The dinner at The City Tavern in the Historic District of Philadelphia was excellent, but that’s all I can tell you.

Read: A fiduciary rule only a class-action attorney could love

Actually, I was allowed to report on the prepared remarks, and you can read them here: “Bogle: ‘New Fiduciary Rule is Just the Beginning’,” (FiduciaryNews.com, May 24, 2016). It was the juicy tidbits during dinner, though, that provided the evening’s most interesting fare.

But I can’t tell you about that.

Read: Give the DOL an 'A' for effort

I can’t tell you about the chance meeting with Meryl Streep.

I can’t tell you about the insightful question I asked. I can’t tell you the compelling answer.

That’s the dilemma of “off the record.” “Off the record” is great for journalists. We get to learn a lot about how the sausage is made. “Off the record” is not so great for the reader. It’s probably one of the reasons so many people hate reporters.

So, here’s what I can tell you. Phyllis Borzi answered the question the next day on the record in front of a live (and live-stream) audience. In case you missed it, the story starts here…

Every Monday I send out a newsletter to all FiduciaryNews.com subscribers highlighting the “Trending Topics” found in the previous week’s news stories. Based on a couple of articles, this week I posed the question “Is this the end of the Fiduciary Era?” You’d be surprised who read it. I know I was.

The newsletter generated several emails of concern.

Apparently, folks didn’t like the idea some of the targets of the DOL’s new fiduciary rule might have uncovered a way to comply with the letter of the rule while ignoring the spirit of the rule. (If you don’t think this is plausible, remember the DOL’s 2012 Fee Disclosure Rule where some service providers “complied” with the Rule by “disclosing” their fee via a printed URL somewhere on page 54 of a 99-page document.)

The truth is, there have been articles reporting this regarding the fiduciary rule.

On the record, before an assembly of fiduciary advocates on the occasion of the launch of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard’s “Campaign for Investors,” Phyllis Borzi answered the obvious question. Yes, the DOL is aware of this possible strategy among certain players of the industry.

She said firms had two teams. The first sought ways to defeat the rule. The second was tasked with the job of discovering the best way to “comply” (in the 2012 Fee Disclosure manner) with the rule.

Rest assured, the DOL is on it.

There, you didn’t miss anything.

Except a superb Early American dinner.

Instant Insights /

What I can&rsquo;t tell you about my dinner with Phyllis Borzi

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What I can’t tell you about my dinner with Phyllis Borzi