Securities Fraud

Money Manager Paul Greenwood Gets 10 Years in Prison for $1.3B Investment Fraud

Published on: December 4, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The U.S. Commodity Future Trading Commission says that hedge fund Paul Greenwood has been sentenced to ten years behind bars. Greenwood, who was the general partner of WG Trading Co., pleaded guilty to numerous criminal charges, including securities fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, commodities fraud, and conspiracy in 2010.

Greenwood and fellow WG Trading manager Steven Walsh were indicted on charges that accused them of conspiring to bilk investor of $554 million in an investment scam that U.S. prosecutors say ran from 1996 through 2009. Greenwood admitted to “sort of” operating a Ponzi scam and spending a minimum of $75 million of investors’ funds to pay for his passion for museum-grade teddy bears and other lavish spending. The scheme purportedly cost investors somewhere between $800 million to $900 million.

U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum, who sentenced Greenwood, told him to forfeit another $83.5 million. He has until February 9, 2015 to report to prison. Prosecutors told the judge that Greenwood helped the government with its case. He also assisted a court-appointed receivership in finding around $900 million, which is nearly 90% of investor claims. As part of his plea deal, Greenwood said he would forfeit at least $331 million to the government.

SEC Claims Fraud Involving a REIT and Bogus Senior Resident Occupants

Published on: December 3, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claims that two ex-executives at Assisted Living Concepts Inc. committed fraud by listing bogus occupants at certain senior residences to satisfy the lease requirements to run the facilities. The regulator is accusing former CFO John Buono and previous CEO Laurie Bebo of coming up with a scam that included bogus disclosures and manipulation of records and books when it started to look as if Wisconsin-based assisted living provider was going to default on covenants in a lease agreement with Ventas Inc., which is a real estate investment trust.

Per the covenants, ALC was obligated to keep up minimum occupancy rates and coverage rations while running the facilities or otherwise default on the lease. A default would have obligated the company to pay whatever rent was due for the lease’s remainder of term, which would have been tens of millions of dollars.

According to the SEC Enforcement Division, to meet covenant requirements Buono and Bebo told accounting personnel to work out coverage ratios and occupancy rates by factoring in phony occupants. These nonexistent occupants included Bebo’s relatives and friends, in addition to previous and former ALC employees (including some who had been fired and who hadn’t yet been officially hired), as well as a seven-year-old “senior resident.” Without this false information, contends the agency, ALC would have not met convenant requirements by substantial margins for several quarters in a row.

SEC Commissioner Wants Elder Fraud at Top of 2015 Agenda

Published on: November 29, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissioner Michael S. Piwowar says that he wants investigations into elder fraud to stay one of the agency’s top priorities in 2015. Financial fraud targeting seniors is costing this demographic big time. According to a 2011 study by MetLife and the Center for Gerontology at Virginia Tech senior financial fraud victims sustain around $2.9 billion in losses yearly.

One of the reasons for this is that older Americans tend to make more vulnerable targets for fraudsters. They are easier to deceive with bogus sales pitches and some of them may suffer from debilitating mental or cognitive illnesses that can make it hard for them to know they are being bilked.

Also, scammers like to go after elder investors because many of them have accumulated enough retirement money that they have significant funds that fraudsters can steal. Unfortunately, a senior that is the victim of elder financial fraud may no longer have the time or be at an age when he/she can earn back whatever is lost, which can make his/her retirement years a struggle.

Securities Fraud Headlines: ConvergEx Group Subsidiary Gets Criminal Sentence for Fraud, Ohio Man Gets Prison Term for Scam, Two Men Face Charges Over Predictive Software, and Fund Manager Admits to $17M Ponzi Scam

Published on: November 28, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

CGM Limited Pleads Guilty to Securities Fraud

CGM Limited, a subsidiary of ConvergEx, must pay a criminal penalty and restitution of $26 million for conspiracy to commit both securities fraud and wire fraud, as well as for wire fraud. The U.S. Department of Justice says that CGM limited charged clients millions of dollars in hidden and unwarranted fees. CovergEx is a global trading and brokerage firm. CGM Limited pleaded guilty to the criminal charges.

The government says that CGM Limited and certain traders and executives bilked clients by lying to them and taking the money in the form of fees. CGM Limited admitted that there were ConvergEx Group broker-dealers that regularly sent over securities trade orders so a mark-up could be taken when the orders were executed.

Unregistered Florida-Based Broker Charged with Securities Fraud

Published on: November 26, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The SEC has charged Albert Scipione with securities fraud allegedly involving stealing investor money in a day trading scam. Scipione, who is an unregistered broker, has already pleaded guilty to criminal charges in a parallel case.

According to the SEC, Scipione and Matthew P. Ionno pursued investors to set up accounts at their Traders Café for day trading. This involved the swift selling and buying of stocks during the day to see if stock values will rise or fall while the stock is owned so a quick profit can be made. Traders Café, which belonged to two men, was never registered with the Commission as a brokerage firm.

Scipione purportedly pushed the company’s trading platform while making bogus misrepresentations to investors about high trading leverage, fees, commissions, and their assets’ safety. The regulator says that Scipione and Ionno raised over $500,000. Investors were told that their money would be only used for day trading or certain other specified uses. Instead, a lot of customers found that they couldn’t trade at all.

