According to a Securities and Exchange Commission probe, Forcerank LLC will pay a penalty of $50K for illegally offering complex derivatives products to retail investors. The company did this via mobile phone games referred to as “fantasy sports for stocks.” Forcerank is settling the case without deny or admitting to…
SEC Charges Hawaii-Based Investment Adviser for Misleading Clients and Cherry Picking The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed civil charges against Oracle Investment Research, which is based in Hawaii, and its owner Laurence I. Balter. The regulator claims that the investment adviser cherry picked trades that were profitable for…
Sethi Petroleum Inc. and its founder Sameer P. Sethi are asking a federal judge to send the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s fraud case against it to trial. Sethi Petroleum is based in Dallas, Texas. The regulator had sought summary judgment in the Texas lawsuit, which accuses Sethi Petroleum and…
Massachusetts claims that Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (MS) ran a high-pressure sales contest to give its financial advisers incentive to get clients to borrow funds against their brokerage accounts. Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin filed the complaint against the firm. According to the state, from 1/14 through…
The Securities and Exchange Commission is charging ex-Samoyedic’s Inc. and Fun Cool Free Inc. founder Craig V. Sizer and boiler room operator Miguel Mesa with involvement in a $20M penny stock scam to bilk senior investors and others. At least 600 investors were allegedly victimized in the fraud. The…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has ordered Avenir Financial Group to pay a $229K fine over allegations that the latter engaged in the fraudulent sale of promissory notes and equity interests in the firm. Avenir is suspended from taking part in the self-offerings of securities for two years. According…
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is awarding over $4M to a whistleblower for providing original information that led to a successful fraud case. This is individual is the 34th whistleblower that the SEC’s program has awarded since 2011, upping the total amount granted in such awards to over $111M.…
Chad Peter Smanjak has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison. Smanjak admitted to operating a pump-and-dump scam linked to a company founded by Daniel Ruettiger, also known as Rudy. Ruettiger’s time playing football at Notre Dame was retold in the movie “Rudy.” Smanjak is accused of…
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said that BOK Financial Corporation subsidiary BOKF NA will pay over $1.6M to resolve charges accusing the Oklahoma-based bank of ignoring signs that businessman Christopher F. Brogdon was engaged in suspect activates related to his management of municipal bond offerings for investors. Brogdon was…
Andrew Caspersen is now permanently barred from the investment industry. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the ban. Caspersen, who used to be the managing principal at Park Hill Group and is the son of financier and philanthropist Finn M. W. Caspersen, had pleaded guilty to criminal charges of securities…