Fraudulent Trading

Former Trautman Wasserman Executive is Latest to be Fined in Widespread Late Trading Scandal

Published on: July 10, 2007 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The former chief administrative officer of Trautman Wasserman & Co. Inc. agreed to pay a $50,000 fine to settle SEC administrative charges he helped facilitate a scheme to engage in late-trading in mutual funds shares on behalf of certain favored customers and for the firm’s own account.

The man who once served as TWCO’s “de facto chief compliance officer” consented, without either admitting or denying wrongdoing, to be barred from the securities industry, cease and desist from future violations and cooperate in the SEC’s investigation.

Earlier this year, the SEC charged the executive, TWCO and five of its other officials over their alleged roles in the scheme. The SEC claims included that he and two others he supervised thwarted efforts by mutual fund companies to curtail excessive timing.

U.S. Treasury Official Brags of Close Ties to Wall Street in Advancing Support of the “Race to the Bottom” in Compliance Laws

Published on: July 3, 2007 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The U.S. Treasury Secretary announced the second stage of its “capital markets competitiveness plan” devoted to efforts to “modernize the structure” of the regulatory system for all U.S. financial services providers. The announcement was made before the New York Stock Exchange’s conference on deals and deal-making, hosted by the Wall Street Journal.

As the securities industry is rapidly being globalized, Wall Street insists it can not compete with loose regulations elsewhere in the world unless U.S. standards for reporting, fraud and other wrongdoing are relaxed. Frenzied cries to federal and state officials hype this theme as if the “sky is falling.” Meanwhile, Republicans and Democrats, including candidates for both state and federal office, are taking the bait. Or, perhaps, these candidates know that many of the largest campaign donors around are found on Wall Street.

The fear mongering about losing the battle for listing shares has even invaded the courts as observers, including the SEC, lobby even the U.S. Supreme Court, stating that our nation is on the brink of disaster since it can not compete with foreign markets with almost no oversight.

Janus Avoids Responsibility to Mutual Fund Shareholders for Alleged Role in Widespread Market Timing Scandal

Published on: June 11, 2007 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Shareholders of mutual funds Janus Capital Group may not pursue a class action claim that the company violated federal securities laws by permitting hedge funds to engage in market timing with the shares of mutual funds operated by Janus, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland ruled.

In recent years, the U.S. Congress has been persuaded to limit class actions involving securities only to claims under federal securities laws. Meanwhile, federal securities claims are limited to misrepresentations and omissions in the purchase and sale of securities and do not, for example, include claims for actions which are simply fraudulent or negligent. Furthermore, courts have decided that no one can be held liable for assisting, or “aiding or abetting”, others in violating federal securities law. Such limitations enabled Janus avoid its responsibility and have the class action against it dismissed.

In their complaint, the plaintiffs, purchasers of Janus Group stock, alleged that the Janus Funds misstated in their fund prospectuses their policies regarding market timing and late trading.

Credit Suisse Employee Arrested in Insider Trading Scheme

Published on: June 11, 2007 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

A employee of the Global Energy Group of Credit Suisse was arrested and charged for his role in an alleged scheme using material nonpublic information on nine merger transactions involving Credit Suisse clients to obtain over $7.5 million in profits. The Securities and Exchange Commission also brought charges against the country head of investment banking at the Pakistan-based Faysal Bank.

Prosecutors said the Faysal Bank agent traded on tips about forthcoming announcements on acquisitions of publicly traded companies Northwestern Corp., Energy Partners Ltd., Veritas DGC Inc., Jacuzzi Brands Inc., Trammell Crow Co., Hydril Co., Caremark Rx Inc., John H. Harland Co., and TXU Corp. Credit Suisse advised either the target company or the acquiring entity in transactions involving each of those companies, they said.

Based on tips from the Credit Suisse employee, the Pakistani banker allegedly purchased securities in advance of a public disclosure, then quickly sold the securities once the public disclosure of an acquisition was made. Through dozens of transactions, including trades in an offshore account, the alleged scheme netted more than $7.5 million in profits, prosecutors charge.

Former Head of Commodity Trading and Head Trader at Citibank Both Jailed for Inflating Profits

Published on: May 30, 2007 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

After his former boss was sentenced, a former head of American trading on the Citibank NA commodity desk was sentenced in May to 12 months and a day in prison and ordered to pay approximately $188,000 after pleading guilty to conspiring to falsify bank records and to commit wire fraud, said a U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said Charles Craig Gile schemed to inflate trading profits of the Citibank commodity desk by as much as $20 million during 2003 to increase his stature at the firm and make himself eligible for bonuses. Garcia added that Gile and David Becker, Head of Commodities Trading at Citicorp, understated the market risk and overstated the financial performance of Citibank’s commodity holdings that year. In March, Becker was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

Garcia said the defendants accomplished their scheme using various means, including inputting false data into computer models used to estimate the value of positions held by the commodity desk. Other false inputs were apparently made to artificially decrease the amount of risk being taken by the trading desk. The models therefore showed millions of dollars of artificially inflated profits for Citibank.