Investor Lawyers Blog

President Obama Appoints Federal Control Board Members to Deal With Puerto Rico’s Debt Crisis

Published on: September 6, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The White House has appointed seven people to the Fiscal Control Board tasked with helping Puerto Rico deal with its $70B of debt. The appointees, named by President Obama, include: Jose Ramon Gonzalez (Federal Home Loan Bank of NY CEO/President), Arthur Gonzalez (Ex-bankruptcy Judge), Ana Matosantos (Ex-California Dept. of Finance Director), Carlos Garcia (Ex-Puerto Rico Government Development Bank president and CEO/Founder of BayBoston Managers LLC), Jose Carrion III (Puerto Rico insurance executive), Andrew Biggs (Scholar) and David Skeel (University of Pennsylvania Law Professor). Three of these board member are Democrats, four are Republicans. The eighth member of the board is Puerto Rico’s governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla. He is an automatic member because of his position but does not have a vote.

The creation of the federal control board was part of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA). The legislation was passed by the U.S. Congress to help the U.S. territory with its financial woes. Puerto Rico has been defaulting on its debt payments that have been due. Just last week, the Government Development Bank of Puerto did not pay almost $10 million of interest that was due on it outstanding bonds. According to a recent report by the ReFund America Project, which has been investigating the U.S. territory’s debt, approximately $1.6 billion of the island’s debt are the fees earned by Wall Street firms, such as Citigroup (C), UBS (UBS), Barclays Capital (BARC), and Goldman Sachs (GS). Even worse, the ReFund America Project said that about $323 million of the money paid to Wall Street firms was for “scoop and toss” deals involving UBS as the main underwriter.

The report also stated that close to half of the $134 million in debt Puerto Rico and its public corporations have issued over the last 16 years is refunding debt. Puerto Rico’s financials purportedly show that the territory had been putting out new refunding bonds to pay back bonds that had been issued earlier. The use of refunding bonds to delay current debt payments for later is what is involved in “scoop and toss” financing.

Ex-Madoff Aide Will Help Picard Find Funds Stolen in Ponzi Scheme

Published on: August 31, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Annette Bongiorno has settled a civil case brought against her over the millions of dollars she and her husband received from managing Bernard Madoff’s investment advisory business and their investments with him. Her job under Madoff was to manage customer accounts. Prosecutors accused Bongiorno of making false securities trades. Now, she is serving a six-year-prison term for her role in Madoff’s multi-billion dollar Ponzi scam.

As part of the settlement, Bongiorno is obligated to help trustee Irving Picard recover funds stolen from investors as he continues to liquidate Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. To date, he has recovered or arrived at deals to recover $11.2B of the over $17B in principal that was stolen. Investors have gotten back almost $9.5B.

In addition to making herself available to Picard in his ongoing recovery efforts, Bongiorno must, when requested, provide testimony at deposition or trial. Picard, who is the one that sued her for over $22M, will drop the case as long as she continues to cooperate. As part of the settlement, she must pay $3.9M of stock from an account under her husband’s name.

Logos Wealth Financial Advisers is Accused of Fraudulently Raising Over $14M from Investors

Published on: August 31, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Paul Mata, the founder of Logos Wealth Advisors, has been barred by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Mata and fund manage David Kayatta, whom the SEC has also barred, are accused of fraudulently raising over $14M in investor funds.

Mata drew in investors through investment seminars and online videos that came with the promise of “Indestructible Wealth.” During presentations to church groups, he touted “Finances God’s Way.”

Kayatta was the manager of two unregistered investment funds while at Logos Wealth Advisors. According to the Commission, beginning in 2008, the two men raised this money from over 100 investors in the unregistered funds. Kayatta and Mata promised guaranteed returns, did not make any disciplinary history known, and misused investor money.

In the order against him, the SEC said that Kayatta was responsible for the misleading and false statements in private placement memoranda for the Funds. According to InvestmentNews, in 2010, Kayatta was ordered by the state of Nevada to cease-and-desist from pursuing investors in unregistered securities and taking part in investment advisory conduct without the proper licensing.

Securities Fraud Headlines: Caldwell International to Pay $2M Over Churning Allegations, Alabama Lawyer Allegedly Bilked Professional Athletes, and a Green Tech Company Faces Investor Fraud Charges

Published on: August 30, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Caldwell International Securities Gets $2M Fine to Settle Churning Allegations
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has imposed a $2M fine on Caldwell International Securities Corp. It is fining Greg Caldwell, who is the principal of the financial firm, $50K. He is now barred from serving as a principal in the securities industry.

