On July 7, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced charges against K-T 50 Wells, a purported oil well company, its founders, and three salespeople in connection with a $2.4 million offering fraud. The SEC’s complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleges that from approximately…
Read MoreOn June 20, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced charges involving a scheme to disguise the nature of Arista, a public company’s financing amid financial difficulties, and a corresponding manipulation of the price of the company’s stock perpetrated by an individual previously barred from serving as an officer…
Read MoreOn May 19, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filed fraud charges against Robert Murray, a Virginia-based mechanical engineer accused of scheming to manipulate the price of Fitbit stock by making a phony regulatory filing. According to the SEC’s complaint, Robert Murray purchased Fitbit call options just minutes before a fake te…
Read MoreOn May 11, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) charged Walter Little, a former partner at an international law firm, and his neighbor with making more than $1 million in illicit profits by insider trading around corporate announcements. The SEC alleges that Walter Little accessed confidential documents on his law firm’s internal…
Read MoreOn April 24, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced fraud charges against Kevin Amell, a Massachusetts-based portfolio manager accused of diverting at least $1.95 million to his personal brokerage account from a fund over which he had trading authority. The SEC’s complaint alleges that Kevin Amell carried out a fraudulent…
Read MoreOn April 21, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has charged two brothers – Kent and Mike Watts – with orchestrating a fraudulent scheme to qualify the stock of Hydrocarb Energy Corporation for listing on a major stock exchange, which supposedly would assist the Watts in raising capital for the company and facilitate…
Read MoreThe Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) charged Gavin Campion, the former president of KIT Digital Inc., with securities fraud. The SEC’s complaint, filed in federal court in New York on November 15, alleges that over a one-year period ending in late 2011 Campion – along with Kaleil Isaza Tuzman, then KIT Digital’s CEO, a…
Read MoreOn November 14, 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) added Francisco Martin of Woodland Hills, California to a civil injunctive action currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, charging him with defrauding investors in sham Native American tribal bonds. The SEC’s amended complaint al…
Read MoreA federal grand jury in the Northern District of Indiana has indicted Christopher Salis, Douglas Miller, and Edward Miller on charges relating to insider trading, money laundering, and structuring currency transactions. The 17-count indictment also charges Douglas Miller with false statements and Edward Miller with obstruction of justice and witness harassme…
Read MoreOn October 17, 2016 the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) charged Lime Energy Co., an energy services provider and four of its executives for their roles in an accounting fraud in which the company recognized revenue earlier than allowed in order to meet internal targets. Lime Energy areed to pay $1 million to settle the charges, [&helli…
Read MoreOn September 28, 2016, a federal court jury in New York, New York convicted Gary Hirst, the former CEO and President of Gerova Financial Group Ltd., of securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy charges. The criminal action was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and the […]
Read MoreThe Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filed a civil injunctive action in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against Jason Wallace alleging that he violated the antifraud and registration requirements of the federal securities laws as a result of his participating in a fraudulent scheme to artificially inflate…
Read MoreOn August 26, 2016, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California entered a final judgment against Jilbert Tahmazian, an attorney licensed in California, ordering him to pay $196,524 to settle an antifraud action filed by the SEC. The SEC’s complaint alleged that, from at least mid-2009 through at least December 2010, Tahmazian [&helli…
Read MoreThe Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced that on July 20, 2016, the Honorable Charles Pannell of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia entered a final judgment against Michael Sean Cain. In its complaint, the SEC alleged that Cain, a registered representative, received confidential information from…
Read MoreOn May 5, 2016, Judge Alvin W. Thompson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut granted the SEC’s motion for an officer and director bar against Joseph F. Apuzzo, former Chief Financial Officer of Terex Corporation. The ruling follows an evidentiary hearing on the Commission’s motion and resolves the case against Joseph [&helli…
