Securities Fraud

SEC Charges Two Ex-Wachovia Brokers Over Alleged $8 Million Elder Financial Fraud

Published on: December 20, 2010 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Two former Wachovia Securities LLC brokers, Eddie W. Sawyers and William K. Harrison, have been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with six counts of securities fraud. The two men, who previously operated Harrison/Sawyers Financial Services, are accused of defrauding at least 42 elderly investors of their retirement savings, which resulted in some $8 million in financial losses. The SEC is seeking a permanent injunction against the two men and their representatives from further violations of securities regulations, as well as the repayment of the funds (with interest) and civil penalties.

Per the SEC, between December 2007 and October 2008, Sawyers and Harrison, who are related by marriage, pitched investments with Harrison/Sawyers Financial Services to Wachovia clients. They claimed the investments were “foolproof,” a “sure thing,” and an opportunity to make a 35% without risking their principal investment. This was not, however, the case. One couple, who Sawyers convinced that they should invest $100,000 later discovered that only $16,000 remained in their account.

The SEC claims that the two men solicited unsophisticated clients who were heavily invested in equities and mutual funds and had a conservative investment approach. Sawyers and Harrison also transferred assets to online options-trading accounts under their control.

While some online optionsXpress accounts were set up in clients’ names, others were in accounts under the name of Harrison’s spouse Deana or under both both their names. Clients did not receive statements from the group.

After getting a client’s signature on a blank-trading authorization form, Deanna Harrison would then be appointed the client’s power of attorney and agent for the accounts. In 2008, Sawyers and Harrison allegedly took out $234,000 from three client accounts as compensation for their services.

The SEC says that in a resignation letter to Wachovia, Harrison confessed to misdirecting about $6.6 million from 17 Wachovia clients to trade online. He also admitted that he ran the online trading without getting the authorization of Wachovia or the investors.

Wachovia says that the minute they discovered the alleged securities fraud, it notified its primarily regulator, cooperated with regulators and law enforcement, and took proactive steps to give clients that were impacted full restitution.

Related Web Resources:
Former Wachovia brokers charged with defrauding elderly customers in Surry, losing $8 million, Winston-Salem Journal, December 17, 2010
SEC accuses 2 NC brokers of defrauding clients, Bloomberg/AP, December 16, 2010
Wachovia, Stockbroker Fraud Blog
Institutional Investor Securities Blog
Continue Reading ›

Hedge Fund Owner of Trueblue Strategies LLC Settles SEC Charges that He Hid Investor Trading Losses

Published on: December 18, 2010 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Hedge fund manager and investment adviser Trueblue Strategies LLC owner Neil Godbole has agreed to settle for $40,000 Securities and Exchange Commission charges that he hid his investors’ trading losses. Godbole also agreed to an advisory industry bar for a minimum of five years and to cease and desist from future 1940 Investment Advisers Act violations. By settling, he is not denying or agreeing that he committed any wrongdoing.

Per the securities fraud charges, Godbole started to manage the Opulent Lite LP, a now failed hedge fund, in 2005. At its height, the hedge fund managed about $30 million in assets and had about 70 investors. Until 2008, Godbole invested mainly in S&P index options and short term Treasury bonds.

In February 2008, he lost about $8.3 million as a result of a number of unprofitable deals, which he did not disclose. Also, the SEC claims that Godbole told investors that the fund was valued at $28.7 million when it was actually worth $18.5 million.

In attempt to make up the financial losses, Godbole started to use what he called a “rollover strategy” that involved the opening of options positions when each monthly trading period ended. The SEC says that throughout that year, the hedge fund manager misrepresented the fund’s trading results and asset value. When he told investors in December 2008 that the fund’s asset value was more than $26 million, the asset value had actually dropped to under $14.4 million.

The SEC says that any losses for that year that Godbole did disclose were “paper losses” related to the rollover strategy and in 2008, he had the hedge fund pay his management fees based on the inflated fund value. Investors were harmed when he had the fund redeem units at an inflated value.

It wasn’t until 2009 that Godbole notified investors of the funds’ losses and actual financial state. Many investors sought to pull out. The hedge fund was liquidated by March of that year.

