According to InvestmentNews, New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito is asking the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to conduct a probe into OppenheimerFunds, Inc. (“OPY”) and its impact on Puerto Rico’s financial woes. Speaker Mark-Viverito believes that the asset-management company played a part in making Puerto Rico’s financial…
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 has filed financial fraud cases against Logitech International and Ener1. Logitech, a technology manufacturer, will pay $7.5M to resolve the charges. Its former controller, Michael Doktorczyk and ex-accounting director, Sherallyn Bolles, will pay $50K and $25K penalties, respectively. The SEC said that the two companies…
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is charging four men with fraud. The regulator claims that Joseph Andrew Paul, James S. Quay, John D. Ellis, Jr., and Donald H. Ellison sought to bilk investors, including seniors, by promising them lucrative returns for their money. The SEC contends that Ellis and…
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against brothers Daniel Rivera and Matthew Rivera with fraud. The two men are accused of running a $2.7 million Ponzi scam that targeted unsophisticated older investors. According to the SEC, from ’08 to ’14, Daniel told investors that they could make money…
New Jersey adviser John Bivona is facing U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges accusing him of raising over $53M from investors in a Ponzi-like scam that involved the selling of investments in pre-IPO tech companies. However, contends the SEC, instead of investing the funds as intended, he used investor money…
FINRA Panel Awards Estate Over $34M from Morgan Stanley in the Wake of Churning Allegations A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel awarded the estate of Home Shopping Network Roy M. Speer over $34M in its case against Morgan Stanley (MS). The panel ruled that the firm, branch manager Terry…
Former AIG Affiliate Brokerage Firms to Pay $7.5M Fine, $2M Restitution Over High-Priced Mutual Funds Royal Alliance Associates, FSC Securities Corp., and SagePoint Financial have agreed to pay over $9.5M to resolve Securities and Exchange Commission charges accusing them of guiding clients toward expensive mutual fund share classes so that…
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced this week that Jay Y. Fung, a Florida man accused of insider trading, has agreed to repay over $700K in illegal profits plus over $60K in interest that he made after he bought stock and call options in Pharmasset Inc. prior to its…
The Securities and Exchange Commission says that Aequitas Management LLC and four affiliates allegedly bilked over 1,500 investors. One of the affiliates, Aequitas Capital Management, has been in the headlines recently in the wake of news that the investment firm was letting go of almost all of its employees because…