The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is warning investors interested in buying shares in companies touting potentially high returns related to cryptocurrency-related activities, but that are unable to “back up such claims,” to be on the lookout for potential financial fraud. The self-regulatory organization provided a number of “tips” for avoiding…
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has filed financial fraud charges against the Woodbridge Group of Companies, LLC and its owner Robert H. Shapiro. The Woodbridge Group is comprised of unregistered investment companies. According to the regulator, Woodbridge and Shapiro ran a $1.2B Ponzi Scam that bilked over 8,400 investors,…
Shawn Baldwin, a Chicago investment manager, is charged with eight counts of wire fraud. Baldwin, who owns a number of investment-related firms, is accused of fraudulently obtaining over $10M from at least 17 individual investors and corporate lenders between 2006 and May 2017. According to the criminal indictment accusing him…
Ex-Philadelphia Eagles Player Who Bilked Former Coaches is Sentenced to 40 Years Merrill Robertson Jr., a former Philadelphia Eagles football player, will serve 40 years in prison for a $10M fraud that bilked investors. Among his investor fraud victims were coaches he knew from when he played football at the…
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has filed civil charges against two brokers for allegedly carrying out broker fraud in the form of unsuitable trades that made them money while costing investors. According to the regulator’s complaint, Zachary Berkey and Daniel Fischer engaged in in-and-out trading—a strategy that was “almost…
FINRA Orders JPMorgan Securities to Pay $1.25M The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said that J.P. Morgan Securities LLC (JPM) will pay $1.25M for not conducting proper background checks—or, in certain instances, conducting them but not in a timely enough manner—from 1/2009 through 5/2017 on 8,600 of its associated persons that…
Credit Suisse AG (CS) has agreed to settle currency rigging charges brought by New York’s Department of Financial Services by paying $135M. According to the state regulator, from at least ’08 to ’15, the Zurich-based bank violated NY banking law and engaged in other “unlawful conduct” that “disadvantaged customers.” The…
Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC trustee Irving H. Picard announced that a settlement has been reached for $687M with Thema International Fund for its ties to the multibillion-dollar Madoff Ponzi Scam. Now, a court must approve the agreement. According to Bloomberg, the “Irish investment fund funneled $1.1B” to the…
Lord Abbett is suing Valeant Pharmaceuticals contending that the defendant violated New Jersey’s RICO law. The institutional investor is claiming $80B in losses. By invoking the state’s RICO law, Lord Abbett could seek a penalty three times greater than the actual losses it allegedly suffered when the pharmaceutical company’s share…
Two years after the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) barred former UBS Financial Services of Puerto Rico (UBS-PR) broker Jose Ramirez, nicknamed the Whopper, our UBS Puerto Rico fraud attorneys are continuing to provide representation to investors who sustained losses because they took his and other UBS-PR brokers’ advice to…