Related Web Resources:

Saratoga fund manager settles with SEC, Business Journal, December 2, 2010

1940 Investment Advisers Act, SEC

Bank of America to Pay $137M Over Alleged Investment Scam To Pay Municipalities Low Interest Rates on Investments and $9M Over Alleged Bid-Rigging Scheme to Nonprofits

Published on: December 16, 2010 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Bank of America has agreed to pay $137 million to settle charges that it was involved in a financial scheme that allowed it to pay cities, states, and school districts low interest rates on their investments. The financial firm allegedly conspired with rivals to share municipalities’ investment business without having to pay market rates. As a result, government bodies in “virtually every state, district, and territory” in this country were paid artificially suppressed yields or rates on municipal bond offerings’ invested proceeds.

Bank of America has agreed to pay $36 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission and $101 million to federal and state agencies. The Los Angeles Times is reporting that $67 million will go to 20 US states. BofA will also make payments to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Internal Revenue Service. The SEC contends that from 1998 to 2002 the investment bank broke the law in 88 separate deals.

In its Formal Agreement with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Bank of America agreed to strengthen its procedures, policies, and internal controls over competitive bidding in the department where the alleged illegal conduct took place, as well as take action to make sure that sufficient procedures, policies, and controls exist related to competitive bidding on an enterprise wide basis. The OCC is accusing the investment bank of taking part in a bid-ridding scheme involving the sale and marketing of financial products to non-profit organizations, including municipalities.

Per their Formal Agreement, the bank must pay profits and prejudgment interest from 38 collateralized certificate of deposit transactions to the non-profits that suffered financial harm in the scam. Total payment is $9,217,218.

Related Web Resources:

Bank of America to Pay $137 Million in Muni Cases, Bloomberg, December 7, 2010

OCC, Bank of America Enter Agreement Requiring Payment of Profits Plus Interest to Municipalities Harmed by Bid-Rigging on Financial Products, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, December 7, 2010

Goldman Sachs & Co. Clearing Unit Must Pay Unsecured Creditors of Bayou Hedge Funds $20.5M FINRA Arbitration Award, Says District Court

Published on: December 14, 2010 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

A district court has rejected Goldman Sachs & Co.’s (GS ) challenge to a $20.5 million securities fraud award for unsecured creditors of the failed Bayou hedge funds. The unsecured creditors are blaming the investment bank of failing to look at certain red flags and, as a result, facilitating the massive scam. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said it was sustaining the award issued by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel.

The court said that contrary to Goldman’s argument, the FINRA panel “did not ‘manifestly disregard the law’ when reaching its conclusion. Also, the court noted that the panel had found that Goldman Sachs Execution and Clearing unit was not innocent of wrongdoing in that it failed to take part in a “diligent investigation” that could have uncovered the fraud.

The Bayou Hedge Funds group collapsed in 2005. According to regulators, investors lost over $450 million as a result of the false performance data and audit opinions that were issued. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department sued the group’s founders, Daniel Marino and Samuel Israel III over the investors’ financial losses and the firm’s collapse. Both men have pleaded guilty to criminal charges and are behind bars.

The court not only disagreed with the Goldman Sachs clearing unit that the panel was not in manifest disregard of the law, but also, it found that as Goldman’s client agreements with the Bayou funds provided it with “broad discretion” over the use of securities and money in the funds’ accounts, it was not unusual for a “reasonable arbitrator” to find that Goldman’s rights in relation to the accounts provided it with “sufficient dominion and control to create transferee liability.”

Related Web Resources:

Court Rebuffs Goldman ChallengeTo $20.5M Bayou Arbitration Award, BNA, December 9, 2010

Goldman Sachs, Stockbroker Fraud Blog

SEC IG Investigating Whether Examiners Were Told by Regional Official to Ignore “Red Flags” Indicating Massive Fraud

Published on: December 11, 2010 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Securities and Exchange Commission Inspector General H. David Kotz says that his office is looking into a complaint that a regional official told examiners to not go after “red flags” that were found in an exam of an investment adviser where a “massive fraud” was discovered. The official in question reportedly played a significant part in an earlier exam of the investment firm, and although the securities fraud was going on then, it was not uncovered at the time.

The anonymous complaint also claims that the regional office had a hostile work environment because management failed to discipline the official even after an earlier OIG investigation found that the person had watched pornography on an SEC computer. In his semiannual report to Congress, Kotz says that the OIG is almost done with its probe and will present its findings.

