Florida Man Implicated in Scam Involving Black Check Companies’ Stocks The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed civil fraud charges against Sheldon R. Rose. The Florida man established over a dozen blank check companies, which the SEC contends are worthless and have no operations despite that they are registered to sell…
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is awarding over $4M to a whistleblower for providing original information that led to a successful fraud case. This is individual is the 34th whistleblower that the SEC’s program has awarded since 2011, upping the total amount granted in such awards to over $111M.…
Deutsche Bank (DB) and the U.S. Department of Justice have yet to reach a settlement over allegations about the way that the German lender packaged toxic mortgages leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. According to The Wall Street Journal, The DOJ wants the bank to pay $14B. Deutsche Bank,…
Chad Peter Smanjak has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison. Smanjak admitted to operating a pump-and-dump scam linked to a company founded by Daniel Ruettiger, also known as Rudy. Ruettiger’s time playing football at Notre Dame was retold in the movie “Rudy.” Smanjak is accused of…
Voya Financial Inc. (VOYA) is the defendant in a 401(k) lawsuit alleging excessive fees. According to a Nestle 401(k) Savings Plan participant, Voya and managed-account provider Financial Engines came up with an arrangement that allowed Voya to collect excessive fees for service related to investment advice, but without disclosing that this…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is ordering Ameriprise Financial Services (AMP) to pay $50K for failing to properly supervise and notice that one of its brokers was bilking his own family members. According to the self-regulatory organization, the registered representative took over $370K from five firm customers, which included…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority announced that UBS Financial Services and its Puerto Rico subsidiary (UBS) must collectively pay three investors $750,000 in damages for losses they sustained from investing in UBS’s proprietary Puerto Rico closed-end bond funds and Puerto Rico bonds. The claimants are Jenny Robles Adorno, Desarrollos Jarra…
Former SAC Trader To Close Down Hedge Fund In The Wake of Losses Andrew Bazarian will close down his Pinyin Capital Management Hong Kong Ltd.’s hedge fund in the wake of massive losses sustained by the fund, a lack of investor interest, and the exodus of Blue Pool Capital, its largest…
NASAA Puts Out Practices and Procedures Guide to Protect Vulnerable Adults The North American Securities Administrators Association has issued a guide to help investment advisory firms and broker-dealers create procedures and practices to help them identify and tackle suspected incidents of financial exploitation involving vulnerable adult clients, including senior investors…
Raymond James and Robert W. Baird Are Charged With Compliance Failures The Securities and Exchange Commission said that Robert W. Baird and Co. and Raymond James & Associates (RJF) will pay $250K and $600K, respectively, to settle charges accusing them of compliance failures in their own wrap free programs.…