Investor Lawyers Blog

SEC Investigates Statim Holdings After Hedge Fund Investors Are Promised They Won’t Lose Any Money

Published on: April 17, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Bloomberg reports that according to sources, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a probe into Statim Holdings. Inc., an Atlanta, Georgia-based financial firm, after the latter told investors in its main hedge fund that there was no risk of financial losses for investing. The regulator’s investigation comes in the wake of a state probe by the Georgia Securities Division. Statim is helmed by Joseph A. Meyer.

Meyer told investors in the Arjun fund’s main share class that they would never sustain financial losses. However, they have to commit their funds for a decade or lose 50% of their principal should they decide for early redemption.

The hedge fund manger has said that he uses a computerized system that he designed and he invests the bulk of clients’ funds in Treasury bonds. In 2015 Bloomberg News placed Arjun at number eight in its list of hedge funds that had assets ranging from $250M and $1B. BarclaysHedge has given 17 awards to Arjun.

Securities Fraud: Ex-Broker Gets Prison Sentence for $1.2M Elder Financial Fraud, Massachusetts Man Admits to Bilking Neighbors, & More Than Two Dozen 27 Parties Under Fire Over Alleged Stock Promotion Scams

Published on: April 17, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Former Wells Fargo and LPL Financial Broker Receives 41-Month Prison Term for Elder Financial Fraud
Robert N. Tricarico, an ex-broker for both Wells Fargo Advisors (WFC) and LPL Financial (LPLA), will serve 41 months behind bars and pay restitution of over $1.2M after he pleaded guilty to elder financial fraud. The Securities and Exchange Commission, which brought a civil case against Tricarico, has barred him from the securities industry.

Court documents note that from 1/2010 to 6/2013, Tricarico was the financial adviser for a sick and elderly investor. He misappropriated over $1.1M from her by writing a number of checks to himself without the client’s consent, misappropriated checks written to her, liquidated her coin collection, and used her funds for his own expenses.

He has also admitted to bilking two other victims of $20K when he falsely represented that their money would go toward a business venture. He kept their money for himself.

Raymond James to Pay $150 Million Settlement Involving Alleged EB-5 Investment Fraud

Published on: April 15, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Raymond James Financial Inc. (RJF) has agreed to pay $150 million to resolve all investor claims involving the Jay Peak Resort’s immigrant visa fraud. The EB-5 scam was created in 2007 by third parties and offered to foreign investors.

Although settling, the firm noted in a statement that it was never the placement agent for the fraudulent program nor did it play any other role in the scam. Raymond James also stated that it was never involved in selling the investments. The broker-dealer said that the Raymond James Financial advisor that worked with the brokerage accounts of the investment partnerships involved in the scam is no longer working the firm.

Already, investors have brought several lawsuits over this fraudulent EB-5 Immigrant Investor program. They had invested in a number of related projects at the Jay Peak ski resort. They did so to help themselves gain permanent US residency.

Broker Fraud: FINRA Arbitration Panel Awards Investor $1M After Misleading Variable Annuities Sales Pitch, Broker-Dealer Owner Gets Prison Sentence in $100M Stock-Loan Scheme, & Fugitive Broker is Arrested After 20 Years On the Run

Published on: April 14, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Investor Awarded Over $1M After Allegedly Misleading Sales Pitch by Wilbank Securities Broker

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority panel has awarded investor Grace S. Huitt over $1 million in her broker fraud claim against Wilbanks Securities. According to Huitt, one of the firm’s brokers presented her with a sales pitch about the ING Landmark Variable Annuity that not only was misleading but also promised too much and then under-delivered. She alleged breach of contract, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and negligent supervision.

Huitt claims that when she bought the variable annuity in 2008, she was told that it came with a guaranteed 7% compound yearly return. Other investors who also had made investment puchases through Wilbanks Securities reportedly claimed similar problems with what they were promised.

Swaps Interest Rate Cases: FHLBNY Settles With Lehman Brothers for $70M & Banco Santander and Portugal Come to An Agreement

Published on: April 13, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Federal Home Loan Bank of New York will pay Lehman Brothers and its Special Financing unit a $70M settlement in an interest-rate swaps case. The plaintiffs sued FHLBNY two years ago seeking over $150M that they claim they were owed related to their position on more than 350 swaps and options transactions.

Lehman filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2008. The move froze the markets while spurring the end of millions of derivative transactions in which it was involved. A few days later, when FHlBNY ended its swaps with Lehman, it did so with a $16.5B notional amount.

According to Lehman, due to interest rate fluctuations after its bankruptcy filing, FHLBNY returned and “cherry picked” other end dates. As a result, claims the plaintiff, the latter “massively understate” how much it owed Lehman.

Swaps Interest Rate Cases: FHLBNY Settles With Lehman Brothers for $70M & Banco Santander and Portugal Come to An Agreement

Published on: April 13, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Federal Home Loan Bank of New York will pay Lehman Brothers and its Special Financing unit a $70M settlement in an interest-rate swaps case. The plaintiffs sued FHLBNY two years ago seeking over $150M that they claim they were owed related to their position on more than 350 swaps and options transactions.

