Cambridge Capital Group Advisors, its president Phillip Timothy Howard, and previously barred investment adviser Don Warner Reinhard are now the subject of a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) case accusing them of defrauding 20 investors, the majority of whom are retired National Football League players. Howard, who is also an…
Investment adviser Brenda Smith has been arrested and charged with defrauding about 40 investors of $105M. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also has filed civil fraud charges against Strong, who is based in Philadelphia, and her Broad Reach Capital, LP (also known as the Broad Reach Fund), Broad…
Two different groups of investors were recently awarded nearly $9.3 million in their respective Puerto Rico bond fraud claims against UBS Financial Services (UBS). These are just the latest Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration claims where the Swiss giant and its Puerto Rico-based brokerage firm have been ordered to…
In a settlement reached with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Financial Sherpa and its principal James L. Beyersdorf will pay more than $232K of disgorgement, over $15K of prejudgment interest, and a $188K penalty for allegedly defrauding investment advisory clients by engaging in a cherry picking scam. The…
Clients of UBS Group AG (UBS) who employed the firm’s Yield Enhancement Strategy (YES) are now filing investor fraud complaints after suffering at least $60M in losses to date. YES involves options trades and borrowing that was supposed to be “safe” and low risk while earning investors positive returns. The…
Two broker-dealers, Sagepoint Financial and Royal Alliance, recently made headlines after investors who bought GPB Capital Holdings private placements from them sued the alternative asset firm in a class action securities fraud case. GPB Capital Holdings, which invests in waste management and car dealerships, is accused of operating a $1.8B…
Marcus Boggs, a former Merrill Lynch investment adviser, is now facing US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charges accusing him of using $1.7M of client monies to pay his own credit card bills. According to the regulator, Boggs, who was a Chicago-based RIA, illegally transferred funds from the accounts of…
Scott P. Strochak, an ex-broker, has pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to his involvement in the $3.8M Castleberry Financial Services Fraud. He is also now facing parallel civil fraud charges brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Prosecutors charged Strochak, who was the Director of Alternative Investments…
According to InvestmentNews, IFS Securities, a broker-dealer based in Atlanta, Georgia, may be facing at least $10M in losses after Keith Wakefield, the firm’s ex-municipal securities principal, allegedly executed unauthorized trades and shorted Treasury bonds. He was fired earlier in August 2019. IFS Securities is owned by IFS Group Inc.…
The first class action securities case against GPB Capital Holdings has been filed. The alternative asset management firm, which invests in waste auto management companies and car dealerships, is accused of operating a $1.8B dollar Ponzi scam that caused thousands of investors to suffer major losses. Now, investors of two…