SEC Wants $602M Fund Set Up for Victims of SAC Capital’s Insider Trading

Published on: November 17, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is asking a district judge to authorize a fair fund to pay back people shareholders who didn’t participate in an insider trading scam involving shares of Wyeth LLC and Elan Corp. PLC. The regulator is seeking to reimburse people who traded the stocks over a seven-day period in July 2008, which is the week when SAC Capital Advisors LP liquidated a $700 million position in both companies because of illicit tips obtained by former fund manager Mathew Martoma. The SEC is suggesting that the $602 million it collected from SAC Capital over the matter should be used to repay the shareholders.

SAC Capital, now known as Asset Management LP, had agreed to pay $1.8 billion to settle a criminal indictment for the insider trading allegations. Of that money, $616 million was a penalty to the SEC over related charges. However, not all SEC commissioners are on board with the regulator’s fair fund recommendation. Commissioners Michael Piwowar and Daniel Gallagher have expressed their dissent.

Meantime, Martoma has just lost a bid to stay out of jail while he appeals his conviction. Martoma was sentenced to nine years behind bars after he was found guilty of three counts of conspiracy and securities fraud.

NASAA Identifies Investments Most Likely to Cause Harm in 2015

Published on: November 15, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The North American Securities Administrators Association has named what it believes are the financial products that pose the greatest threat to investors. The group said that a lot of these dangers involve new products employed in classic financial scamshttps://www.stockbroker-fraud.com, some propelled by the Internet. Many involve unlicensed agents seeking to sell unregistered products.

The Investments That NASAA Says Pose the Greatest Emergent Threats:

Binary Options: These are securities as options contracts with a payout that is dependent on whether the underlying asset goes up or down in value. These typically have an all-or-nothing payout structure that either gives an investor a pre-determined amount of money if the asset’s value goes up or nothing at all if it goes down. The latter option can place an investor at risk of losing the entire investment. Related risks may include illegal distributions, promotional scams, identity theft, purposely created losing trades, and the use of online trading platforms that do not comply with regulatory requirements.

SEC Files Charges in Massachusetts Pump-And-Dump Scam, International Microcap Fraud, and Issues Investor Alert

Published on: November 7, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against California Attorney Richard Weed, Coleman Flaherty, and Thomas Brazil. The regulator contends that Weed facilitated a pump and dump scam involving CitySide Tickets Inc. stock that allowed Flaherty and Brazil to get millions of supposedly unrestricted shares.

Investors were barraged with a misleading and false promotional campaign presenting CitySide Tickets as a company in the verge of expansion and success. As the stock price went up, Flaherty and Brazil sold their shares to investors, causing the two of them to make about $3 million in illicit proceeds. Weed purportedly was well compensated for the role that he played.

The Commission charges the three men with violating federal securities laws’ antifraud provisions and related rules. The agency wants disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, interest, penalties, permanent injunctions against further violations, and penny stock bars. Meantime, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts has filed a parallel criminal case against Flaherty, Brazil, and Weed.

SEC Fines E*TRADE Subsidiaries Over $1M Penalty for Unregistered Microcap Securities Sales, Puts Out Risk Alert Regarding Broker-Dealer Duties To Clients

Published on: October 25, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Earlier this month, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission put out a Risk Alert reminding brokerage firms about their duties when they take part in unregistered transactions for customers. The guidance came, along with the announcement that the agency had filed an enforcement action against former and current E*TRADE Financial Corporation (ETFC) brokerage subsidiaries that did not successfully act as gatekeepers and improperly engaged in the unregistered sales of microcap stock for customers.

According to the SEC, E*TRADE Capital Markets and E*TRADE Securities sold billions of penny stock shares for customers between 2007 and 2011. During this time, there were numerous occasions when they disregarded red flags indicating that the offerings were taking place without an applicable exemption from federal securities laws’ registration provisions.

The two brokerage firms consented to repay over $1.5 million in disgorgement plus prejudgment interest from commissions they made on the improper sales. They also have to pay a $1 million combined penalty.

During Fiscal Year 2014, SEC Files Record Number of Enforcement Actions

Published on: October 22, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the agency filed a record number of enforcement actions in 2014. Concluding the fiscal year on September 30, the regulator announced that it filed 755 SEC enforcement actions and obtained orders of $4.16 billion in disgorgement and penalties. Last year, the agency filed 686 actions and brought in $3.4 billion in fines.

The SEC credited new investigative strategies and innovations with analytical tools and data as playing a part in contributing to what it considers a solid year for enforcement. There were also first-ever cases, including actions over market access rules, “pay-to-play” for investment advisers, whistleblower retaliation, and stopping a municipal bond offering.

During fiscal year 2014, the SEC said that it charged over 135 parties with reporting and disclosure-related actions, focused resources on fighting microcap fraud and market manipulation-including penny stock scams-fought international fraud schemes, pursued firms for not setting up adequate risk controls, obtained the biggest penalty yet against an alternative trading system, enhanced oversight of dark pools, and imposed penalties for net capital rule violations.