Even though Accredited Crowdfunding Offerings are exempt under Rule 506(c) and no specific disclosure requirements apply, under most circumstances, the anti-fraud provisions mandate disclosure of certain information to investors
Read MoreThe SEC filed a subpoena enforcement action against three penny-stock companies and their CEO – Cherubim Interests, Inc., PDX Partners, Inc., Victura Construction Group, Inc., and Patrick Jevon Johnson – seeking an order directing them to comply with investigative subpoenas for documents. According to the SEC’s application, filed on Decembe…
Read MoreA Taiwan-based insurance company, China United Insurance Service, Inc. and one of its former managers have agreed to settle fraud charges brought by the SEC relating to a scheme to manipulate the company’s trading volume. The complaint alleges that, from approximately December 2013 through March 2018, China United Insurance Service, Inc. and Cheng-Hsiu…
Read MoreOn November 9, 2018, the SEC obtained a judgment against John Place, a former CEO of a brokerage consulting business who was charged by the SEC in August for his role in a multimillion dollar transition management fraud. The SEC previously charged a brokerage consulting business known as GTS along with three of its former officers, […]
Read MoreThe SEC announced on December 14, 2018 charges against Thomas Laws, the former CEO of Santa Fe Gold Corporation, for the misappropriation of investor funds. The SEC also obtained an asset freeze against Thomas Laws. The SEC’s complaint, unsealed on December 6, 2018, alleges that, from at least August 2016 through February 2018, Santa Fe Gold, [&hellip…
Read MoreOn December 14, 2018 the SEC charged Craig Arsenault, a California investment adviser with misappropriating client funds and misleading his clients about how their money was invested and how their investments were performing. The SEC is seeking an asset freeze and the appointment of a receiver to prevent any ongoing misappropriation or dissipation of assets…
Read MoreThe SEC has obtained a final judgment against Gregory Webb, the former Chairman and CEO of a company purportedly in the homeland security business. In October 2011, the SEC charged Gregory E. Webb, the Chairman and CEO of InfrAegis, Inc., and InfrAegis, with conducting a fraudulent, unregistered offering that raised over $20 million from at least […]
Read MoreForm S-1 registration statement filings are used by companies seeking to raise capital and go public. The Form S-1 filing ...
Read MoreThe SEC filed a subpoena enforcement action against NVC Fund LLC and its principal, Frank Ekejija, seeking an order directing them to comply with an investigative subpoena for documents and testimony. According to the SEC’s application, filed on November 30, 2018 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the SEC is investigating [&…
Read MoreOn December 7, 2018, CoinAlpha Advisors LLC submitted an Offer of Settlement, which the SEC has determined to accept. CoinAlpha Advisors LLC consented to the Cease-and-Desist Proceedings Pursuant to Section 8A of the Securities Act of 1933, Making Findings, and Imposing a Cease-and-Desist Order. CoinAlpha Advisors LLC is a Delaware limited liability company…
Read MoreOn December 6, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut entered an order dismissing, with prejudice, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s complaint against Jesse Litvak. The court’s order was based on the SEC’s motion to dismiss its claims against Jesse Litvak. Jesse Litvak was also criminally charged by the U…
Read MoreThe SEC charged Michael Rothenberg, the founder of San Francisco-based venture capital funds and his investment advisory firm with overcharging investors to fund personal projects, including sending millions of dollars to his own virtual reality production company. The SEC’s complaint alleges that Michael Rothenberg, 34, marketed his advisory firm, Rot…
Read MoreThe SEC has charged Eric “EJ” Dalius and seven corporate entities that he controlled with defrauding investors through the promotion and operation of a multimillion dollar Ponzi and pyramid scheme. The SEC alleges that Eric “EJ” Dalius, who pled guilty in 2001 to criminal charges in connection with a long distance phone card scam, and…
Read MoreOn November 29, 2018, the SEC charged Eric Landis, a self-described penny stock promoter and an entity he controlled with orchestrating a scheme to manipulate trading in at least 97 microcap stocks. According to the SEC’s complaint, Eric Landis falsely claimed to third-party media buyers for microcap companies that he would distribute promotional mater…
Read MoreOn November 29, 2018, the SEC determined to accept the Offer of Settlement which was submitted by Ricardo Goldman. A resident of Miami, Florida,Ricardo Goldman was a broker with an unregistered broker-dealer, American Capital Group. From at least November 2010 to August 2015, Ricardo Goldman solicited securities traders through day trading seminars he taught…
Read MoreOn November 9, 2018, the Honorable Nicholas G. Garaufis of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York entered a final judgment against defendant Steven Newman. The final judgment imposes on Newman a permanent injunction against future violations of certain antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and bars Newman from [&h…
