns as high as 153 percent, and that investor money intended for pre-IPO securities was diverted to brokerage accounts where failed options trades lost most of it. Dinelli allegedly misappropriated more than $1 million and Frankel more than $340,000. The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced parallel criminal charges the same week. 535
The third case is the week's clearest example of registration being used as a selling point. In two complaints filed September 29 in the Southern District of New York, the SEC charged Cryptoaiml Ltd. and Cryptoaiml Capital Foundation, and separately TSAI Pro Ltd. and TSAI Capital Foundation, with frauds that took more than $12.5 million and $2.8 million respectively from retail investors. The complaint against the Cryptoaiml entities alleges they built WhatsApp group chats beginning in August 2024, impersonated investment professionals, issued supposed AI-generated trading "signals," and posted a screenshot of a falsified Form D to claim SEC certification; investors who tried to withdraw were told their accounts were frozen until they paid advance fees. The TSAI complaint alleges a similar scheme from September 2024 in which investors were told they could rent AI trading bots and earn money by recruiting others, backed by a phony SEC certificate. Neither platform traded at all. The SEC has removed the two Forms D from its website. 63637
Supervision, disclosure and referral conflicts
Two settled orders on October 2 and a third on October 1 turn on controls rather than on a scheme. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., both registered security-based swap dealers, settled charges that from November 2021 to March 2024 they let a statutorily disqualified person effect or be involved in at least 800 security-based swap transactions with or for US counterparties. The order also finds the firms lacked a reasonably designed supervisory system to detect and prevent that activity, and notes the violations occurred while the firms were still seeking permission from the SEC to let the person work on such swaps. J.P. Morgan consented to a cease-and-desist order and a censure; the order discloses no civil penalty. 738
CityVest Capital Inc., CV Manager LLC and their part-owner and sole operator, Alan P. Donenfeld, settled charges of the same date. The order finds that between July 2019 and May 2025 the three borrowed $425,000 from three access funds they managed, with Donenfeld taking the loans to meet operating expenses including payroll and signing the loan agreements on behalf of every party. The loans were repaid with interest, but the order finds they and the conflicts they created were never fully disclosed to or approved by the funds or their investors. CityVest and Donenfeld each agreed to pay a $10,000 civil penalty. The pair of orders makes a single point for advisers that manage money for other people: a loan between the adviser and its own fund needs disclosure whatever the repayment record. 839
Latch, Inc., which now does business as Door, settled charges on October 1 over improper revenue recognition. The order finds that the Missouri company, which went public in a June 2021 merger with a special purpose acquisition company that brought it about $450 million in cash, materially misrepresented its 2019 and 2020 revenue in the registration statements and proxy filings used for that merger, then kept misstating revenue in its 2021 annual report, interim reports and current reports. The order also finds Latch failed to maintain internal accounting controls to detect side agreements, to assess whether distributor customers could pay, and to collect the sell-through pricing data it needed. Latch agreed to cease and desist and to pay a $1,000,000 civil penalty. 940
The Zoe Financial order, carried in from September 28, rounds out the cluster. The order finds that the New York adviser ran a referral service whose algorithm matched prospective clients with advisers in its network, then let salespeople recommend additional advisers the algorithm had not surfaced. After launching Zoe Wealth in January 2023, the firm had a financial stake in network advisers using that service and encouraged them to, but the order finds it did not adequately disclose the resulting conflict in its Form ADV brochure until December 2024. Zoe Financial agreed to a cease-and-desist order, a censure and a $450,000 civil penalty. 14
Two public companies settle, and a start-up's crowdfunding claims are tested
Travel + Leisure Co. filed a settled action on September 30 over how it described its timeshare loan portfolio. According to the complaint, filed in the Southern District of Florida, the company ran two undisclosed rescission projects between October 2019 and February 2021 under which it released customers from loans, removed more than 2,900 delinquent or defaulted loans totaling about $77 million in balances — including roughly $34 million of already-defaulted loans — and reversed them in its accounting system as though the loans had never been made. The complaint alleges the projects materially improved the loan loss provision and the loan loss provision percentage that Travel + Leisure disclosed to investors, and that the company set internal targets for the number of loans to rescind without disclosing the projects. Travel + Leisure consented to a judgment, subject to court approval, that would enjoin it and order a $975,000 civil penalty. 1041
