On September 8, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged a sports supplements and nutrition company with committing a series of accounting and disclosure violations, including the failure to properly report perks provided to its executives as compensation. MusclePharm Corporation agreed to settle the charges along with three current or form…
Read MoreOn June 30, 2015, United States Magistrate Judge Sidney I. Schenkier issued an order requiring production of certain documents that Navistar International Corporation (Navistar) claimed to be privileged in response to investigative subpoenas issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC filed an Application for an order Compelling Complia…
Read MoreSecurities Lawyer 101 Blog On November 12, 2014, Medbox, Inc. (MDBX) put an end to nearly two weeks of speculation by acknowledging in its 10-Q for the period ended September 30 that the company has received a formal notice of investigation from the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). According to the quarterly report, on November 10, […]
Read MoreOn August 9, 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) announced charges against Chuck Moore and Crucible Capital Group, a New York-based brokerage firm for allegedly violating net capital requirements and falsifying books and records to conceal the capital deficiencies. The SEC’s Division of Enforcement alleges that Charles “Chuck” Moore and…
Read MoreSecurities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) investigations can result from a variety of factors. SEC investigations can be triggered in various ways, including during the SEC’s routine review of SEC reports and schedules, routine inspections by FINRA of clearing houses and/or brokerage firms, reports and tips from investors or whistleblowers, refer…
Read MoreThe SEC’s Enforcement Division conducts investigations pursuant to formal Orders of Investigation that authorize the staff of the Enforcement Division to seek the production of relevant information, either in the form of documents or witness testimony. Although the SEC does not have prosecutoral powers, it often refers cases to the U.S. Attorney’s Office fo…
Read MoreOver the past several months, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been sending a clear message: social media-driven stock promotions involving foreign-based issuers will be met with swift action, in the form of an SEC trading suspension. Since September 2025, the SEC has announced 14 trading suspensions. All 14 issuers that were suspended were…
Read MoreSEC Enforcement Actions & Administrative Proceedings SEC enforcement actions and administrative proceedings play a critical role in maintaining the integrity of the financial markets. These actions address violations of securities laws, protect investors, and ensure compliance among issuers, brokers, and investment advisors.
Read MoreAs expected, under the new Trump administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC“) has reversed course on its approach to crypto enforcement. Donald Trump became a very strong supporter of digital assets and cryptocurrencies during his presidential run and has recently gone all out with crypto ventures. On January 18, 2025, Trum…
Read MoreOn December 11, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC“) filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Utah charging five individuals and three entities for their roles in a fraudulent scheme to secretly acquire and dump into public securities markets millions of shares of microcap stocks. Utah [&hell…
Read MoreOn November 22, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Washington, D.C., made its ruling in a case involving Alpine Securities Corporation (“Alpine”) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA“), reversing a decision by a lower court and siding, in part, with Alpine. Alpine had b…
Read MoreOn November 22, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it filed 583 total enforcement actions in fiscal year 2024 while obtaining orders for $8.2 billion in financial remedies, the highest amount in SEC history. The 583 enforcement actions represent a 26 percent decline in total enforcement actions compared to fiscal year 2023. Of [&hell…
Read MoreOn September 20, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC” or “Commission”) issued an Administrative Order against securities attorney Matthew C. McMurdo for violating Section 4C of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) and Rule 102(e)(1)(ii) of the Commission’s Rules of Practice. According to the Order, f…
Read MoreOn September 9, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) announced settled charges against seven public companies for using employment, separation, and other agreements that violated rules prohibiting actions to impede whistleblowers from reporting potential misconduct to the SEC. To settle the SEC’s charges, the companies agreed…
Read MoreOn August 23, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced It had awarded a total of $98 million to two SEC whistleblowers “whose information and assistance led to an SEC enforcement action and an action brought by another agency.” The first lucky tipster, whose contribution prompted the opening of an investigation and who prov…
