Investor Lawyers Blog

SEC Files Fraud Charges Against Aequitas Management Over Ponzi Scam

Published on: March 10, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Securities and Exchange Commission says that Aequitas Management LLC and four affiliates allegedly bilked over 1,500 investors. One of the affiliates, Aequitas Capital Management, has been in the headlines recently in the wake of news that the investment firm was letting go of almost all of its employees because of financial problems.

According to the regulator, the Oregon-based investment group and three of its executives tried to hide their financial woes while raising over $350M from investors. Meantime, investors were allegedly fooled into believing that they were putting their money in transportation, education, and health-care related investments when really their funds were going toward trying to save the firm. Earlier investors were purportedly paid with the money of newer investors, which is a trademark of a Ponzi scam.

The SEC’s complaint contends that CEO Robert Jesenik and EVP Brian Oliver knew about Aequitas financial problems but kept soliciting investors so they could continue bringing in money to cover the firm’s expenses, including redemptions and interest payments to earlier investors, and try to keep the business afloat. Ex-COO and CFO N. Scott Gillis is accused of hiding the fact that the firm was insolvent. He purportedly knew that Oliver and Jesenik were still soliciting investors.

Meantime, Aequitas’s top executives continued to make “lucrative” salaries as they brought more investors into a “losing venture.” They traveled in private jets and paid for golf outings and dinners for potential investors. They also persuaded prior investors to bring in more funds.

Banc de Binary to Settle Fraud Charges With SEC, CFTC for $11M

Published on: March 9, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Banc de Binary Ltd. has settled a fraud lawsuit by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the SEC accusing the Cypriot financial trading company of illegally signing American investors to join its binary options trading program. According to the regulators, from 2011 and 2013, Banc de Binary pursued and took orders from U.S. customers on contracts connected to currency, commodity, and stock prices. By doing this, the company purportedly got around a ban in the US that prohibited off-exchange binary option contracts and received net deposits of $11M from over 6,000 U.S. customers

As part of the settlement, the financial trading company has agreed to pay $7.1M in disgorgement and restitution and $2M in penalties to the CFTC. It will pay the SEC $1.95M in civil penalties. $9.05M of the settlement will go toward paying back the U.S. customers who suffered harm in this matter. Oren Laurent, who is the founder of Banc de Binary, will pay $150K in the settlement.

Banc de Binary is considered the biggest binary options operator. Binary options offer all or nothing payouts according to price moves. They remain unregulated in a lot of the world.

North Carolina Retiree Couple Files FINRA Arbitration Case Against Morgan Stanley Over Energy Investment

Published on: March 8, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Two North Carolina investors have filed an arbitration claim with FINRA against Morgan Stanley (MS) over unsuitable investments involving the financial firm’s Cushing MLP High Income Exchange Traded Note. The married couple, who are retirees in their sixties, are accusing the brokerage firm of:

· Common law fraud

· Negligence

· Breach of fiduciary duty

· Negligent supervision

· Failure to adequately disclose the risks

In a phone interview with InvestmentNews, the claimants said that they have lost over $100K. According to the couple, a Morgan Stanley broker invested about $150,000 of their money in the Morgan Stanley Cushing MLP High Income ETN, which is an exchange traded note connected to master limited partnerships with shipping and energy assets. Their legal team said that the couple did not understand the extent of the risks involved in that they could potentially lose their principal. This was a loss they could not afford. Instead, the claimants were purportedly told that their investment would make them money.

The Cushing MLP High Income Exchange Traded Note seeks to give investors cash upon maturity or early repurchase, as well as variable coupon payments every quarter (depending on how the underlying index, performs). The claimants’ broker fraud lawyers believe that Morgan Stanley recommended the exchange traded note to investors who were seeking to make money but may not have understood or been fully apprised of all the risks.

SEC Charges Wells Fargo Securities, Rhode Island Agency with Bilking Investors Over Municipal Bond Offering

Published on: March 7, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Securities and Exchange omission has filed charge against Wells Fargo Securities (WFC) and the Rhode Island Economic Development Corp. accusing them of fraud in a municipal bond offering. According to the regulator, RIEDC, now called Rhode Island Commerce Corporation, used $75M in bonds to finance 38 Studios, which is a startup video game company. Wells Fargo served as the bond underwriter.