Read MoreThe SEC charged Morrie Tobin and three other individuals for their roles in a scheme to profit from the manipulation and illegal sale of stock of two publicly traded companies, Environmental Packaging Technologies Holdings, Inc. and CURE Pharmaceutical Holding Corp. According to the SEC’s complaint, Morrie Tobin, a California resident, worked with co-d…
Read MoreThe former CEO and CFO of a now-defunct Dallas and New Orleans-based disaster remediation and construction business, Home Solutions of America, Inc have agreed to pay disgorgement and penalties to settle accounting fraud charges brought by the SEC. In addition, the SEC has asked the Court to convert the injunctive relief previously ordered against the [&hell…
Read MoreThe Securities and Exchange Commission announced on November 15, 2018, the resolution of three actions against the CFO of a Chicago-area information technology company, who was previously charged by the SEC and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Dhru Desai was ordered, in the SEC’s civil action, to pay approximately $1.63 million in disgorgement, prejud…
Read MoreOn January 31, 2018, the Commission filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts charging Cornelius Peterson and his former colleague, James Polese, with securities fraud for engaging in various schemes to defraud their clients, including fraudulently misappropriating $350,000 of their client’s money, using $1…
Read MoreThe SEC announced on November 14, 2018, that it has agreed to resolve its insider trading claims against James Mazzo, the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Advanced Medical Optics, Inc.for allegedly tipping information about his company’s acquisition to his close personal friend, former professional baseball player Douglas V. DeCinces. The…
Read MoreOn November 15, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) brought charges against a Long Island, New York-based boiler room previously sued for defrauding elderly and unsophisticated investors. The charges allege that First Choice Healthcare Solutions Inc. CEO Christian Romandetti, the boiler room, and four others, manipulated the company’s…
Read MoreThe Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it has awarded nearly $4 million to an overseas whistleblower whose tip led it to open an investigation and whose extensive assistance helped it bring a successful enforcement action. “Whistleblowers, whether they are located in the U.S. or abroad, provide a valuable service to investors and help us [&hel…
Read MoreThe Securities and Exchange Commission announced that an Illinois-based regional center, its CEO, and 37 affiliated limited partnerships have agreed to settle charges related to securities issued under the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, which provides foreigners who invest in the U.S. a potential path to becoming a U.S. resident. According to the SEC’s ord…
Read MoreThe Securities and Exchange Commission announced it has obtained monetary relief that will fully reimburse retail investors for losses on a leveraged oil-linked exchange-traded note (ETN) that registered representatives of Syracuse, New York-based broker-dealer and investment adviser Cadaret, Grant & Co. Inc. recommended without a reasonable basis. The S…
Read MoreThe Securities and Exchange Commission announced it has obtained a court order halting an ongoing Ponzi-like scheme that raised more than $345 million from over 230 investors across the U.S. The SEC also obtained an emergency asset freeze and the appointment of a receiver. An SEC complaint unsealed yesterday alleges that Kevin B. Merrill, Jay B. Ledford [&he…
Read MoreThe Securities and Exchange Commission entered an order finding that Citigroup Global Markets Inc. misled users of a dark pool operated by one of its affiliates. The SEC’s order found that Citigroup misled users with assurances that high-frequency traders were not allowed to trade in Citi Match, a premium-priced dark pool operated by Citi Order […]
Read MoreThe Securities and Exchange Commission charged a hedge fund adviser and his investment advisory firm with illegally profiting from a scheme to drive down the price of San Diego-based Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc., reaping more than $1.3 million of gains for the adviser and the hedge fund. The SEC’s complaint charges that Gregory Lemelson and Massachusetts-base…
Read MoreThe Securities and Exchange Commission charged an Indianapolis-based investment advisory firm and its sole owner with selling approximately $13 million of high-risk securities to more than 120 advisory clients – many of whom are current or former teachers or other workers in public education – without disclosing that the firm and its owner stood to [&hellip…
Read MoreThe Securities and Exchange Commission charged a New Jersey-based broker with misusing his access to customers’ brokerage accounts to enrich himself and family members at the expense of his customers, many of whom had entrusted him with their retirement accounts. The SEC uncovered the alleged fraud with data analysis used to detect suspicious trading pattern…
Read More