The OIG also determined that Bank of America Inc.’s Troubled Asset Relief Program fund’s status played a role in the “favorable” $33 million settlement that SEC staffers had initially recommended to resolve charges that the investment bank issued misleading proxy disclosures related to its Merrill Lynch acquisition. U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff, however, refused to approve that settlement, and Bank of America eventually settled the case for $150 million.

Kotz says that the OIG has probed into allegations from an ex-Enforcement attorney that the division was negligent in how it handled an insider trading probe. A report of its findings will be issued during the next semiannual reporting period.

Other pending OIG investigations involve:
• Allegations that attorneys at a regional office did not properly investigate a law firm for alleged obstruction of justice related to an SEC case. Improper preferential treatment may have been a factor.
• Allegations that an SEC official violated ethics rules while providing testimony to a congressional committee.
• Allegations that a staff member acted in an abusive and intimidating manner toward contract staff.
• Complaints that SEC staff leaked information about an investigation of an examination to the media.
• Allegations that at least one contractor worked at the SEC before a background probe had been completed.

Related Web Resources:

Bank of America To Settle SEC Charges Regarding Merrill Lynch Acquisition Proxy-Related Disclosures for $150 Million, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, February 15, 2010

Bank of America Agrees to settle SEC Charges of Merrill Lynch Bonuses for $33 Million But Judge Blocks Settlement, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, August 6, 2009

Actions of Former Ferris, Baker Watts, Inc. General Counsel Accused of Supervising Rogue Broker to be Reviewed by SEC

Published on: December 9, 2010 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Securities and Exchange Commission will be taking a closer look at the actions of ex- Ferris, Baker Watts, Inc. General Counsel Theodore Urban. Urban has been accused of failing to reasonably supervise stockbroker Stephen Glantz, who was involved a stock market manipulating scam with Innotrac Corp. stock.

It is rare for the SEC to examine the actions of a general counsel. However, the agency says it is looking at the case because the proceedings bring up key “legal and policy issues,” such as whether Urban acted reasonably in the manner that he oversaw Glantz and chose to respond to signs of broker misconduct. The case also brings up the questions of whether securities professionals such as Urban should be made to “report up” and if his status as a lawyer and his role as “FWB’s general counsel affect is liability for supervisory failure.”

Earlier this year, Securities & Exchange Commission Administrative Law Judge Brenda Murray ruled that Urban did not inadequately supervise Glantz and that the proceedings against him be dropped. Murray said that per the 1934 Securities Exchange Act, a person cannot be held liable for supervisory deficiencies if appropriate procedures for detecting and stopping the violations were applied, She said that Urban had no reasonable grounds to think that procedures had not been followed.

However, Murray’s decision isn’t final until the SEC enters its final order, and on Tuesday the commission declined Urban’s motion requesting that the SEC affirm Murray’s ruling. Division lawyers have said that Murray’s decision was not consistent with previous SEC precedent, lowers the standards that supervisors at dealers, brokers, and investment advisers must meet, and did not protect the investing public by making Urban accountable to sanctions.

SEC to Review Actions of Bank General Counsel Who Supervised Rogue Broker, Law.com, December 9, 2010

Read the SEC order denying motion for summary affirmance (PDF)

Read the administrative law judge’s ruling (PDF)

Ex-Ferris, Baker Watts, Inc. General Counsel Did Not Fail to Properly Supervise Broker Fraudster, Says SEC Judge, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, September 30, 2010

Operation Broken Trust Investment Fraud Sweep Has Ended

Published on: December 7, 2010 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

According to the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, the largest investment fraud sweep ever conducted by the United States has ended. Called Operation Broken Trust, the probe involved 231 cases and over 120,000 fraud victims who sustained over $8 billion in investment losses.

Operation Broken Trust’s objective was to discover and expose large scale investment fraud schemes in the US and notify the public about bogus financial scams. The probe focused on schemes that directly targeted individual investors as opposed to long-term complex corporate fraud issues. In many case, the criminals involved were trusted members of the victims’ communities, such as a coworker or a fellow church attendee. A number of investors lost their homes and/or life savings as a result of the scams.