The SEC is charging RIEDC and Wells Fargo with Securities Act of 1933 violations. Wells Fargo is also charged with violating the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Municipal Securitas Rulemaking Board’s Rules G-17 and G-32.

The 38 Studios project was part of a state government program to increase economic development and employment opportunities through the lending of bond proceeds to private companies. The regulator said the RIEDC lent $50M in bond proceeds to the video game company, while the remaining proceeds went toward bond offering-related costs and the setting up of a reserve fund and a capitalized interest fund. The loan and investors were to be paid back through revenues made by video games that 38 Studios intended to make.

Royal Bank of Scotland Ordered to Pay Fired Executive for $2.05M

Published on: March 7, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority panel says that Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) securities division in the U.S. must pay Jeffrey Howard, an ex-executive that it fired, $2.05M in compensatory damages because of the way he was let go. The bank must also retract his termination and expunge his regulatory record of any comments that are defamatory.

The FINRA arbitration panel’s case summary said that according to Howard, the bank fired him because it didn’t want people to find out that there was “significant internal turmoil” at the financial institution. Howard, who joined the firm’s RBS Securities in 2012 as head of its prime services for the Americas, eventually went on to become global-co-head of the group and then later its sole head. Previous to all of that he worked at Bank of America (BAC) Merrill Lynch. After he was let go by Royal Bank of Scotland in 2014, Howard filed a breach of contract and defamation case with FINRA contending that the disclosure about his firing was false.

According to the FINRA panel, Howard should not have been let go for cause. It found that the bank made fundamental mistakes and inconsistencies in: the way it interpreted internal policies and put them into effect, the facts it employed to decide to fire him, and the rationale behind that decision. The panel said that Howard did not violate any internal policies.

Ex-MetLife, Prudential Broker Accused of Deceptive Conduct Involving Variable Annuity Sales

Published on: March 4, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is accusing Winston Wade Turner, a former registered representative with Pruco Securities Inc. and MetLife Securities Inc., of misconduct related to the exchanges and sales of variable annuities. Turner allegedly persuaded clients to exchange certain investments, including variable annuities, which compelled them to surrender existing contracts to pay for the purchase of new variable annuities. In certain situations, this led to surrender charges for the client and additional commissions for Turner.

The regulator contends that Turner concealed the transactions’ unsuitable nature from brokerage firms and his clients. He allegedly did this by falsifying documents and misrepresenting how certain income features on the annuity contracts functioned. FINRA claims that Turner hid the nature of the VA transactions from his firm by managing to get around the additional documentation and supervisory examination mandated for the exchanges. He also sometimes would recommend clients put proceeds from the contract surrenders into their bank accounts first-as opposed to a direct annuity to annuity transfer-and then use those funds to purchase new variable annuities.

Turner is also accused of falsifying VA applications, documents related to VA exchanges, and customer information forms. He purportedly forged customer signatures and used his own e-mail address, misrepresenting it as customers’ addresses so that he received the account notifications instead of them.
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SEC Bars Former Investment Adviser Over Alleged Misuse of Exchange-Traded Funds

Published on: March 3, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is barring Nicholas Rowe, the former owner of registered investment advisor Focus Capital Wealth Management, from the industry. The charges come in the wake of parallel proceedings in New Hampshire where state regulators barred him from being licensed as an investment adviser. The New Hampshire Bureau of Securities Regulation also said he had to pay $20K.

Rowe and his RIA are accused of using inverse and leveraged exchange-traded funds in a way that was not suitable for clients. They also purportedly made misrepresentations regarding the fees that the clients would be charged.

Focus Capital had been registered with the SEC until 2012 when it registered with New Hampshire instead. The state launched a probe into the RIA’s investment practices, which allegedly included placing the assets of older investors into unsuitable strategies without notifying them that was what was happening. A number of elderly clients, including three widows, allegedly lost close to $1.M.

Bank of New York Mellon Must Face $1.12B RMBS Lawsuit

Published on: March 3, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

U.S. District Judge Judge Gregory Woods in Manhattan says that Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK) must face a residential mortgage-backed securities fraud lawsuit holding the bank liable for $1.12B of investor losses. Royal Park Investments SA/NV, which is a Belgian investment fund, may now proceed with its claims, including those alleging breach of trust, breach of contract, and Federal Trust Indenture Act violations.

