Investor Lawyers Blog

Texas-Based Linn Energy Extends Deadline for Exchanging LINE Units for LNCO Shares

Published on: April 21, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Linn Energy (LINE) says that its unit holders have until April 25 to exchange their units for LinnCo shares. According to SeekingAlpha.com, the Texas-based company is making the deal to avoid CODI (cancellation of debt income).

As it stands, Linn Energy has suspended its distribution and is making interest payments on its unsecured debt just in time before its 30-day grace period to make the payments ends in order to avoid a default. According to Nasdaq.com, the energy player paid interest of $60M on senior debt. At some point, Linn Energy may have to file for bankruptcy.

This month, Zach Investment Research downgraded Linn Energy shares from a buy rating to a hold one. It sent investors a research report with this new information. Stifel Nicolaus (SF) also lowered shares of the oil and gas company from a hold rating to a sell one in February. In March, Robert Baird lowered its target price on Linn Energy shares and established a neutral rating for the company in its research note. In December, Barclays (BARC) reaffirmed its hold rating of the shares. Ladenburg Thalmann downgraded Linn Energy from neutral to a sell rating and Citigroup (C) did the same in its research note.

Wine Mogul Accuses Fidelity of Fraud, Seeks up to $500M in FINRA Arbitration

Published on: April 20, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Wine merchant Peter Deutsch has filed a FINRA arbitration claim seeking $400 – $500M from Fidelity. He claims that he might have earned that amount of money if only the financial firm had not stopped him from obtaining a 66% share of a company in which he had already invested $40M. Meantime, Fidelity is contending that it kept Deutsch from trading because of worries that he was attempting to illegally manipulate the company’s shares.

The dispute began when Deutsch sought to purchase at least another 50 million shares of stock in China Medical Technologies in 2012. His investment efforts, however, were barred by Fidelity, which said it was “uncomfortable” with the transaction. It was in 2011 that a sales team from Fidelity Family Office Services (FFOS) had sought Deutsche out to join its group of wealthy clients.

In court papers, Deutsch alleges that while he was trying to gain control of China Medical Technologies, which is a cancer treatment device maker, FFOS was aggressively buying the stock in secret rather than helping him. He also claims that Fidelity used his shares to its benefit even though this was not what he wanted. He believes that the firm blocked him from trading to conceal its wrongdoing.

He is accusing Fidelity of inappropriate share lending. The firm, however, describes its practice of lending out shares belonging to its clients as fully paid lending. According to Bloomberg, sources said that Fidelity, which insists that the arbitration case is without merit, maintains that it didn’t lend out Deutsch’s shares under its lending program but that it used its authority to lend shares out of his margin account. Securities lending is something that Fidelity clients consent to when they set up a margin account.

Indiana Investment Adviser Sentenced for Bilking Older and Disabled Clients of Over $680K

Published on: April 20, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Cindy L. Lampkins is sentenced to five years behind bars. The Bloomington, Indiana investment adviser stole over $680,000 in retirement money from elderly investors and disabled clients. Lampkins was convicted on count of money laundering and one count of wire fraud.

Lampkins was the VP of Kern Financial Group, which offers financial and insurance services. The investment firm belongs to her and her father.

According to investigators, between 2/10 and 11/13, Lampkins persuaded clients to pay Kern Financial Group for nonexistent products. The Internal Revenue conducted a probe, as did state police, who discovered that Lampkins lied to clients, gave them doctored financial statements, and concealed her actions from them. Investors thought their money was going into annuities with high interest rates or to buy a product that would cover funeral costs in the future.

SEC Files Financial Fraud Cases Against Logitech and Ener1

Published on: April 19, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed financial fraud cases against Logitech International and Ener1. Logitech, a technology manufacturer, will pay $7.5M to resolve the charges. Its former controller, Michael Doktorczyk and ex-accounting director, Sherallyn Bolles, will pay $50K and $25K penalties, respectively.

The SEC said that the two companies and their former executives committed accounting-related violations that caused investors to not have an accurate portrayal of what was going on financially at Logitech and Ener1.

According to the regulator, Logitech fraudulently inflated its financial results for the 2011fiscal year to satisfy earnings guidance, as well as committed other accounting violations over five years. The SEC also filed charges against the technology company’s former CFO, Erik Bardman, and ex-controller Jennifer Wolf, accusing them of purposely minimizing the write-down of millions of dollars of extra component parts for a product that had inventory in excess.

For the company’s financial statements, Bardman and Wolf are accused of falsely assuming that the company would construct the components into complete products even though they knew of contrary events and facts. Also, ex-CEO Gerald Quindlen, who is not accused of misconduct, gave back $194,487 in stock sale profits and incentive-based compensation that was given to him during a time when alleged accounting violations were taking place.

