Tim Foley advises global and U.S. financial institutions, particularly U.S.-registered broker-dealers, in regulatory compliance and enforcement matters involving the SEC, FINRA, self-regulatory organizations (SRO), and state and foreign regulatory agencies. Tim has extensive knowledge of sales and trading operations of institutional, retail, and limited-purpose broker-dealers, including low-touch algorithmic and direct market access strategies, high-touch and retail sales practices, distribution platforms for access to alternative investment strategies, and related dealer syndicates.
Tim has extensive experience advising multinational financial institutions, U.S. domestic wealth management, banking, and trust operations, fund complexes and sponsors (including alternative investments such as private and offshore access funds, non-traded REITs, and direct participation programs), in matters involving broker-dealer registration and distribution channel requirements, including issues involving advertising, communications, and organization and offering expenses. He has conducted large-scale retail sales practice investigations for retail broker-dealers, particularly independent broker-dealers and their individual registered representatives, in large-scale retail sales practice investigations involving complex products suitability. These investigations focused on variable annuity, REIT, and non-traditional ETF sales.
Tim has also handled an extensive variety of regulatory inquiries and related investigations, in particular FINRA enforcement, market regulation, and NCFC (formerly OFDMI) matters, involving issues such as market manipulation, fair pricing and mark-up/mark-down, trade reporting, short sales, distribution restricted periods, and marketplace structure rules. In these matters, Tim offers clients practical, risk-based assessments of applicable regulatory requirements and directly assists client teams in deciphering complex order, execution, and routing data and other records.
Tim is a U.S. broker-dealer regulatory specialist, having spent the near entirety of his career in law firm private practice dedicated to U.S. financial institutions regulation and enforcement. Tim has authored, contributed to, and been quoted in a number of publications and media outlets, including American Banker, Bloomberg Law, Law360, and InvestmentNews.
Tim has also provided pro bono assistance to refugees seeking asylum through both the Asylum Office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Immigration Courts of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Tim holds a Juris Doctor from The George Washington University Law School (2007). Tim obtained his undergraduate degree in Philosophy from the University of Maryland (2003).
State Admissions:
Washington, D.C.
Maryland
Admissions