Cohn, Also A Former SEC Examiner, Is Charged With Obstruction
The criminal trial of Michael Cohn, the ex-GPB Capital Holdings chief compliance officer, has been postponed after he expressed concern that his pre-existing health conditions placed him at a higher risk of contracting the coronavirus (COVID-19).
Cohn is charged by federal prosecutors with obstruction of justice. The US government alleges that he took information about US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s investigation into the alternative asset firm, while he was still an SEC examiner, and shared it with GPB executives.
GPB Holdings, which focuses on auto dealerships and waste management, is accused of operating a $1.5B Ponzi scam. The private placement firm remains under scrutiny by the SEC, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and others. The criminal allegations against Cohn are just one of many claims plaguing GPB related to the mass fraud it is accused of perpetrating against thousands of investors.
Over the last two years, Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (SSEK Law Firm) has been hard at work pursuing claims against the many brokers and their brokerage firms that sold private placements in one of the GPB funds to investors. If you are one of these investors and you would like to explore your legal options, contact us today. We’ve instituted the necessary health and safety precautions to protect our clients and our team, and SSEK Law Firm remains open for business so that we can continue to help investors recover their securities fraud losses.
List of GPB Funds You May Have Invested in:
Below is a list of the GPB private placements and funds that you have invested in through your stockbroker’s recommendation:
- GPB Holdings
- GPB Automotive Portfolio
- GPB Holdings II
- GPB Cold Storage
- GPB Scientific
- GPB Waste Management
- GPB Holdings III
- Armada Waste Management
- GPB Holdings Qualified
- GPB NYC Development
- GPB Eurobond Finance
Ex-GPB CCO Allegedly Shared Confidential Information from the SEC
Michael Cohn, whose trial was slated to begin mid-June, was granted a postponement of another three months to at least September 8th by U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown in New York.
The former GPB Capital CCO pleaded not guilty to the obstruction charge last October after the US Justice Department (DOJ) accused him of accessing information in the SEC’s probe to which he wasn’t authorized and sharing what he learned with GPB executives during interviews for the high paying COO job. GPB Holdings fired Cohn in the wake of the criminal charges.
GPB Capital Holdings Caught Up In Ponzi Scheme Accusations
GPB Capital Holdings has been accused of not just operating your run-of-the-mill Ponzi scam, but rather, a “complex” scheme involving numerous co-conspirator individuals and entities. Meantime, investors were promised up to 8% returns, which have not come to fruition.
All of the GPB funds have plunged dramatically in value, and audited financial statements that would tell shareholders what their investments are worth–if anything at all–has not been delivered to investors or regulators in over two years. Even GPB’s own auditors have resigned.
The alternative asset firm has since become the subject of a number of lawsuits, including class actions and complaints by at least two of its former business partners. Also, at the center of many investments and securities fraud complaints are the dozens of brokerage firms and their stockbrokers who sold GPB investments, earning around $160M in commissions in the process.
Broker Fraud Claims Over GPB Investor Losses
SSEK Law Firm has been busy pursuing FINRA arbitration claims on behalf of investors against a number of these broker-dealers, including Kalos Capital, Arkadios Capital, Ameriprise (AMP), and Money Concepts Capital. We continue to prepare GPB investment fraud complaints even as COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on the economy, the markets, and investors’ portfolios.
Over the years, our broker fraud law firm has recovered many millions of dollars for thousands of investors. SSEK Law Firm represents clients throughout the United States.