Lehman filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2008. The move froze the markets while spurring the end of millions of derivative transactions in which it was involved. A few days later, when FHlBNY ended its swaps with Lehman, it did so with a $16.5B notional amount.

According to Lehman, due to interest rate fluctuations after its bankruptcy filing, FHLBNY returned and “cherry picked” other end dates. As a result, claims the plaintiff, the latter “massively understate” how much it owed Lehman.

Austin Oil and Gas Financiers Plead Guilty in Texas-Based Securities Fraud Case

Published on: April 13, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Business partners Janniece Kaelin and Robert Allen Helms have pleaded guilty to bilking investors of up to $20M in a Texas-based Ponzi scam. The oil and gas financiers used the funds raised for energy ventures to cover their own expenses from 1/2010 to 12/2013.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission filed a securities fraud lawsuit against Kaelin, Helms, and their companies Iron Rock Royalty Partners LP and Vendetta Royalty Partners LTD in 2013. According to the regulato, they misled investors about their professional experience, meantime raising almost $18M that were supposed to go toward royalty interests in oil and gas.

Included among the alleged purchases they made: using investors’ money to pay for a 3 1/2-week trip around the world and paying for the more than $247K wedding of Kaelin’s daughter in Hawaii.

Puerto Rico Debt: Creditor Sues Bank of New York Mellon Over COFINA’s Revenue and Pension Participants File Lawsuit to Stop Island’s Proposed Fiscal Plan

Published on: April 12, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Hedge fund Whitebox Advisors has filed a lawsuit against Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) over revenues from Puerto Rico’s sales tax bonds, which are commonly called COFINAs, that support $17 Billion of the island’s debt. Currently, the US territory is continuing to struggle to pay back the $70 Billion of debt it owes to creditors and BNY Mellon is a trustee for the island. (A number of hedge funds aside from the plaintiff, hold about $2.5 Billion in senior COFINA bonds, but they are not part of this case.)

In its lawsuit, brought in state court in New York, Whitebox Advisors accused BNY Mellon of breaching its duties to senior COFINA bondholders by continuing to make payments to junior creditors even after the US territory indicated that it wants to make concessions related to different kinds of debts. The hedge fund wants a court order stopping further payments to junior creditors, as well as a statement declaring that BNY Mellon has a conflict of interest. The plaintiff is also seeking monetary damages.

This week, the island is set to begin confidential talks with COFINA creditors as well as holders of competing general obligation debt. Creditors have until May 1 to arrive at mutually agreed upon settlements. The deadline was put into place, temporarily halting creditor lawsuits, to give the federally appointed oversight board a chance to work out a debt restructuring deal outside of court. At this moment, an extension to the freeze is unlikely. After that, the board is allowed to try to place Puerto Rico into quasi-bankruptcy proceedings.

Morgan Stanley to Pay Massachusetts $1M to Settle Charges Alleging Unethical Sales Contests Involving Brokerage Customers

Published on: April 12, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

To settle charges over a high-pressure sales contest involving its financial advisers and brokerage clients, Morgan Stanley (MS) will pay $1 million to Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin. By settling, the firm did not deny or admit to the charges. It must, however, reassess its sales contest policies and notify the state of what is included in them, as well as what changes it might make in the wake of this review.

It was last year that Galvin charged the broker-dealer for cross selling and encouraging wealthy clients to borrow against their brokerage accounts. He also accused senior Morgan Stanley staff of knowing about the contest, determining that it violated the firm’s own internal policies (in addition to Massachusetts securities rules), but yet allowing the contest to continue for a few more months. It was only then that the firm’s Compliance and Risk decided that the contest was “impermissible.”

The program, which also involved a similar contest in Rhode Island, ran between ’14 and ’15. 30 financial advisers at five Morgan Stanley offices participated. The financial representatives are accused of persuading investors to set up new lending accounts. The broker-dealer purportedly rewarded them with bigger “business development allowances” when their efforts were successful. Advisers were given $1K for every 10 loan accounts that were opened, $3K for every 20 accounts, and $5K for every 30 accounts.

PREPA and Its Bondholders Arrive at Deal to Restructure Almost $9 Billion in Puerto Rico Debt

Published on: April 7, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

A new restructuring agreement has been reached between the Power Utility Company of Puerto Rico, referred to locally as PREPA, and its creditors on how to restructure $8.9 billion in Puerto Rico debt.The deal, which must still be approved by the federally appointed oversight board, comes before the May 1 deadline that the US territory must meet to arrive at such settlements with creditors. After May 1, members of the US-government appointed federal oversight board would have the authority to effect a quasi-bankruptcy process and make creditors agree to deals that likely would not favor creditors.

Of the about $70 billion of municipal debt that Puerto Rico owes, roughly $9 billion involves PREPA. Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello issued a statement noting that if approved, the agreement between PREPA and bondholders could save $2.2 billion in debt servicing expenses for five years while lowering customer electric bills by $90/year during the same period.

Under the original agreement, PREPA bondholders were to trade their bonds for new securities while receiving a 15% discount. With this new agreement, creditors would take the same reduction but maturities would be extended to 2047. Additionally, under the new deals, the requirement of an investment grade rating to close the deal would be eliminated. Insurers, such as Assured Guaranty and MBIA Inc., also consented to another $300 million in deferral of principal during the first six years.