Articles Posted in Investor Fraud

On January 16th, a settlement was reached to create new fiduciary committees to handle a complex transition at the bankrupt Woodbridge firm, following a SEC lawsuit over a billion-dollar Ponzi scheme run by Woodbridge founder Robert Shapiro, who will now be totally excluded from the restructuring process. Upon approval of the settlement, Judge Kevin Carey…

In line with its expressed intent to increase its oversight over the cryptocurrency market, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has filed three related fraud suits in a single week. The third lawsuit targets the creators of “My Big Coin,” who allegedly used $6 million dollars received from buyers to pay off early investors and shop…

According to former Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White, the SEC insufficient examination of registered investment advisors is a “disaster waiting to happen.” Without adequate oversight, misconduct at small advisory firms could be building up for years. While FINRA and state regulators vet half of all registered broker-dealers annually, the SEC only manages…

At a recent Securities Enforcement Forum in Washington DC, Stephanie Avakian, co-director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, discussed the agency’s future priorities. Avakian emphasized that the mission of the Enforcement Division, to protect investors, will remain unchanged, but she announced a slight shift in focus areas and resource allocation. The Division of Enforcement official…

The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) has just released its yearly Enforcement Report. Although NASAA is an international association of all state, provincial and territorial securities regulators in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, the annual report is focused on US jurisdictions. According to data included in the document, there were more enforcement actions…

The SEC has accused two former Alexander Capital LP brokers, William Gennity and Rocco Roveccio of engaging in unlawful trading and deception that caused their customers to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars, while they earned a comparable amount in fees. Gennity and Roveccio both worked at Alexander Capital from mid 2012 till October 2014.…

FINRA announced it has just fined C.L. King & Associates $750,000. According to the Regulatory Authority´s decision, the broker-dealer has negligently made “material misrepresentations and omissions to issuers in connection with the firm’s redemptions of debt securities on behalf of a hedge fund customer.” This was allegedly done in connection with the hedge fund customer´s…

Once in a while, regulators and courts take actions that have no precedent, but which may influence justice over time. That is the case of a recent ruling from a Florida federal judge, who ordered a defendant to disclose that he had “violated commodity laws” whenever he writes or speaks about commodity trading in the…

Ironridge Global Partners LLC has agreed to pay $4.4 million in disgorgement to settle claims that it incurred violations of the Exchange Act when its subsidiary Ironridge Global IV distributed billions of microcap shares without being a registered broker. According to the SEC order, Ironridge violated Section 15(a) of the Exchange Act, which “prohibits a…

Over the course of 2016, FINRA expelled 24 firms from membership and fined offenders for a total of $176 million. The largest fine amounted to $25 million, paid by MetLife Securities over negligent misrepresentations and omissions in connection with variable annuity replacements. A total of $27,9 million from monetary sanctions corresponded to customer restitutions. In…