FINRA contends that supervisory failures is what allowed Caldwell International Securities’ brokers to allegedly engage in churning. This involves a trader taking part in excessive trading to make the most in commissions possible. The self-regulatory organization said that the firm’s failures caused fifteen clients to pay over $1M in commissions and fees on investment recommendations that were not appropriate for them.

FINRA believes the firm grew too fast and that this was one of the reasons its inadequate supervisory system was purportedly inadequate. The SRO said that it was this lack of proper supervision that made it possible for advisors to make unsuitable investment recommendations.

The regulator said that even after customers complained, Caldwell and other senior employees did not remedy this matter. In 2015, ex-Caldwell registered representative Richard Adams was barred by FINRA. The regulator claimed that Adams made $57K in commissions while clients sustained $3K in losses because of overtrading that took place in two customer accounts.

Alabama Attorney is Accused of Defrauding Professional Athletes, Other Investors Of Over $6M
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is charging Donald Watkins and his companies with fraud. According to the regulator, the Alabama lawyer and his Masada Resource Group LLC and Watkins Pencour LLC bilked investors, including professional athletes, out of more than $6M in supposed waste-to-energy ventures.

The SEC complaint said that the defendants made the false claim that an international waste treatment company was considering acquiring Watkins’ two companies and their affiliated companies in a multi-billion dollar deal. In reality, said the regulator, Waste Management Inc. only had a brief first meeting with the defendants in 2012. This was over a year after the defendants started telling investors that talks were moving forward and an acquisition was going to happen.

California Lawyer Goes to Prison for Securities Fraud

Published on: August 29, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Richard Weed, a financial services lawyer, has been sentenced to four years in prison over his involvement in a stock scam involving a number of publicly trading companies. His sentence was issued in the U.S. District Court in Boston.

Weed was convicted of securities fraud and wire fraud in May. He and two others are accused of conspiring to make it appear as if CitySide, a ticket reseller based in Boston, was growing as a company when, in fact, it was in financial trouble. Weed was the ticket reseller’s secretary and on its board.

He drafted false and misleading legal opinion letters in order for his co-conspirators to get free trading stock. He also had the stock distributed to various entities under their control to hide their ownership of CitySide. Because of this, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Massachusetts, the co-conspirators were able to manipulate the reseller’s stock and sell shares at prices that were artificially inflated.

Securities News: Ex-Fannie Mae CEO Settles Mortgage Fraud Case, WL Ross to Pay Back $11.8M to its Funds, SEC Chastises Bank of America For Not Explaining COO’s $15.5M Compensation, and Pension Returns Drop

Published on: August 29, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Former Fannie Mae CEO Settles SEC Charges for $100K
Daniel Mudd has agreed to pay $100K to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges accusing the ex-Fannie Mae CEO of misleading investors about the degree to which the mortgage company was exposed to subprime loans leading up to the 2008 economic crisis. The regulator had filed its civil case against Mudd and two other Fannie Mae executives in 2011. The latter two settled with the Commission last year.

Mudd maintains he did nothing wrong.

WL Ross Resolves Fee-Allocation Disclosure Charges
WL Ross & Co. will reimburse specific WL Ross funds about $11.8M to resolve SEC charges related to its fee allocation practices and disclosures. The firm will also pay a $2.3M civil penalty.

According to the SEC, WL Ross was given transaction fees by portfolio companies. This lowered the management fees that funds had to pay the firm. The regulator points to WL Ross’s limited partnership agreements that were unclear regarding fee offsets when multiple funds and other co-investors share ownership.

Elderly Investors Lose Money After Broker Recommends Energy and Gold Stocks

Published on: August 26, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has filed a securities case against Christopher Ariola, a former broker. According to the regulator, while he was at Bay Mutual Financial, Ariola recommended that three retirees invest a chunk of their retirement funds in energy and gold stocks. He is accused of helping a fourth investor with similar investments using a TD Ameritrade (AMTD) account under his control.

This caused the investors to lose $140K. All of them had previously worked for the same bus company. These were not sophisticated investors who could handle a lot of risk nor did they have unlimited financial resources to withstand huge losses. Ariola came to work with them after the employees decided to roll over their money from their 401(k) into a Bay Mutual Financial IRA.