On September 29 the SEC filed settled charges against Above: Space Development Corporation, formerly Orbital Assembly Corporation, and two of its officers: former chief operating officer Timothy E. Alatorre and current chief executive Rhonda D. Stevenson. The complaint, filed in the Northern District of California, alleges the Alabama start-up raised about $2.9 million from more than 1,400 retail investors across five Regulation Crowdfunding offerings between January 2021 and March 2024, and told them it would design and build large-scale space stations within four to six years even though it lacked the staffing, technical capability and funding to meet that timeline. It also alleges the company misrepresented that it held several patents and created the impression of partnerships with two well-known aerospace launch companies. Alatorre and Stevenson consented to judgments that enjoin them and bar them for three years from participating in securities offerings other than for their own accounts; Alatorre would pay a $50,000 civil penalty, and no penalty would be ordered against Stevenson contingent on the accuracy of her financial statement. Sponsors running Regulation Crowdfunding offerings that reach retail investors through a platform should read the offering materials the way this complaint does: as claims a court can measure against what the company could actually do. 1142
A final enforcement item makes the same point about who may sell a product. On September 30 the Commission announced settled orders against seven individuals — Quillan Black, Tyler MacKechnie, Jordan Morgan, Lewis Neal, Michael Levi Peters, Michael Talento and Anthony Tyler Williams — for acting as unregistered brokers in security-based swaps sold to US retail investors as contracts for differences. The orders find the seven bought ready-made "white-label" brokerage platforms and marketed them, many as prominent traders or influencers, through kot4x.com, envifx.com, prosperity4x.com and fxsway.com, using social media and affiliate programs. Civil penalties range from $60,000 for Neal to $125,000 each for Black and Williams, and each consented to an association bar with a right to apply for reentry after two years. The SEC's investigation drew on help from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the UK Financial Conduct Authority. 12
Also on the SEC docket
Ten further matters filled out the week's docket. Each is a filed complaint, a proposed or entered judgment, or a consent, and each carries its own release:
- David Reichman (Oct. 2) — charged as former chairman and CEO of Global Tech Industries Group over share issuances to family and associates falsely described as payment for services, plus untimely Section 16 filings; complaint filed in the Southern District of New York. 13
- Mukesh Asudani (Sept. 30) — a former human-resources senior vice president at a pharmaceutical company, charged with trading ahead of the October 11, 2021 announcement that Supernus Pharmaceuticals would acquire Adamas Pharmaceuticals; alleged profits of about $78,751 across three accounts. 43
- Thomas J. Moore III (Sept. 30) — charged with raising about $4.94 million for a medical marijuana company and misappropriating about $1.94 million for jewelry, travel and other personal expenses; complaint filed in the Southern District of Mississippi. 44
- Lamar D. Fletcher (Sept. 29) — charged over a real estate offering fraud that raised more than $4.25 million from about 100 investors through promissory notes, with more than $2 million allegedly spent personally and more than $2 million paid to earlier investors; complaint filed in the Northern District of Georgia. 45
- Chris Farrant (Sept. 29) — named as an additional defendant in the insider-trading case against Jordan Meadow over information traced to an investment bank executive assistant's laptop; alleged profits of about $25,860 for Farrant. 46
- Cheryl R. Kramer (Sept. 29) — settled insider-trading charges over selling Sage Therapeutics shares ahead of the August 4, 2023 announcement that the FDA had denied approval of the company's depression drug; avoided losses of about $11,140, with disgorgement, interest and a penalty of the same amount. 47
- Robert Bernardi and Sunil Chandra (Sept. 30) — former chief executive and vice president of GigaMedia Access consented to judgments, closing a 2021 case over more than $37 million raised on misstated financials; $4.7 million in disgorgement for Bernardi and $50,000 for Chandra, both deemed satisfied by criminal restitution. 48
- Trevon Brown, Craig Grant and Michael Noble (Sept. 30) — judgments entered against three BitConnect promoters for unregistered offers and sales, with disgorgement, interest and penalties totaling about $1.99 million, $2.68 million and $1.07 million respectively. 49
