The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit says that a district court improperly applied an “identity theft enhancement” when calculating the prison sentence of Bryan Hawes, a rogue investment adviser who had pled guilty to two counts of mail fraud. As a result, Judge Marjorie Rendell vacated Hawes’s…
Two Brazilian nationals have been indicted on money laundering and other charges related to an alleged $50 million international penny stock scam that took money from many international investors. The two defendants, Marcos Macchione and Rodrigo Molina, face charges of money laundering, conspiracy, and participating in illegal financial transactions. The…
Holston, Young, Parker & Associates Operator Boris Shuster has pled guilty to 14 counts of wire fraud and 13 counts of mail fraud in a foreign currency exchange scam that cost approximately $6.5 million and affected over 200 investors. Shuster, also known as “Robert,” was sentenced to 12 years and…
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is charging Diego Mariano Rolando, an Argentine investment adviser, for his role in a $43.8 scheme that defrauded some 400 investors in the United States, South America, and Europe. Earlier this month, the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut issued a restraining…
Questar Capital Corp’s senior vice president of mergers and acquisitions claims he too was victim of a $250 million alleged Ponzi scheme that affected up to 1,200 investors-many senior citizens residing in Michigan, California, Illinois, New York, Florida, New Jersey, and Ohio. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Edward May…
The Florida Office of Financial Regulation and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement are investigating Michael O. Traynor and his son, Matthew O. Traynor, former brokers at InterSecurities, Inc. Complaints from at least a dozen investors allege that the Traynors defrauded clients out of approximately $8 million. In addition to…
Only a tiny fraction of whistleblower claims against companies have been successful since the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley law five years ago, raising questions about the ability of employees to raise the alarm about corporate malfeasance, a study claims. While corporate America whines almost daily about “burdens” placed by it…
In one of the largest online stock manipulation campaigns in history, spammers sent out some 500 million e-mails last month advising recipients to invest in Prime Time Stores Inc. This prime example of “pump and dump” scamming involved spammers purchasing shares in a company, promoting it, and then waiting for…
Washington lawyer Peggy Blake, who recently joined Winston & Strawn as a corporate partner, reports her foreign financial services clients are “very optimistic” about the movement afoot at the Securities and Exchange Commission to adopt a mutual recognition regime. Yet, during recent trips to London and Geneva, she found a…
In a letter to his Berkshire Hathaway shareholders entitled “How to Minimize Investment Returns,” Warren Buffett points out that between December 31, 1899 and December 31, 1999, the Dow rose from 66 to 11,497. That’s a 17,400% gain! Thus, a hundred dollars invested into a Dow portfolio during the 20th…