Two Fast Food Restaurant Workers are Accused of Impersonating SEC Employees Frank Gregory Cedeno and Leonel Alexis Valerio Santana, two employees at a Florida restaurant, are accused of pretending to be SEC employees who tried to get at least 95 investors to give pay them $1.3M. The men are charged…
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has filed civil cases against virtual currency operators CabbageTech, Entrepreneurs Headquarters Ltd., and My Big Coin Pay Inc. The regulator is alleging fraud, misappropriation, misrepresentation, and other unregistered securities allegations. It wants disgorgement, fines, restitution, injunctions, and other remedies. In the case against CabbageTech,…
In the US, HSBC Holdings Plc. will pay approximately $100M in penalties to settle a Department of Justice’s criminal probe into currency rate rigging—that’s a $63.1M fine and $38.4M in restitution. The bank’s deal is a three-year deferred prosecution agreement, which means that no criminal charges will be brought as…
A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel has awarded over $4.3M to investors in their elder financial fraud case against former First Allied Securities broker Anthony Diaz. The plaintiffs contend that he invested their retirement funds in high risk private placement investments that were unsuitable for them. They are alleging…
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan has decided that the shareholder lawsuit brought against Goldman Sachs (GS) for its high-risk subprime securities leading up to the 2008 financial crisis cannot move forward as a class action securities fraud case. The court said that a lower court judge…
A criminal indictment has been issued against Robert Bogucki, Barclays’ (BARC) ex-foreign exchange operation head in New York. Bogucki, who is a Barclay’s trader but has been on leave since late 2016, is accused of involvement in a scam to bilk one of the bank’s clients by engaging in front-running.…
BitConnect, an investment lending platform for Bitcoin, has suddenly announced that it is shuttering its lending and exchange operation immediately. The company said that its exchange platform would shut down in five days. In a post on its site, BitConnect said that moving forward, it would operate for “wallet service,…
Two Brokers Barred After Not Appearing at FINRA Hearings Guillermo Valladolid, an ex-Morgan Stanley (MS) broker, has been barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. According to the regulator, Valladolid did not show up at a hearing into whether, according to InvestmentNews, he “sold investments away from his employer” and…
The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal of an investment adviser who is challenging the liability findings against him in a securities fraud case presided over by a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) administrative law judge. Raymond Lucia, also a former radio host, was accused of…
Investment Adviser Accused of Scamming Pro Athletes and Church Members Admits to Securities Fraud Richard Wyatt Davis Jr., a North Carolina-based investment adviser,has pleaded guilty to tax evasion and securities fraud charges. Davis was indicted for securities fraud, wire fraud, and tax evasion in 2017. He initially pleaded not guilty.…