- Jacob Garfinkel and 5G Funding LLC (Sept. 28, carried in) — charged over a merchant cash advance investment fraud that raised about $4.5 million from at least 23 investors, largely within Orthodox Jewish communities in Illinois, New York and New Jersey; complaint filed in the Northern District of Illinois. 50
- Lloyd Anderson Wilson, C.P.A. (Sept. 28, carried in) — a former corporate controller at Vital Farms settled insider-trading charges over purchases before three earnings announcements; disgorgement of $21,524.97, interest of $4,845.92 and a $21,524.97 penalty, plus a five-year officer-and-director bar and a five-year suspension from practicing before the Commission as an accountant. 51
- Fan Yang and five others (Sept. 28, carried in) — a former Cummins accountant and her husband, plus four downstream traders, settled insider-trading charges over the February 22, 2022 announcement that Cummins would acquire Meritor; the four downstream defendants made more than $500,000 in alleged profits. 52
FDA
Two firsts in the same week
The FDA approved the Autus Size-Adjustable Valve on October 1, a surgically implanted pulmonary valve for children with congenital pulmonary valve disease. It is the first heart valve cleared to be expanded after surgery so it can keep pace with a child's growth, and the first valve approved in the United States to use polymeric material for its leaflets rather than tissue taken from animals. The valve can be implanted at roughly 13 millimeters in diameter, the size of a toddler or preschooler, and widened later with a balloon catheter to as much as 22 millimeters. The approval rests on a study of 62 pediatric patients across 12 US sites; at six months the first 60 patients showed acceptable blood flow through the right side of the heart with no more than mild leakage, and no patient died or had a stroke or clot requiring treatment, though three had a fracture in the valve frame. Edwards Lifesciences holds the approval, which came through the premarket approval pathway and was the first pediatric approval under the FDA's Total Product Life Cycle Advisory Program. 15
Three days earlier, on September 28, the agency approved Emcitate (tiratricol) for MCT8 deficiency, also known as Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that mostly affects males and leaves the brain short of thyroid hormone while the bloodstream carries too much. Emcitate is the first treatment the FDA has approved for the condition. Its active ingredient enters cells without the MCT8 transporter that is broken in these patients, lowering the excess hormone in the blood; the drug is taken once daily as a liquid suspension, by mouth or through a feeding tube. Egetis Therapeutics US holds the approval. 18
Two more approvals
Pirtobrutinib (Jaypirca, Eli Lilly) was approved October 2 for adults with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma who have no known 17p deletion. In the randomized BRUIN CLL-313 trial of 282 patients, the median progression-free survival was not estimable on pirtobrutinib and was 33.5 months on bendamustine plus rituximab, a hazard ratio of 0.20; overall survival data was still immature. The recommended dose is 200 milligrams once daily until progression or unacceptable toxicity, and the label carries warnings for infections, hemorrhage, cytopenias, cardiac arrhythmias, second primary malignancies, hepatotoxicity and embryo-fetal toxicity. 16
On September 30 the FDA approved Camzyos (mavacamten) for children weighing at least 30 kilograms with symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the first drug approved for that pediatric use. The approval rests on the phase 3 SCOUT-HCM trial of 44 patients aged 12 to 18, where the drug reduced the pressure gradient across the left ventricular outflow tract significantly more than placebo. Camzyos carries a boxed warning for heart failure and is available only through a restricted program, and is expected to improve functional capacity and symptoms in this group. 17
Enforcement, supply chain and safety signals
The FDA's criminal investigators helped build the case announced September 29 against two Indian nationals, Swapnadip Roy and Vicky Ramancha, who were charged with conspiracy and smuggling over a transnational counterfeit prescription drug operation. Court documents allege that between July 2023 and April 2024 the two obtained counterfeit Ozempic from unauthorized sources in China and distributed it with fake packaging, package inserts, pen labels and needles, at deep discounts, to co-conspirators and distributors in the United States. The agency had warned the public about counterfeit Ozempic beginning in December 2023, and the indictment alleges the distribution continued after that warning and after an FDA seizure. Pharmacies and wholesalers that buy semaglutide outside authorized channels are the audience this case speaks to. 19
