The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is charging John Galanis, his son Jason Galanis, and five other people with fraud involving a multimillion-dollar tribal bonds scam. The SEC claims that Jason ran the scheme to obtain a “source of discretionary liquidity.” He and his father allegedly persuaded a Native American…
Martin Shkreli, the founder of Turing Pharmaceuticals AG, has asked a judge to wait before scheduling his criminal trial on charges of securities fraud. Shkreli, 33, says he may be subject to more charges. He is accused of bilking investors of Retrophin Inc., which is a drug company that he…
Ex-NOVA Bank CEO and president Brian Hartline and Barry Bekkedam, the bank’s former chairman, have been convicted of defrauding the government when trying to get over $13M in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds. By 2008, bad loans and investments had placed the bank at risk of failure. To try…
Two J.P. Morgan Firms Fined over Deficiencies J.P. Morgan Securities and J.P. Morgan Clearing Corp. have been fined $775K and $250K respectively for several deficiencies. J.P. Morgan Securities is a broker-dealer of the bank JPMorgan Chase (JPM). .J.P. Morgan Clearing is the custodian, clearing, lending, and settlement arm of the…
FINRA Accuses Ex-Broker of Unsuitable Trading Involving Mutual Funds David Randall Lockey, a former broker, is facing Financial Industry Regulatory Authority charges for allegedly engaging in improper trading of customer accounts while associated with SWS Financial Services Inc. He is no longer with that firm, now called the Hilltop Securities…
The SEC and G. Steven Burrill have reached an agreement to settle charges accusing the biotech venture capitalist of taking money from a fund overseen by his firm to pay for his expensive lifestyle and help support his other businesses. Burrill is accused of hiding from investors that he siphoned…
Federal prosecutors are charging Ross McClellan and Edward Pennings with securities fraud and wire fraud. McLellan was formerly with State Street Corp.’s (STT) brokerage firm unit in the US and Pennings worked for the bank in London. According to the government, the two men secretly charged six clients excess commissions…
New Jersey adviser John Bivona is facing U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges accusing him of raising over $53M from investors in a Ponzi-like scam that involved the selling of investments in pre-IPO tech companies. However, contends the SEC, instead of investing the funds as intended, he used investor money…
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is charging Andrew W.W. Caspersen and shell entity Irving Place III SPV, LLC with defrauding two institutional investors, including a non-profit charitable affiliate of an investment limited partnership. Caspersen is a securities professional associated with a registered brokerage firm. He also is one of…
Robert Lunn, the financial adviser who bilked former NBA star Scottie Pippen, has been sentenced to three years behind bars. Lunn was convicted in 2014 of multiple counts of bank fraud. According to prosecutors, he obtained $3M in loans from Leaders Bank, $1.4M of which he claimed was for Pippen…