In the Ener1 financial fraud case, the battery manufacturer consented to pay penalties for its materially overstated assets and revenues for year-end 2010, as well as overstated assets from 2011’s first quarter. The SEC said that the financial misstatements were a result of management’s failure to impair certain receivables and investments. Ex-CFO Jeffrey A. Seidel, ex-CEO Charles Gassenheimer, and ex-chief accounting officer Robert Kamische consented to pay $50K, $100K, and $30K, respectively.

The SEC said that Robert Hesselgesser, who was the engagement partner of Price Waterhouse Coopers LLP’s audit of Ener1’s financial statements of 2010, violated auditing standards when he did not conduct the proper procedures to back his audit findings that Ener1’s management had properly accounted for revenues and assets.

Former UBS Puerto Rico Employees Brought $25M Lawsuit Against the Firm

Published on: April 19, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Over the last two years, more than 1,000 investors have sued UBS Puerto Rico (UBS-PR) in FINRA arbitration or other forums over mounting losses from the collapse of the Puerto Rico bond market. However, investors are not the only ones suing UBS-PR over its sale of risky bonds. Siblings Jorge and Teresa Bravo have sued UBS for $10 million in FINRA arbitration along with UBS-PR customers.

The Bravos, both ex-senior VPs at the brokerage firm, said management fooled not just customers but also UBS employees. They said they were coerced and threatened into selling Puerto Rico close-end bond funds and they were mistreated before being forced out.

Along with the Bravos, seven former UBS Puerto Rico employees have filed claims against UBS-PR seeking $25 million from their former employer. That group of former UBS-PR brokers claim UBS management made misleading statements to them, as well as customers, about the closed-end mutual funds. The brokers also said management pressured brokers at the firm to sell these Puerto Rico securities. News of the seven former brokers’ lawsuit broke last year around the time that Reuters disclosed the existence of a UBS letter noting that the collateral value of closed-end funds would be reduced to zero—an indication of their riskiness.

At Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas, LTD LLP, our Puerto Rico bond fraud lawyers have been working with investors to recoup their money. Too many investors lost much of the money they invested with UBS-PR and other brokerage firms on the island when these securities began to fail three years ago. Our securities lawyers on the island and the U.S. mainland are representing clients who have FINRA arbitration claims.

Bancorp-UBS Trial over $2.1B of Mortgage-Backed Securities Begins

Published on: April 18, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

UBS (UBS) is on trial in Manhattan federal court. According to Reuters, the civil case was brought by UBS Bancorp (USB) for three trusts. The trusts claim that in their contract with the Swiss banking giant, UBS agreed that the mortgages backing the securities would satisfy certain standards. However, they contend, when it became clear the mortgages were faulty, UBS would not repurchase them. Now, the trusts want back the $2.1B that they lost.

UBS’s legal defense team argued that the lawyers of the trust are assessing the loans from the perspective of “hindsight bias.” They want U.S. District Judge Kevin Catel to evaluate whether when the loans were considered defective at the time that they were issued in 2006 and 2007.

According to the mortgage-backed securities lawsuit, over 17,000 loans were pooled into three trusts, which issued securities granting investors the right to borrower-made payments. The problem was, contend the plaintiffs, over 9,600 of the loans were defective, primarily because of borrower fraud or because they did not meet underwriting requirements. The trusts believe that UBS did not properly vet the loans, which it obtained through shady lenders that would go on to fail.

Commodity Trading Cases: Galileo Trading Fined Over $1.6M, Trader Ordered to Pay More than $141K for Aiding and Abetting Fraud, and Criminal Defendant Must Pay Over $4.7M in Restitution

Published on: April 18, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Galileo Trading to Pay Penalties and Restitution to Settle Commodity Futures Fraud Charges
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is filing fraud charges against Nathan Schleifer and his Galileo Trading LLC. Schleifer and his firm are accused of fraudulently soliciting customers to get them to trade commodity futures and for making a number of false statements and material representations to the National Futures Association about their trading practices.

The SEC said that from at least ’99 – ’14, Schleifer and his firm fraudulently obtained at least $2.8M from a number of people for supposed trading in a pooled investment in commodity futures. The Commission claims that Galileo and Schleifer misrepresented to pool participants that they’d had previous success trading in futures. They also purportedly claimed that they were making a lot of money for these pool participants when in reality there were substantial losses.

Schleifer is accused of falsely claiming that he was a skilled money manager. He guaranteed investors minimum returns and told them their money was safe. When at least one individual tried to take money out, Schleifer said he lost the funds during a flash crash in May. Later, he admitted that he lost all of the investor’s money years ago.

CFTC Permanently Bans Trader from Registering with the CFTC
The CFTC has settled charges against Brian Hinman for aiding and abetting a commodity pool fraud involving a number of Texas-based entities owned by Kevin G. White and for the fraudulent solicitation of participants to get involved in Revelation Forex Fund, a foreign currency exchange pool. It was in 2013 that the CFTC filed a federal court action against White and his KGW Capital Management, LLC and RFF GP, LLC. They were ordered to pay $3,365,888 in restitution and a civil penalty of over $4.1M. White is now serving prison time for mail fraud.

