SEC Cases: Insider Trading Charges Filed Against Georgia Resident, Mutual Fund Adviser Accused of Improper Asset Handling, & Two-Ex CFOs Agree to Give Back Bonuses Because of Accounting Fraud

Atlanta, GA Man Accused of Making $740,000 for Insider Trading
The Securities and Exchange Commission is filing charges against a Georgia man who is accused of insider trading and making about $740,000 in illicit profits. Charles L. Hill allegedly traded in Radiant Systems stock based on the confidential insider data a friend gave him about an upcoming tender offer to purchase the company. The friend was a friend of a Radiant Systems executive.

In 2011, Hill bought about 100,000 shares valued at close to $2.2 million on the final day of trading prior to the public announcement of the acquisition. That was his first time buying stock of Radiant Systems, and before that it had been years since he’d purchased equity securities.

Mutual Fund Adviser Settles SEC Case with $50K Penalty
In another SEC case, Walter Island Capital LLC will pay $50,000 as a penalty to resolve charges accusing the firm of improperly handling fund assets. The mutual fund adviser, which works with several alternative mutual funds, purportedly maintained millions of dollars of the funds’ cash collateral at brokerage firm counterparties instead of at a custodial bank.

The Commission said that an investment company that maintains securities in a qualified bank’s custody has to do the same with other cash assets. The SEC said that Walter Island Company failed to make sure that about $247 million in cash collateral was maintained at such a bank. The mutual fund adviser is settling without denying or admitting to the charges.

Two-Ex CFOs Return Stock Sale Profits, Bonuses In the Wake of Accounting Fraud
On Tuesday, the SEC announced that two ex-Saba Software CFOs have agreed to return close to $500K in stock sale profits and bonuses that they were given while the company was committing accounting fraud.

The William Slater and Peter E. Williams III are not charged with the company’s misconduct. However, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that they reimburse the company for both the stock sale profits and bonuses.

From December 2008 to January 2012, Slater was CFO until October 2011, when Williams was in the position until January. During that time Saba Software overstated pre-tax earnings and issued material misstatements about revenue recognition practices. In 2014, the software company and two ex-executives were charged with accounting fraud involving falsified timesheets so that quarterly financial targets were hit. Slater made over $333K in stock sale profits and bonuses, while Williams made close to $142K.

Our securities fraud lawyers at Shepherd, Smith, Edwards, and Kantas, LTD LLP are here to help investors get their money back.

The Insider Trading Case against Hill (PDF)

The SEC Order Against Walter Island Capital (PDF)

The SEC Order Against Slater, Williams (PDF)

More Blog Posts:
SEC Claims Investment Adviser Paid for Fraud Settlement With Client Monies, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, February 10, 2015

Sun Antonio Spurs Star Tim Duncan Files Texas Investment Adviser Fraud Case, Stockbroker Fraud Case, January 31, 2015
Investment Adviser, Ameriprise Financial Services Sued by Hanson McClain Over Client Information, Institutional Investor Fraud Blog, January 12, 2015