Oil Well Company and Founders Accused In $2.4M Offering Fraud The SEC has filed offering fraud-related charges against Kentucky-Tennessee 50 Wells/400 BBLPD Block, Limited Partnership, its founders, and three members of its sales team over a $2.4M offering fraud. According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s complaint, the oil…
A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Panel is ordering Mid Atlantic Capital Corp. to pay David Wellman and Beverly Bien $922K. The married couple sued the independent brokerage firm for losses they sustained after they invested in Sonoma Ridge Partners (a real estate private placement), KBS-sponsored nontraded REITs, silver and gold exchange-traded…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has expelled the real estate firm formerly called DT Securities and its owner/CEO Markel Newton. According to the regulator, DT Securities and Newton engaged in negligent misrepresentations involving private placements. Markel is also barred for alleged violations involving two of the firm’s offerings to purchase…
In a voice vote on Tuesday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies is making a recommendation to broaden the criteria for which investors are eligible to purchase unregistered securities. Currently, an accredited investor that can invest in these securities must have made at…
A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Arbitration Panel is ordering AOG Wealth Management chief executive and president, Frederick Baerenz, to pay Roger and Barbara Bond $331K in compensatory damages over private placement investments. The panel found Baerenz liable for unsuitable trading because he allegedly misled the Bonds about the risks involved…
Ex-Medical Capital Holdings COO Gets 10 Years in Prison Joseph J. Lampariello, the ex-president and COO of Medical Capital Holdings, has been sentenced to 10 years and one month in prison for his involvement in a private placement fraud that became the Ponzi scam responsible for the shutdown of dozens…
Nine financial professionals are charged with scamming investors in a $131M financial fraud involving Forcefield Energy Inc. According to authorities, from 12/09 to 4/15 the defendants, which include brokers, stock promoters, and investor relations officials, manipulated the LED lighting provider’s stock by trading it in secret, using undisclosed accounts, hiding…
The Securities and Exchange Commission is pursuing a securities fraud case against American Growth Funding II, LLC. The regulator contends that the company, which raises money for business loans, lied to investors that bought high-yield securities. Also subject to charges is brokerage firm Portfolio Advisors Alliance, Ralph Johnson, Kerri Wasserman,…
Barclays Resolves Securities Fraud Claims Related to Libor Rigging Barclays PLC (BARC) has consented to pay $120 million to resolve securities fraud claims accusing the bank of conspiring with competitors to manipulate the London Interbank Offered Rate, also known as Libor. Barclays is the first to settle allegations made by…
Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK) has agreed to pay $714 million to settle claims that it bilked pension funds and others by overcharging for currency transactions. The settlements resolve cases by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, as well as both private…