SEC Cases: Litigation Marketing Company Accused of Defrauding Retirees, NY Town Officials Hide Money Problems from Municipal Bond Investors, and Ski Resort is Tied to Fraudulent E-B Five Offerings

Published on: April 16, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Elder Financial Fraud: LA Based-Company Accused of Bilking Retirees and Others
The Securities and Exchange Commission is charging PLCMGMT LLC, also known as Prometheus Law or PLC, and co-founders David Aldrich and James Catipay of bilking retirees and other investors. The two men are accused of raising $11.7M by telling investors that their money would go toward bringing together plaintiffs for class action cases and other lawsuits. Investors were promised substantial returns of 100% to 300% from any settlements. PLC is a litigation marketing company based in Los Angeles.

The SEC contends that only $4.3M of the money was used to find prospective plaintiffs and not much revenue was made from any settlements reached. Instead, Aldrich and Catipay took $5.6M to cover their own expenses. The two men downplayed the risks involved and did not disclose that their business model was “unrealistic.” Instead, PLC and its founders claimed that investments were secure and guaranteed when they were actually very speculative and high risk, especially as not all potential plaintiffs typically qualify to become actual plaintiffs. Compound this factor with the reality that winning any lawsuit is never a guarantee.

Our elder financial fraud lawyers at Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas, LTD LLP are here to help older investors recoup their losses.

Officials of Ramapo, NY Accused of Hiding Financial Woes from Muni Bond Investors
The SEC is accusing the New York town of Ramapo, its local development corporation, and four town officials of fraud. The Commission claims that the officials committed fraud to hide the financial stress caused by the $60M spent on constructing a baseball stadium, as well as the decline in sales and property tax revenues. The four individuals allegedly cooked the books of Ramapo’s main operating fund to make it seem as if it held positive balances of up to $4.2 million over a six-year period when actually the balance deficit at one point reached close to $14M.

The regulator said that since the town guaranteed the stadium bonds that Ramapo Local Development Corp. (RLDC) had issued, an operating revenue shortfall at the corporation was concealed and investors were not apprised that the town would likely have to subsidize bond payments, which would cause the general fund to lose even more money.

Judge Refuses to Totally Dismiss $1B Mortgage Fraud Case Against Credit Suisse Unit

Published on: April 15, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

A judge has ruled that the $1B mortgage fraud case brought against Credit Suisse (CS) unit DLJ Mortgage Capital can be resubmitted. This ruling reiterated U.S. Bank National Association’s contention that a six-year statute of limitations did not bar its claims, which it brought as a trustee.

In 2015, New York Supreme Court Judge Marcy S. Friedman had dismissed the case because the trustee had not made a repurchase demand of Ameriquest, the loan’s originator, according to the pre-suit requirement. However, she rejected DLJ’s claim that because these conditions were not met prior to the statute of limitations they were time barred. Friedman said that if U.S. National were to refile the case, then the issue of the repurchase demand’s impact on the trustee’s ability to file litigation in this matter would be determined on a “fully developed record.”

U.S. National sued DLJ Mortgage Capital in 2013, accusing the securitizer of not complying with its duty to buyback loans that breached of a number of warranties and representations that DLJ made in a contract presiding over the sale of 4,534 residential mortgage loans. The loans, originated by Ameriquest Mortgage Co., were securitized by the trust, sold by DLJ to investors, and came with multiple assurances about their quality. Such guarantees were supposed to place any risks from faulty mortgages with the originator.

The plaintiff contends that rather than construct a loan pool with quality mortgages, Ameriquest, which is no longer in operation, used faulty loans. As a result, contends U.S. National, the trust lost $227M.

Broker Violations & FINRA: PNC Investments to Pay $225K for Overcharging for Mutual Funds and Stifel Nicolaus is Fined $750K For Not Following Reserve Requirements

Published on: April 15, 2016 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has announced that PNC Investments will pay nearly $225K in restitution for charging retirement clients too much for mutual fund investments. According to the regulator, the brokerage firm did not apply waivers for investors in certain Class A share mutual funds even though there was a waiver for front-end charges for eligible customers.

Instead, said FINRA, PNC Investments sold Class A shares customers with a front-end load or other shares that had a back-end load and higher fees and expenses, some of which were charged on an ongoing basis. Because of this, certain customers were charged excessive fees and paid them.

FINRA said that PNC Investments charged 121 customer accounts in excess of $191,740 for mutual funds—although the actual amount, with interest, was closer to $224,750. PNC will pay restitution to eligible investors.

The brokerage firm self-reported the overcharges after reviewing its own conduct last year to assess whether it was issuing the sales waiver to those that were eligible. FINRA said that the broker-dealer experienced lapses in supervision, did not keep up written policies and procedures that were adequate, and failed to help advisers assess when to waive the sales charges.