Scott P. Strochak, an ex-broker, has pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to his involvement in the $3.8M Castleberry Financial Services Fraud. He is also now facing parallel civil fraud charges brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Prosecutors charged Strochak, who was the Director of Alternative Investments…
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is accusing Commonwealth Equity Services, also known as Commonwealth Financial Network, of not notifying clients that it had material conflicts of interest involving certain investments. This purportedly allowed the investment adviser and brokerage firm to earn more than $100M in revenue sharing involving…
Dawn Bennett, an ex-financial advisor and broker, is sentenced to 20 years in prison for operating a $20M Ponzi scam that involved 46 investors. She also must pay $14.5M in restitution and forfeit another $14M. Many of Bennett’s victims were retirees who heard about her because she hosted a radio…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has taken action against two former Wells Fargo (WFC) representatives. Ex-broker Michael Garris has been suspended for a year after the self-regulatory organization found that he made 26 unauthorized trades in the account of a client who he knew had died. Garris was fired…
Kristofor R. Behn and his Fieldstone Financial Management are now facing US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charges accusing them of defrauding retail investors. Behn and the firm, which was a registered investment adviser until March, recommended that their clients invest in Aequitas Management LLC-issued securities. In 2016, Aequitas and…
Investors in Alleged $2.3M Prime Bank Fraud Were Promised Huge Profits In the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) prime bank investment fraud case against Elizabeth Oharriz of Florida and Peter Baker of Georgia, the regulator is accusing the two of them and their companies of stealing more than $2.2M…
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed fraud charges against David Sims and Mario Procopio accusing them of running a $1.4M prime bank scam that defrauded 13 investors. ALC Holdings, LLC, Sims Equities, Inc., and El Cether-elyown, which are companies that they control, are also defendants in the…
LJM Partners is suing a number of unnamed parties after losing hundreds of millions of dollars during a major incident of stock market volatility early last year now known as “Vol-magedon.” The Chicago-based fund manager and commodity trading advisor (CTA) claims that these losses are what forced it to go…
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed civil fraud charges accusing 15 people of either “acting as unregistered brokers” or “aiding-and-abetting” this kind of activity related to the solicitation of microcap issuer Intertech Solution’s “unregistered and fraudulent securities offerings.” Already, 11 of the defendants have consented to the…
Ex-Woodbridge Group of Companies CEO and owner Robert Shapiro and former Woodbridge directors Ivan Acevedo and Dane R. Roseman are now facing criminal charges over their alleged involvement in operating a $1.2B Ponzi scam that went on from ’12 to ’17. All three men were arrested and appeared in federal…