The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed securities fraud charges against the promoter behind affiliated microcap stock promotion websites. The regulator us accusing John Babikian of using PennyStocksUniverse.com and AwesomePennyStocks.com to engage in “scalping” which is a type of securities fraud. The SEC has also obtained an emergency asset freeze.…
In an alleged insider trading scam that could have been ripped out of the plot of a movie, prosecutors are accusing three men of engaging in methods of spycraft, including eating the evidence, as they ran an insider trading racket that netted about $5.6 million. The information they used was…
The non-traded real estate investment trusts industry wants to delay the implementation of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority disclosure rule until the end of 2015. The rule would require that investors be given more accurate data about the valuation of direct participation programs and non-traded REITs. This should provide investors…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is fining Securities America and Triad Advisors $625,000 and $650,000, respectively, for not properly supervising the way consolidated reporting systems were used. Triad must also pay $375,00 in restitution. Even though they are settling, the two firms are not denying or admitting to wrongdoing. The…
Castlight Health (CLST) saw its share price soar from $16/share to close to $40/share on the first day of its IPO last week. Despite bringing in just $13 million in revenue yearly thus far, its market cap still managed to hit $3 billion. Now some are wondering if this is…
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against brokers Michael A. Horowitz and Moshe Marc Cohen, investment adviser BDL Manager LLC, and four others for their involvement in a variable annuities scam. The financial fraud purportedly aimed to make money from the deaths of terminally sick patients living under…
According to the Investor Protection Trust, out of every five senior citizens over age 65, one of them will fall victim to a financial scheme in 2012. The Federal Trade Commission says that citizens over age 60 made up the largest group of people to report elder financial fraud to…
Following a jury finding ex-former Goldman Sachs Group (GS) trader Fabrice Tourre liable for bilking investors in a synthetic collateralized debt obligation that failed, U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest ordered him to pay over $825,000. Tourre is one of the few persons to be held accountable for wrongdoing related to…
Broker-dealer and investment bank Jefferies LLC (JEF) has consented to pay $25 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that it did not properly supervise traders at its mortgage-backed securities desk. These same staffers purportedly lied to investors about pricing. The regulator contends that Jefferies did not give its…
InvestmentNews is reporting that according to sources in the know, the Securities and Exchange Commission is trying to figure out whether currency traders at the biggest banks fixed benchmark foreign-exchange rates and distorted the process for exchange-traded funds and options. The regulator, which oversees the options and ETFs involved with…