Levin Statement on SEC Adoption of Final Rule on General Solicitations and Advertising

Statement

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said the following today regarding the SEC's adoption of a final rule on general solicitations and advertising:

"The SEC's decision to adopt this final rule will do little to jump start investment, and much to weaken investor protections. The final rule puts essentially no effective limitations on the types or forms of advertising that can be used to promote high-risk investments, exposing unsuspecting investors to potentially misleading claims they will be unable to evaluate. And the rule provides almost no requirements to ensure that potential investors are in fact able to absorb the possible losses from these high-risk investments. The SEC appears to recognize these flaws by simultaneously saying it will consider some limited repairs, which I fear may be far too little and much too late. It's as if the SEC is jumping out of an airplane today, and then proposing to check the safety of its parachute on the way down. Proceeding today with this flawed rule will ultimately damage the investing public, investor confidence in U.S. markets, and legitimate businesses that rely on those markets to raise the capital they need to survive and grow. I am disappointed that Mary Jo White, who knows what it's like to combat financial fraud, let this rule go with so few investor protections."

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