It’s hard to know who to trust these days. A Harvard MBA and military vet with experience managing a $1.15-billion hedge fund sounds like a good bet, right? Except that, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission, he just made up those credentials to gain...
Securities Fraud
SEC: two advisors breached fiduciary duties, defrauded clients
Two North Carolina executives of a Malta-based investment advisory firm have been charged, along with the firm, with securities fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC is seeking more than $75 million in ill-gotten gains, plus interest, and a...
SEC: barred broker sold fraudulent promissory notes to older clients
In 2016, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) barred a New Jersey man, the owner of Global Business Development and Consulting Corp., from continued securities activities. He had refused to appear for testimony in a case against him alleging that he...
FINRA arbitration data now includes Reg BI disputes
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) publicly posts statistics about the arbitration proceedings held under its auspices. As of this writing on August 5, the 2022 numbers are available through June, providing an interesting overview of the kinds of...
SEC charges alleged bot trader, its principals with securities fraud
Can robotic traders (“bots”) get higher returns than ordinary traders by trading faster? It’s possible they do, but if so, the difference is unlikely to yield a significantly higher return on investment for anyone but professional traders. Almost certainly, bot...
How does a ‘pump and dump’ stock fraud scheme work?
Every investor is looking for an edge. Usually, the edge they seek is legitimate. Investors are allowed to research companies using publicly available information such as annual reports, assessments by experts and other relevant information in order to develop an...
Are we seeing a new trend in pandemic-era securities fraud?
Great periods of economic instability often lead to increased fraud. We saw this after the stock market collapse of 2008, and we saw it again as the pandemic shook up markets across the world. We even noted this fact last year when the Securities and Exchange...
SEC uncovers massive alleged cryptomining pyramid scheme
The Securities and Exchange Commission has uncovered a massive pyramid scheme involving several fraudulent entities. The alleged scheme involved offering e-coin “mining packages” that promised to pay daily returns of 1% for up to a year. As you might expect, they...
SEC fines asset managers $10 million for misleading investors
A publicly traded asset manager, Medley Management, and its two co-CEOs are facing charges of misleading clients and investors. The company and its leaders are accused of making misrepresentations “that created the illusion of Medley’s likely future growth.” In fact,...
What is an ‘unsuitable’ investment?
Investment advisors and brokers who invest on others’ behalf are required to have a reasonable basis to believe that the investments they choose are suitable for the customer’s investment profile. They must be acting on information obtained through reasonable...