A federal grand jury has indicted two men for their alleged involvement in a nearly $230M institutional investor fraud scam involving biotech companies. G. Steven Burrill, the owner and CEO of Burrill & Company, and Marc Howard Berger are the two defendants named in the criminal indictment. Burrill is charged…
SEC Charges SunTrust With Collecting Over $1.1M in Excess Mutual Fund Fees The US Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges accusing SunTrust Investment Services of collecting over $1.1M in unwarranted fees from mutual fund clients. The SunTrust Banks subsidiary will pay an over $1.1M penalty to resolve the regulator’s…
Financial Adviser Who Bilked Athletes, Including Mike Tyson, is Sentenced Former SFX Financial Advisory Management Enterprises financial advisor Brian Ourand is sentenced to thirty years behind bars after he bilked a number of professional athletes, including former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, ex-NBA basketball players Glen Rice and Dikembe Mutombo, and…
In federal court in Boston, Howard Present, the former CEO and co-founder of F-Squared Investments Inc. is on trial over civil exchange-traded fund fraud charges brought against him by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Present is accused of lying about the firm’s flagship product, the AlphaSector model portfolio, to…
NJ Investment Adviser Accused of Stealing Over $1M from Clients The US Securities and Exchange Commission has brought investment adviser fraud charges against Scott Newsholme, a New Jersey-based financial adviser and tax preparer, accusing him of stealing over $1M from clients so he could support his lifestyle and support his…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is barring Jaime R. Rodriguez, an ex-HSBC Securities (HSBC) broker, in the wake of a charge accusing him of bilking an older customer, who is also legally blind, of $200K. HSBC fired Rodriguez in 2014. Rodriguez is accused of using about $70K of the client’s…
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against ex-financial adviser Dawn Bennett accusing her of bilking investors, making Ponzi-like payments, and spending clients’ funds on herself. According to the regulator, Bennett and her DJB Holdings LLC raised over $200M through the sale of notes issued to at least…
Federal Judge Orders Tim Durham to Pay $1. 3M in Securities Fraud Case Five years after he was convicted of securities fraud, businessman Tim Durham has been ordered by a federal judge to pay $1.3M in the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s civil case against him. Durham bilked over 5,000…
A new survey conducted by the North American Securities Administrators Association found that there was been an increase in senior financial fraud incidents, with 97% of incidents going unreported until serious harm has occurred. The survey respondents, all state securities regulators, noted a 29% rise in complaints or cases involving…
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has brought investment adviser against Jeremy Joseph Drake. He is accused of bilking a known professional athlete and his wife, making about $900K in compensation in the process. At the time of the purported financial fraud, Drake worked with HCR Wealth Advisers. According to…