The Securities and Exchange Commission says that Virtus Investment Advisers will pay $16.5M to resolve charges accusing the investment management firm of misleading mutual fund investors and others using ads with false historical performance information about exchange-traded fund portfolio strategy AlphaSector. According to the regulator, the firm publicized a performance…
Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin is charging Realty Capital Securities with fraud involving the purported gathering of proxy votes to support AR Capital-sponsored real estate deals. Realty Capital Securities is part of RCS Capital Corp., also known as RCAP. Galvin wants to take away RCS’s registration as a…
Spurs Star Tim Duncan Says Ex-Financial Adviser Bilked Him of Millions NBA star Tim Duncan is suing his former financial adviser again. The San Antonio Spurs player says that Charles Banks cost him millions of dollars because he persuaded him to invest $1.1 million in a cosmetics company. Banks purportedly…
FINRA Plans to Fine MetLife for Purported Variable Annuities Violations The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is looking to impose a significant fine against MetLife’s broker-dealer unit related to possible violations involving variable annuities. The company is cooperating with the regulator’s probe, which is looking at alleged suitability, misrepresentation, and supervision…
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against Fenway Partners LLC and four of its executives. According to the regulator, when fund and portfolio company assets were used to pay ex-firm employees and an entity to which the New York-based private equity firm is affiliated the parties did not…
SEC Names More Brokers in Penny Stock Rigging Case Filed Last Year The Securities and Exchange Commission is charging three more people related to a $300M penny stock rigging case that it filed last year. In federal court, the regulator sought to lift the stay in its civil case to…
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against J.P. Morgan Investment Management Inc., War Chest Capital Partners LLC, Harvest Capital Strategies LLC, Omega Advisors, Inc., Auriga Global Investors, Sociedad de Valores, S.A., and, Sabby Management LLC. All six firms settled the enforcement actions, which allege short selling violations ahead…
FINRA Expels Halcyon Cabot, Bars Chief Executives Halcyon Cabot Partners, Ltd. has been expelled by FINRA. The regulator also has barred its CEO Michael Morris and CCO Ronald Heineman from the securities industry. The reasons for the expulsion and bars include fraud, abusive sales practices, the concealment of private placement…
NJ Fund Managers Faces SEC Fraud Charges The Securities and Exchange Commission is charging William J. Wells and his Promitor Capital Management LLC with bilking investors in a $1.1 million Ponzi scam. According to the regulator, Wells falsely misrepresented himself as a registered investment adviser to some investors. However, rather…
The Securities and Exchange Commission is charging investment adviser Arthur F. Jacob and his Innovative Business Solutions LLC with fraud. The regulator claims that the two of them deceived clients from 2009 into 2014 and violated the federal securities laws’ antifraud provisions along with an SEC antifraud rule. In its…