Jay Hatton Submits Offer of Settlement

Jay Hatton (CRD #1725472, Edinburgh, Indiana) submitted an Offer of Settlement in which he was assessed a deferred fine of $10,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for two years. Without admitting or… Read More

FBI Informant Guy Gentile’s Indictment Is Tossed by the Judge

Guy Gentile Gets Good News On January 30, 2017, brokerage firm owner Guy Gentile got the good news he’d been hoping for:  Judge Jose Linares of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey had… Read More

Final Judgment Entered Against Gregg Mulholland Posted by Brenda Hamilton

On January 11, 2017, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York entered a final judgment against defendant Gregg R. Mulholland, a penny stock promoter charged in an SEC action with illegally selling more than… Read More

General Cable Corporation Settles FCPA Charges – Posted by Brenda Hamilton

Posted by Brenda Hamilton One December 29, 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that Kentucky-based General Cable Corporation agreed to pay more than $75 million to resolve parallel SEC and U.S. Department of Justice investigations related to its violations… Read More

Stanley Fortenberry Pleads Guilty to $900,000 Fraud

On November 18, 2016, Stanley Jonathan Fortenberry (a/k/a S.J., John, or Johnny Fortenberry) of San Angelo, Texas, pleaded guilty to an indictment charging him with obstruction of justice and other charges in connection with two investment companies he ran that… Read More

Lime Energy Co. and Four Execs Charged with Accounting Fraud

On 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… Read More

Robert Gadimian Charged with Insider Trading

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) today charged the former senior director of regulatory affairs for Puma Biotechnology with insider trading ahead of the company’s news announcements about a drug to treat breast cancer. The SEC alleges that… Read More

RPM International Charged with Disclosure and Accounting Failures

On September 9, 2016 the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) charged Ohio-based chemical company RPM International Inc. and its General Counsel, Edward Moore, with failing to disclose a material loss contingency, or record an accrual for, a government… Read More

Guy Gentile Says FBI Double-Crossed Him

Stockbroker Guy Gentile was flying high as 2012 began.  In January, he gave an interview to the Nassau Guardian in which he predicted wild success for his new Bahamas brokerage, SureTrader, a division of Swiss America Securities, Ltd.,… Read More

Court Enters Final Judgment Against Jilbert Tahmazian in an Antifraud Action

On 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… Read More

Operation Bermuda Short In Retrospect

Many penny stocks have bad histories, or are associated with questionable players.  Only last December, convicted felon Edward Durante was civilly and criminally charged in a securities fraud and manipulation scheme he’d embarked upon immediately after leaving prison… Read More

Daniel and Matthew Rivera Charged for Running a Ponzi Scheme Directed at Seniors

  On 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,… Read More

California Businessman Daniel Nase Stole Investor Funds and Tried to Conceal It

  On March 11, 2016 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced fraud charges against California businessman Daniel Nase, accusing him of stealing investor assets and then trying to cover it up once the SEC caught onto his… Read More

Court Denies Motion to Reconsider Summary Judgment Against June Fujinaga

On March 4, 2016, the Honorable James C. Mahan, United States District Judge for the District of Nevada, entered an order denying a motion for reconsideration of the final judgment filed by relief defendants June Fujinaga and her… Read More

Court Approves Summary Judgment Against Stewart Merkin

On January 13, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed entry of summary judgment in favor of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on its claims of securities fraud against defendant Stewart Merkin… Read More

Cry Me a Sater…Felix Sater & Donald Trump

  In February 2015, Felix Sater proudly announced the debut of a new website.  As he puts it, it “showcases [his] accomplishments, contributions, musings, and availability.”  Though Sater describes himself as a veteran of the commercial real estate… Read More

Zhichen Zhou and Yannan Liu Charged with Insider Trading

On November 10, 2015 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced insider trading charges and an emergency asset freeze against cousins Zhichen Zhou and Yannan Liu. The SEC alleged that the Defendants traded in advance of the acquisition of… Read More

FINRA Expels Halcyon Cabot Partners

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced today that it has expelled Halcyon Cabot Partners, Ltd., and barred Chief Executive Officer Michael Morris and Chief Compliance Officer Ronald Heineman from the securities industry, for securities fraud, sales practice… Read More

Aegis Capital Corporation fined $950,000 By FINRA

Aegis Capital Corporation has been fined $950,000 by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority over allegations of improper sales of unregistered penny stocks of five issuers and anti-money laundering supervisory failures. As a result, Aegis is also required to… Read More

Disclosure Obligations in Regulation A+ Offerings

The Anti-Fraud Provisions And  Regulation A+  On March 25, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted final rules amending Regulation A. The new rules are often referred to as Regulation A+. These rules are designed to facilitate smaller companies’ access to… Read More

Regulation A+ Adds Two New Bad Actor Disqualification Triggers

The final Regulation A+ rules amend Rule 262 to include bad actor disqualification provisions as adopted under Rule 506(d) of Regulation D.  Consistent with the disqualification provisions of Rule 506(d), the final rules add two additional disqualification triggers… Read More

A Tale of Two Stings: The Amogear and CitySide Reverse Merger

Down the Rabbit Hole We Go Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts charged against five individuals whose attempt to manipulate shares of Amogear Inc. was caught in an… Read More

When Can Public Companies Use Social Media? Going Public Lawyers

Securities Lawyer 101 Blog The use of social media is a growing concern with new exemptions that allow issuers to engage in general solicitation and advertising of their unregistered offerings. The Securities and Exchange Commission has made its position on… Read More

Brenda Hamilton Featured By Intuit About Direct Public Offerings and Going Public

Intuit Inc., a provider of small business software solutions, including QuickBooks, tackles accounting, taxes, budgets, and personal finances with TurboTax. Quicken featured an interview with  Securities Attorney Brenda Hamilton.* Brenda Hamilton practices Securities Law focusing on Direct Public Offerings… Read More

Bad Actor Waivers- Regulation A+ – Rule 506 – Going Public

On March 13, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) provided guidance addressing waivers of disqualification for bad actors under Regulation A and Rules 505 and 506 of Regulation D of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. A waiver… Read More

Does FINRA Approve Going Public Transactions? Going Public Attorneys

By The Going Public Attorneys – The Financial Institution Regulatory Authority (FINRA) plays an important role in going public transactions.  While filing a registration statement on Form S-1 will make a company reporting with the Securities and Exchange Commission,… Read More

Can I Afford To Go Public on the OTCQB? – Going Public Lawyer

Going public requirements vary for companies seeking to go public on the OTC Markets, OTC Pink, and OTCQB marketplace.  The biggest difference is that most of the time (but not always) companies who go public on the OTCQB… Read More

Medbox & The License to Swindle – Peter Berney Shells

Down the Rabbit Hole We Go We were recently asked to review a penny stock company called Medbox Inc. (MDBX).  The Medbox story has been of considerable interest over the past two years, for the most part because… Read More

Six Years Later – U.S. v Ross Mandell

In July 2009, Ross Mandell, founder of Sky Capital Holdings, Ltd., a venture capital firm and brokerage, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and charged with violating the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.  According to the… Read More

The Going Public Lawyer’s Dictionary

The Going Public Lawyer’s Dictionary was created to assist companies to become familiar with certain terms they will encounter during their going public transaction.  It is crucial that you understand and can speak the going public lingo!