Articles Posted in SEC Action

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 said, “As a condition for approval I require that that if any services beyond transition services are to be desired by the debtor, you need court approval with or without SEC consent.”

After Woodbridge filed for bankruptcy, Shapiro allegedly continued having access to company offices, and was paid a monthly $175,000 consulting fee. By designing a new team with no links to Shapiro to facilitate the transition, the settlement ensures decisions will now be made in the defrauded investors’ best interest.

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 to examine 12% of RIAs every year.

Speaking at the Practicing Law Institute in New York, White expressed her concern about the SEC’s failing oversight of the independent space. “It’s a real problem that keeps me up at night,” she commented.

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.

They apparently have a long history of disciplinary action in the securities industry. In 2016, Gennity reached a settlement to resolve allegations of unauthorized trading and in 2014, he reached another settlement over churning and unsuitability. Roveccio has reached settlements over allegations of unauthorized trading and suitability in 2002, unauthorized trading in 2006, and a FINRA customer arbitration in 2013.

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 broker or dealer to effect transactions in any security without registering with the Commission,” and Section 20(b) of the Exchange Act, which “makes it unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly, to do any act or thing which it would be unlawful for such person to do under the Exchange Act or any rule or regulation thereunder through or by means of any other person.”

The San Francisco-based firm’s subsidiary, Ironridge Global IV, sold shares of 28 microcap issuers, typically driving down share prices while increasing the number of shares received, through a price protection formula which locked in discounts regardless of stock price shifts.

The SEC recently asked a federal judge to freeze $5.4 million of Avalon FA Ltd.’s funds, on account of its practice of “layering.” A Seychelles investment firm run out of Ukraine, Avalon allegedly engaged in illegal market manipulation.

Layering, in the SEC’s words is, “a scheme in which orders are placed but later canceled after tricking others into buying or selling stocks at artificial prices, resulting in illicit profits.” Layering is also used in a different way in money laundering.

According to the SEC, Avalon FA knowingly spammed markets with trade orders they had no intention of fulfilling. When the SEC’s lawsuit was first announced, Avalon funds were frozen through a temporary restraining order (TRO).