Read MoreCassava Sciences (SAVA) is a Nasdaq issuer that claims to have developed a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease; the product is currently in Phase 3 trials. It’s called Simufilam, and the company says it not only stops the progression of the disease but also reverses its effects. In 2021, its stock spiked and sold off dramatically […]
Read MoreOn July 26, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced an award of more than $37 million to a whistleblower whose information and assistance led to a successful SEC enforcement action. The whistleblower persisted in reporting the misconduct internally, which led the employer to conduct its own investigation and eventually report the results…
Read MoreOn July 26, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced litigation filed against activist short seller Andrew Left and his firm, Citron Capital LLC, for devising and executing a $20 million scheme to defraud retail investors who followed his frequent tweets and the research analyst reports he published at his website. On the same day, […]
Read MoreOnce the SEC staff declares your company’s Securities Act registration statement on Form S-1 effective, the company becomes subject to the SEC’s reporting requirements under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These rules require your company to file annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K with […]
Read MoreOn May 23, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida granted the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (the “SEC“) application to enforce a subpoena for the production of documents to James L. Koutoulas (“Koutoulas ”) and denied Koutoulas’s petition to quash that subpoena. If a person or entity refuses to comply with…
Read MoreIn July 2012, the SEC adopted a new Rule 613 under Section 11A(a)(3)(B) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”). It would require national securities exchanges and national Self-Regulatory Organizations (“SROs’) “to act jointly in developing a national market system (‘NMS’) plan to develop, implement, and maintain a consolidated order trackin…
Read MoreOn January 3, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) announced that it obtained an asset freeze and other emergency relief concerning an alleged $93 million real estate investment fraud perpetrated by Miami-based developer Rishi Kapoor. The SEC also charged Location Ventures LLC, Urbin LLC, and 20 other related entities in conne…
Read MoreConvertible Financing For decades, microcap issuers on the OTC Markets in need of financing have largely been forced to turn to what are known as “toxic funders” or “toxic lenders.” The money they offer comes with a hefty price tag. It’s paid in exchange for convertible securities that are almost invariably market-adjustable. That means the […]
Read MoreAs summer peaked at the end of July, Meta Materials (MMAT) popped back into the news. What had happened? The company filed a Form 8-K explaining that MMAT, its CEO George Palikaras. and John Brda, the former CEO of Torchlight Energy Resources, the company with which Meta had merged in order to list quickly on […]
Read MoreOn Monday, July 17, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) charged New Jersey resident and former broker-dealer registered representative, James P. Anglim, for engaging in multiple deceptive and manipulative schemes to assist various people who controlled large blocks of public company stock (“Control Persons”) to sell that stock to invest…
Read MoreOn February 1, 2023, three Minnesota men met in a parking lot in Bloomington, about 10 miles from Minneapolis, to discuss business. Richard B. Myre, 44, arrived first, in his black Ford F-150. He pulled into the lot for France Place, an office building, at around 4:15 p.m. He parked and waited for his partners, […]
Read MoreAs this year’s long Fourth of July holiday began, surprising “news” about Gary Gensler, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, spread across social media. Its source was a blog called CryptoAlert. The headline was an attention grabber: “SEC Sources Confirm Gary Gensler Resignation.” No such move had been announced, or even hinted at, by [&hellip…
Read MoreOn June 1, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) announced charges against Auctus Fund Management, LLC (“Auctus Management”) and its co-owners Alfred Sollami of Brookline, Massachusetts and Louis Posner of Mansfield, Massachusetts, for failing to register as securities dealers with the SEC. Auctus Management, Solla…
Read MoreOn Wednesday, March 22nd, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC“) announced charges against eight celebrities in connection with a broader investigation of crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun and three of his companies: Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Ltd., and Rainberry Inc., which marketed crypto asset securities under the…
Read MoreOn January 20, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) charged Avraham Eisenberg with orchestrating an attack on a crypto asset trading platform, Mango Markets, by manipulating the MNGO token, a so-called governance token that was offered and sold as a security. Eisenberg, a 27-year-old U.S. citizen who was arrested and detained…
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