Victims were targeted by other individuals who were promoting “investment opportunities” that were either not structured the way they were promoted or totally bogus. Scams include Ponzi schemes, high-yield investment fraud schemes, foreign exchange fraud, commodities fraud, pump-and-dump scams, market manipulation, business opportunity fraud, real estate investment fraud, and affinity fraud.

The FBI says that Los Angeles, Dallas, New York, San Francisco, and Salt Lake City were the leading cities for Ponzi scams. More than 200 Ponzi cases have been opened since the beginning of 2009. Many of these schemes resulted in over $20 million in losses. The FBI says it has been able to shut down many of the scams and many of those responsible have been arrested.

Operation Broken Trust includes civil and criminal enforcement actions that took place between August 16 and December 1, 2010.

Related Web Resources:
Operation Broken Trust, FBI, December 6, 2010

Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force , US Department of Justice

Stockbroker Fraud Blog

Class Members of Charles Schwab Corporation Securities Litigation Can Still Opt Out to File Individual Securities Claim

Published on: December 6, 2010 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The US District Court has approved an amendment to the proposed Charles Schwab Corporation Securities Litigation settlement. The Supplemental Notice of Proposed Settlement of Class Action has been sent to the affected class members, which includes those who may have held Schwab YieldPlus Fund shares on September 1, 2006 and gotten more of them between May 31, 2006 and March 17, 2008. Shares may have been obtained through a dividend reinvestment in the Fund or through purchase. Affected class members cannot have been a resident of California on September 1, 2006.

The Supplemental Notice notes that there has been a clarification in the release claims’ scope that affected class members will be giving Schwab if they decide to take part in the settlement. More claims than those in the federal securities class litigation are now included in the amended release. Class members now have another chance opt out of the class action complaint.

Exclusion Deadline: Your notice of exclusion must be postmarked no later than January 14, 2011 and cannot be received after January 21, 2011.

Federal and State Securities Acts’ Anti-Waiver Provisions Did Not Bar International Forum Selection Clause’s Enforcement, Says Texas Court of Appeals

Published on: December 2, 2010 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Court of Appeals of Texas has held that in a shareholder agreement regarding the purchase of company stock, the federal and state Securities Acts anti-waiver provisions did not bar the enforcement of an international forum selection clause. The parties had consented to the exclusive jurisdiction of courts in Ontario, Canada to adjudicate any disputes stemming from or related to the shareholder agreement or/and the purchase, sale or holding of company common shares. Securities laws were only impacted where parties exercised their rights to voluntarily take part in a contract mandating that lawsuits be brought in courts and under another country’s laws. Also, public policy was in strong favor of enforcing forum selection clauses.

Commenting upon the ruling, Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas Founder and Stockbroker Fraud Attorney William Shepherd noted: “The vast majority of securities loss claims filed in the past 20 years have been decided in arbitration. With international arbitration forums becoming more prevalent as economies globalize, this change was inevitable. It is very important for investors to hire attorneys with experience in securities arbitration to seek recovery of securities losses. Over the past 20 years, our firm has represented thousands of investors nationwide – and worldwide – in securities arbitration.”

Related Web Resources:
Young v. Vault.X Holdings, Inc.

Arbitration and Mediation, FINRA Continue Reading ›

Financial Firms File Securities Fraud Lawsuits Against Each Other Over 2008 Credit and Subprime Crisis

Published on: November 29, 2010 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

In what one investment banking official is calling a “second wave” of securities litigation stemming from the credit and subprime crisis of 2008, financial firms are now suing other financial institutions for damages. While speaking on a Practising Law Institute panel, Morgan Stanley managing director D. Scott Tucker noted that this “second wave” is the “exact opposite of the first wave,” which was primarily brought by smaller pension funds or states claiming violations of the 1933 Securities Act and the 1934 Securities Exchange Act.

Tucker said that with this new wave, most of the plaintiffs are financial institutions, including investment managers and hedge funds, that are asserting common law fraud and making other state law claims. Also, these latest lawsuits are primarily individual cases, rather than class actions. The securities at the center of this latest wave of litigation are complex structured products, such as credit default swaps, collateralized debt obligations, and mortgage-backed securities, as well as complaints involving private placements and derivatives or securities that don’t trade on liquid markets.

Our securities fraud lawyers at Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LTD LLP represent institutional investors who suffered financial losses because of their dealings with investment companies. Unlike other law firms, our stockbroker fraud lawyers will never represent brokerage firms.