Read MoreThe Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Navistar International Corp. with misleading investors about its development of an advanced technology truck engine that could be certified to meet U.S. emission standards. Navistar, without admitting or denying the charges, has reached a settlement with the SEC and agreed to pay a $7.5 million penalty. Se…
Read MoreOn March 24, 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged two brothers, and a company that they founded purportedly to develop and sell real estate, with engaging in a $2.7 million Ponzi scheme that targeted approximately 30, largely elderly and unsophisticated investors over a six-year period. According to the SEC’s complaint, filed in…
Read MoreThe Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that on March 23, 2016, Gilbert Lundstrom, the former chairman of the board and CEO of TierOne Bank, based in Nebraska, was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison and ordered to pay a $1.2 million criminal fine. Lundstrom, along with TierOne’s former chief operating officer James Laphen […]
Read MoreThe Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on March 21, 2016 that on March 15, 2016, the Honorable Leigh Martin May of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia entered a final judgment against defendant Bruce Strebinger. The final judgment imposes on Strebinger a permanent injunction against future violations of certa…
Read MoreOn March 16, 2016, the Court for the Southern District of New York entered a final judgment against defendant Yue Han, based on insider trading charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Han on November 24, 2015. The SEC’s Complaint alleges that Han, who worked as an associate in Goldman Sachs’ compliance departm…
Read MoreThe Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that Uni-Pixel Inc., developer of technologies for touchscreen devices, has agreed to pay $750,000 to settle charges that it misled investors about the production status and sales agreements for a key product. Two former company executives face related charges in an SEC complaint filed today in U.S. Dist…
Read MoreOn March 9, 2016 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that a Florida man trading on inside information ahead of a pharmaceutical company merger and a friend who tipped him have agreed to settle enforcement actions against them. Jay Fung, of Delray Beach, Florida, has agreed to pay back more than $700,000 in illegal […]
Read MoreOn February 11, 2016 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Jilbert Tahmazian, a lawyer licensed in the state of California, with fraud for engaging in a prime bank scheme. Prime bank schemes involve the offer and sale of fictitious investment programs claiming that investors’ funds will be used to purchase and trade “prime bank” financial inst…
Read MoreThe Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that on January 20, 2016, the Court for the Eastern District of New York entered a final judgment against defendant Martin Weisberg. The final judgment imposes on Weisberg a permanent injunction against future violations of certain antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and bars Weisberg fro…
Read MoreThe Securities and Exchange Commission announced that on January 26, 2016, the Honorable Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California entered a final judgment against Andrew Miller, the former CEO of Silicon Valley-based technology firm, Polycom Inc. Without admitting or denying the allegations in the com…
Read MoreOn December 17, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Martin Shkreli, former CEO of pharmaceutical company Retrophin, with committing fraud during a 5-year period when he also was working as a hedge fund manager. He is notoriously known for raising the cost of the antiparasitic drug Daraprim and raising its price by 5,556 […]
Read MoreOn December 14, 2015 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged a Pittsboro, North Carolina-based startup energy company and two executives with defrauding investors in an unregistered stock offering as they purported that a big influx of capital was on the way from a major investor. According to the SEC’s complaint against CAUSwave Inc. and [&hell…
Read MoreThe Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) obtained a summary judgment against former Enron president, COO, and CEO Jeffrey Skilling to conclude its civil case that was stayed by the court starting in 2004 until the outcome of criminal proceedings and appeals. The Honorable Judge Melinda Harmon of the United States District Court for the Southern [&hellip…
Read MoreOn December 1, 2015 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged two Bitcoin mining companies and their founder with conducting a Ponzi scheme that used the lure of quick riches from virtual currency to defraud their investors. The complaint alleges that “mining” for Bitcoin or other virtual currencies means applying computer power…
Read MoreOn November 4, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced it has identified three more individuals to charge in a penny stock manipulation case that the agency filed last year against alleged corrupt brokers and others. The SEC filed a request to lift the stay in its civil action so that it could file an amended […]
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