In its case against BNY Mellon, Royal Park wants class action status for other investors. It claims that its RMBS in the trusts at issue are now “”completely worthless.”

The investment fund contends that BNY Mellon, in its role of trustee for five trusts, disregarded the abuse occurring in the way the underlying loans were serviced and underwritten and did not mandate that bad loans be bought back. Royal Park believes that BNY Mellon breached its obligations out of fear it would lose business or make other financial service companies angry.

Over the past year, the investment fund has been allowed to pursue similar cases against HSBC Holdings Plc. (HSBC) And Deutsche Bank AG (DB). In the investment fund’s case against Deutsche Bank. U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan in New York recently denied the bank’s bid to get the proposed class action over $3.1B in RMBS losses dismissed. She did, however, dismiss derivative claims. Royal Park claims that Deutsche Bank knew by April 2011 that loans involved were highly defective but refused to force loan sellers to buy back the loans or replace them when it became clear that the mortgages backing the bonds were defaulting. Nathan also said that the plaintiffs detailed claims of significant losses, high default rates, and widespread probes into RMBS securitization were sufficient that the court was able to draw “reasonable inference” that loan guarantees had been breached.

FiNRA Bars Chicago-Based Broker For Market Manipulation

Published on: March 2, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has barred broker George Johnson from the industry. The regulator is accusing him of market manipulation involving the artificial inflation of a penny stock’s value. FINRA claims that Newport Coast Securities, which is the last firm where Johnson worked, let its brokers engaging in churning.

According to the self-regulatory organization, over eight days in May 2012, Johnson, while working for Meyers Associates, told customers to buy stocks of iceWEB at prices that were artificially inflated. He also suggested that certain clients sell their shares to match trades between clients.

FINRA said that Johnson manipulated stock to get business from the issuer, which agreed to compensate him for a future private offering. He purportedly worked with a stock promoter to increase iceWEB’s share price to the point that certain warrants could be exercised.

Johnson also has been accused of involvement in a second penny stock fraud and he purportedly has tried to cover up different state securities violations. He has a history of regulatory actions and customer disputes going as far back to 1994. Johnson previously worked for H.J. Meyers & Co. and Jesup & Lamont Securities, two firms that have since been expelled. Meyers Associates also has been linked to a number of regulatory probes.

Study Accuses Nearly 20% of Oppenheimer Advisers, 15% of Wells Fargo and UBS Advisers, Others of Misconduct

Published on: March 1, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

InvestmentNews reports that according to a new working paper by business school professors at the University of Minnesota and the University of Chicago, 7% of financial advisers have been subject to discipline for misconduct. The study noted that at certain large firms, the trend of misconduct exceeds that average. For example, found the paper, at Oppenheimer & Co., almost 20% of its advisors’ records indicate misconduct.

Other advisor firms noted for their high misconduct rates included First Allied Securities at 17.7%, Wells Fargo Advisors (WFC) at 15.3%, UBS Financial Services (UBS) at 15.14%, Cetera Advisors at 14.39%, Securities America at 14.3%, National Planning Corp. at 14%, Raymond James Financial Inc. (RJF) at 13.74%, Stifel Nicolaus & Co. at 13.27%, (SF) and Janney Montgomery Scott at 13.27%. Firms with the lowest misconduct rates among its advisers included Morgan Stanley & Co. (MS), Goldman Sachs & Co. (GS), BlackRock Investment (BLK), UBS Securities, Jefferies, Prudential Investment Management, and Wells Fargo Securities, among others.

University of Chicago finance professor Amit Seru, who co-authored the working paper, titled “The Market for Financial Adviser Misconduct” called this misconduct problem “pervasive.” He also said that he believes the study did a conservative job of measuring misconduct, which ranges from behavior such as placing clients in unsuitable investments to the more extreme type, such as using client accounts to trade without their permission. Insurance products were reportedly factor in many misconduct cases.

The study noted that firms often do take action when misconduct by its advisers is discovered. About half of those caught are fired, although 44% of these individuals will typically end up going to another firm. Often these places will have higher misconduct rates, making it possible for the advisers to continue engaging in wrongful behavior. The study said that prior offenders are five times more likely to taking part in new actions of misconduct than the average adviser.
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