The agency posted ten warning letters on September 29. The letters carry issue dates that differ from the posting date, ranging from February 2 to September 23, 2026, so a compliance calendar should record both. The batch covers animal-drug and food facilities as well as finished-pharmaceutical and dietary-supplement makers, including Sciarra Aeromed and Neogen Corporation on the veterinary side, Bentley Laboratories and Babikian Healthcare Products on drug manufacturing, American Pharma Mfg. on dietary supplements, and Wellmill, doing business as Vitamix Laboratories, on juice HACCP and food sanitation. 22
Alongside the enforcement batch, the FDA published its quarterly list of new safety information and potential signals of serious risk for April through June 2026. Every entry on the list is under evaluation, with the agency saying it is assessing whether regulatory action is needed. The list runs across product classes and includes anaphylaxis with Winrevair, abnormal behavior with the cystic fibrosis drugs Trikafta, Kalydeco, Orkambi, Symdeko and Alyftrek, colitis with the CDK 4 and 6 inhibitors, arthralgia with the CGRP inhibitors, myocarditis with the BRAF and MEK inhibitors, and pancreatitis with linezolid injection. Pharmacovigilance teams should screen the list against the products they carry and check whether any of the signals touch existing labeling. 21
Committee recruitment and the tobacco framework
On September 30 the FDA opened a nationwide recruitment drive for its advisory committees, publishing two Federal Register notices. One seeks scientific, technical and professional voting members across committees with current or anticipated vacancies; the other seeks consumer representatives. The agency will accept nominations on a continuing basis, but nominations for consumer representatives should arrive by November 15, 2026, and nominations for scientific and other voting members by November 30, 2026, to receive first consideration. Self-nominations are accepted, and members serve terms of up to four years. 2053
Separately, the FDA said on September 28 that it is reviewing its experience with the premarket tobacco product application rule and recent litigation, including a suit filed in the Northern District of Texas, and intends to evaluate changes to the framework, possibly through new rulemaking to replace it. The agency said it will keep processing submissions and issuing decisions under the Tobacco Control Act in the meantime. No date has been set for any rulemaking. This item is carried in from last week's window. 23
FTC
The first Robinson-Patman settlement in a generation
The FTC announced on October 2 that it had settled its 2024 lawsuit against Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits LLC, the country's largest distributor of wine and spirits, resolving the Commission's first Robinson-Patman Act enforcement action in a generation. The proposed stipulated order covers nearly all of Southern's wine and spirits sales to the five largest chain retailers in 26 states. The 2024 complaint alleged that Southern charged independent retailers significantly higher prices than it charged large chains for identical bottles sold a few miles or a few blocks apart, by offering discounts and rebates the small buyers could not reach and that were not justified by distribution costs. Under the settlement, Southern faces limits on charging small independent retailers more than competing large chains. An independent monitor can require direct cash payments to harmed small businesses if Southern violates the order. Daniel Guarnera, director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition, called the settlement "a significant milestone for the FTC in its enforcement of the Robinson-Patman Act." Distributors and suppliers that run tiered discount or rebate programs should read the order's treatment of paired transactions as the template the agency will apply. 24
Pricing suits and pesticide exclusion
The same day, the FTC joined the Utah and Nevada attorneys general in suing Lens.com Inc., its owner Cary Samourkachian and the affiliated entity Speed Commerce LLC over how the contact lens retailer advertises price. The complaint alleges that Lens.com advertises low prices in sponsored search ads and on its website, then adds a mandatory "Taxes & fees" charge at checkout that routinely doubles the price. The line item, the complaint alleges, sits below the visible portion of the screen while the page encourages shoppers to click "Continue," so many never see it, and the "Taxes & fees" label wrongly suggests it covers state sales taxes even though many states exempt contact lenses or have no sales tax. The FTC alleges the same low prices steer consumers into an auto-refill subscription. Online sellers that charge mandatory fees at checkout are the immediate audience. 25