FINRA alleges that Ariola recommended that these investors “invest heavily” in energy and gold, including high-yield dividend producing stocks that came with a lot of risk. One couple, both retired bus drivers, were about 80% exposed to these risky stocks because of Ariola’s recommendations. Another bus drives was 44% invested in the stocks.

FINRA said that not only did Ariola expose these investors to “significant” risks with his recommendations, but also the recommendations were unsuitable for them.

13 Investment Advisers Pay Penalties Over F-Squared Investment’s False Performance Claims

Published on: August 25, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has imposed penalties against more than a dozen investment advisory firms because they purportedly spread false claims made by F-Squared Investments about its Alpha Sector strategy. The SEC said that the firms violated securities laws.

According to the regulator, which conducted an enforcement sweep, 13 firms accepted y F-Squared’s false claim that its exchange-traded funds’ investing strategy had outperformed the S & P index for a number of years. The firms touted these claims when recommending the investment to their clients. The SEC said that they did this without first obtaining adequate documentation to confirm that what F-Squared had told them was true.

It was in 2014 that F-Squared admitted to wrongdoing and consented to pay $35M to settle allegations accusing it of using false performance information about its key product to bilk investors. The SEC said that F-Squared falsely advertised its supposed successful multi-year performance record. Unfortunately, that supposed time period for this performance record would have taken place before key algorithm that had been touted for this success even existed.

In reality, backtesting had been used to come up with a “hypothetical performance” from the noted period of supposed success. Yet, F-Squared and ex-CEO Howard Present marketed AlphaSector as “not backtested.” Also, the hypothetical information included a performance calculation mistake that increased results by about 350%.

Penalties for the 13 firms vary in amount from $100K to $500K. These were determined according to the fees they respectively made from strategies related to AlphaSector.

MedCapital, Related Companies, and Executives Ordered to Pay $831M of Disgorgement Over Ponzi Scam

Published on: August 24, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

A U.S. District Court judge has ordered Medical Capital Holdings, related companies, and a number of executives to pay $831M of disgorgement. The disgorgement comes seven years after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission brought its securities fraud case against Medical Capital over its billion-dollar Ponzi scam.

The allegations eventually forced dozens of mid- and small-sized independent brokerage firms that sold Medical Capital private placements, among other deals that failed, to shut down in the wake of the slew of investor securities fraud cases that followed. Nearly 9,000 investors were owed about $1.08B from the Ponzi scam.

Medical Capital raised over $2B through its independent brokerage firm network from ’03 and ’09. The money was supposedly going toward the purchase of discounted medical receivables, payment of general operating expenses, and loans that were secured.

The private placement offerings promised 8.5-10.5% yearly returns. Meantime, Medical Capital made almost $325M in administrative fees.

Investors, alleging fraud, unsuitability, and misrepresentation, have since recovered $432M, including what was recovered and given out by a court appointed receiver, $101M from brokerage firms, and $180M from banks or bond indenture trustees. Investors who got money back were paid 40 cents on the dollar.

In June, ex-Medical Capital Holdings COO and president Joseph Lampariello was sentenced to 10 years and a month behind bar. He also was told to pay almost $40M to investors that were harmed. Lampariello is accused of misappropriating money from investors to pay other investors, as well as issuing administrative fees to himself.

Our private placement fraud lawyers represent investors in getting their investment losses back from negligent firms, brokers, investment advisers, and others in the industry. Your initial consulation with Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas, LTD LLP is a free, no obligation session. We work with investors throughout the US and with investors based abroad who have been defrauded by US-based financial firms.

Medical Capital Ponzi scheme case ends with $432 man recovered, Reuters, August 22, 2016

Securities Cases: Medical Capital Executive To Pay Almost $40M for Private Placement Fraud, Momentum Investment Partners Accused of Not Disclosing Fees, and First Mortgage Corp. Settles Mortgage Fraud Claims, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, June 22, 2016

Apollo Global Management Settles Supervisory and Disclosure Failure Charges for $52.7M

Published on: August 23, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Apollo Global Management (APO) has agreed to settle for $52.7M allegations that the firm misled fund investors regarding fees and a loan agreement, as well as failed to supervise a senior partner. The settlement was reached with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which found during its probe that Apollo advisers did not adequately disclose benefits they obtained. This ended up harming fund investors.

Four private equity fund advisors will be paying part of the settlement include:

· Apollo Management V, LP