The Corteva settlement, carried in from September 28, closes a different competition matter. The FTC and a coalition of state attorneys general settled their 2022 lawsuit against the pesticide maker, which alleged that Corteva ran a post-patent loyalty program that paid distributors to buy nearly all of certain pesticide active ingredients from Corteva and to buy little from generic competitors. Under the stipulated order, Corteva must dismantle that program and, for ten years, may not condition payments or benefits to a distributor on the distributor buying a high share of a given active ingredient from Corteva or limiting its purchases of generic equivalents. The order resolves only the claims against Corteva; the parallel litigation against Syngenta continues. 26
Two rulemaking windows with fixed dates
The FTC's advance notice of proposed rulemaking on the Rule on Impersonation of Government and Businesses reached the Federal Register on October 1, which fixes the comment deadline at November 30, 2026. Last week the notice asked whether platforms' ad-optimization practices further impersonation scams; the date is now on the record. 27
A second, smaller window opened September 30, when the FTC published for comment a petition for rulemaking from Malik Tony Singleton. Comments close October 30, 2026. 28
Deadlines to calendar
| Date | Item | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Oct. 30, 2026 | FTC petition for rulemaking of Malik Tony Singleton | Comment. 28 |
| Nov. 15, 2026 | FDA advisory committee consumer representative nominations | Nominate, for first consideration. 20 |
| Nov. 30, 2026 | FTC Rule on Impersonation of Government and Businesses | Comment. 27 |
| Nov. 30, 2026 | FDA advisory committee scientific and technical voting member nominations | Nominate, for first consideration. 53 |
| Dec. 4, 2026 | SEC private-market retailization proposals and accredited-investor designation notices | Comment. 32 |
| Not yet fixed | SEC crypto-asset custody proposal | Comment window runs 60 days from Federal Register publication; the proposing release had not been published as of October 5. 1 |
Four FDA comment windows opened in the September 22–28 edition remain open: deceased donor islet cells, November 9, 2026; robotically-assisted surgical devices, November 24, 2026; the Biosimilar User Fee Act public meeting, November 25, 2026; and nonclinical testing terminology, December 7, 2026. The FTC's proposed consent order with FleetCor Technologies closes for comment October 22, 2026. 5455565758
Where these matters stand
Most of this week's SEC items are complaints, not outcomes: Meyer Global, Beyond Alpha Ventures, Cryptoaiml and TSAI, Reichman, Asudani, Moore, Fletcher, Garfinkel and the Yang group all begin enforcement and carry the SEC's requested relief rather than an ordered amount. The settled orders against J.P. Morgan, CityVest, Latch, Zoe Financial, the seven white-label operators and the above-noted commissions are final at the agency level, and each states the conduct found and the penalty paid. The Travel + Leisure, Above: Space Development, Kramer, Bernardi, Wilson and BitConnect matters sit between the two, resolved by consent but still subject to court approval or already entered as judgments. On the rulemaking side, only the FTC's impersonation notice and the SEC's private-market proposals carry dates a reader can put in a calendar today; the crypto custody proposal will not have one until its release is published.
Across the three agencies, the week's through-line is who may hold other people's money and what the seller may say about it. The SEC's custody proposal and its accredited-investor designations both widen who can reach private markets; the Meyer, Beyond Alpha and Above: Space cases show what happens when the access is sold with claims the underlying assets cannot support; and the FTC's Southern Glazer's order and Lens.com suit both turn on a price a customer was told versus the price actually charged. For a compliance team, the practical items are the December 4 SEC comment deadline, the November 30 FTC deadline, and the internal check each of the enforcement cases points to: capital-call and investor-statement controls at funds, referral-conflict disclosure at advisers, and the verification behind any credit given to a counterparty.
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- 39
- 40
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- 43SEC litigation release 26662
sec.gov
- 44SEC litigation release 26663
sec.gov
- 45SEC litigation release 26656
sec.gov
- 46SEC litigation release 26653
sec.gov
- 47SEC litigation release 26652
sec.gov
- 48SEC litigation release 26661
sec.gov
- 49SEC litigation release 26660
sec.gov
- 50SEC litigation release 26651
sec.gov
- 51SEC litigation release 26649
sec.gov
- 52SEC litigation release 26650
sec.gov
- 53Request for Nominations for Voting Members of FDA Advisory Committees
federalregister.gov
- 54Improving patient access to deceased donor islet cells
federalregister.gov
- 55Robotically-Assisted Surgical Devices draft guidance
federalregister.gov
- 56Reauthorization of the Biosimilar User Fee Act
federalregister.gov
- 57Nonclinical Testing Terminology
federalregister.gov
- 58FleetCor Technologies consent order notice
federalregister.gov
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