Investor Lawyers Blog

NY Hedge Fund Adviser Faces SEC Charges Over Conflicted Transactions and Whistleblower Retaliation

Published on: June 16, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Candace King Weir and her hedge fund advisory firm Paradigm Capital Management will pay $2.2M to resolve Securities and Exchange Commission charges accusing the firm of executing prohibited principal transactions and acting against the whistleblower employee who notified the regulator about the conflicted activity. Weir is charged with causing the principal transactions to happen.

The agency contends that Weir facilitated the transactions between her firm and C.L. King & Associates, a brokerage firm that she also own, while trading for the hedge fund PCM Partners L.P. II. This type of transaction presents a conflict of interest between the client and adviser, and the latter is supposed to disclose that they are involved on both sides of the trade. The adviser also needs to get the client’s permission for this.

According to the Commission’s order, Paradigm did not give written disclosure to the hedge fund or obtain its consent. Paradigm’s head trader then reported the trading conduct.

Hedge Fund Fraud News: Ex-Osiris Partners Principals Must Pay $55M, Ex-SAC Manager Gets Prison Sentence for Insider Trading, Lawyer Goes to Prison Over Rothstein Fraud, and Former New Stream Capital Executives Plead Guilty

Published on: June 14, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

NJ Court Orders Former Osiris Partners LLC Principals To Pay Over $55M

A state court in New Jersey has ordered the ex-principals of Osiris Partners LLC, Ex-CEO Michael J. Spak, ex-Chairman Peter Zuck, and ex-controller Joseph C. Spak to pay more than $55 million in penalties and restitution for hedge fund fraud. Investors were bilked when the men fraudulently inflated the firm’s net asset value and diverted funds for personal spending.

Prosecutors contend that the men overstated the net asset value of the hedge fund so that management fees would be higher and losses could be hidden. Unregistered agents were hired to sell limited partnership interests. By the latter part of 2011, the net asset value of the fund was nearly nil because of the inflated management fees, the misappropriation of the money, investor payments, and trading losses. Dozens of investors were harmed.

Broker Headlines: Former Wells Fargo Broker Must Pay Back Firm $1.2M, Morgan Stanley CEO Wants to Lower Broker Compensation, & Representatives Oppose Best Interest Rules

Published on: June 13, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Ex-Wells Fargo Advisors Broker Must Pay Back Firm $1.2M

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority panel says that Philip DuAmarel, a former Wells Fargo Advisor (WFC), must pay his former employer back almost $1.3 million. The panel denied his claim that the firm oversold its corporate stock plan services during his recruitment. They told him to pay back the unvested part of an upfront loan he received when he became part of Wells Fargo.

DuAmarel worked for the firm for less than three years when he left in 2010 for Bank of America (BAC) Merrill Lynch. He contended that when the firm was recruiting him he was misled about Wells Fargo’s ability to serve corporate stock plans and also regarding how much he could make for helping executives with their company’s stock trades. DuMarel’s attorney said that the broker left when it became obvious he wouldn’t be able to work with clients they way he did when he was at Citigroup (C) Global Market’s Smith Barney.

JPMorgan Investment Management’s Shareholders Claim The Firm Charged Excessive Mutual Fund Fees

Published on: June 13, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

In the US Southern District of Ohio, Eastern Division, JP Morgan (JPM) Investment Management shareholders are claiming that the firm charged them excessive fees in three of its funds:

• JP Morgan Core Bond Fund

• JP Morgan Short Duration Bond Fund

Regulator Headlines: SEC Commissioner Stein Wants Updated Capital Rules for Brokerage Firms, FINRA’s BrokerCheck Link Proposal Faces Opposition, & CFTC Appoints New Enforcement Head

Published on: June 12, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

SEC Commissioner Wants Big Broker-Dealers To Hold More Capital

Securities and Exchange Commissioner Kara M. Stein wants the regulator to modify its capital rules for large brokerage firms so that they would be required to hold more capital in the event of a funding crisis. Stein wants the regulation to better factor the risk involved in short-term funding markets on which brokers depend. She also would like the latter to protect against failures that could upset the financial system.

Right now, the SEC is looking at new funding rules for brokers and placing limits on leverage, not unlike what regulators require for banks. However, Stein believes that the agency’s current approach, which is to protect customers but without considering how to keep companies in operation, needs work. The SEC Commissioner believes that the agency’s capital rules for big brokers should be based on preventing the failure of “systemically significant” firms. Stein also wants the SEC to finally implement the rules that were called for by the 2010 Dodd Frank Ac, including those that would limit the risks involving swap contracts.

Ex-ArthroCare CEO and CFO Convicted in Texas Securities Fraud Case

Published on: June 11, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

A Texas jury has convicted to two ex-ArthroCare executives with operating a $400 million scam to bilk investors. Michael Baker, the former CEO, was found guilty of wire fraud, securities fraud, conspiracy to commit both, and making false statements. Michael Gluck, the ex-CFO, was found guilty of securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit both also. ArthroCare manufactures medical devices.

According to prosecutors, from 2005 until 2009 the two men and others inflated sales and revenue by tens of millions of dollars through transactions with several ArthroCare distributors. Some of the transactions occurred because the medical device maker had to satisfy sales forecasts and not to fulfill distributors’ product needs. As a result, ArthroCare sent million of dollars worth of devices to these distributors, reporting the deliveries as sales in yearly and quarterly filings. This let ArthroCare meet and sometimes even exceed predicted sales.

Meantime, the distributors consented to the extra inventory in return for cash commission, extended terms of payment, and a refund option. Gluk and Baker even compelled the company to acquire DiscoCare, a distributor, to hide the nature of these sales.

SEC Charges Chicago Investment Advisory Founder With Real Estate Investment Fraud

Published on: June 11, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Securities and Exchange Commission is charging Attorney Robert C. Acri with Illinois securities fraud related to a real estate venture. Acri is the founder of Kenilworth Asset Management, LLC, a Chicago-based investment advisory firm. He has agreed to settle by disgorging the funds that were misappropriated from investors, as well as commissions, interest, and a penalty. Monetary sanctions total about $115,000.

The SEC brought the real estate investment fraud charges after detecting possible misconduct when it examined the firm. The regulator’s Enforcement Division was alerted and a probe followed.

According to the findings of the investigation, Acri misled investors over promissory notes that were issued to supposedly redevelop an Indiana shopping center, misappropriated $41,250 for other purposes, and failed to tell investors that the firm received a 5% on every note sale. This amount would total $13,750. He also purportedly did not let investors know a number of material facts, including that the reason there even was an investment offer is that he was trying to rescue funds that other clients had invested earlier in the same real estate developer.

SEC Files Order Against New Mexico Investment Adviser Over Allegedly Secret Commissions

Published on: June 10, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The SEC has submitted an order against Dennis J. Malouf accusing him of investment adviser fraud. The regulator says that he allegedly took trading commissions that he wasn’t entitled to for himself. He was in charge of UASNM’s bond trading operation between 2008 and May 2011. Malouf, who was the CEO of UASNM Inc. is now with M Wealth Management.

According to the Commission, he set up a secret verbal deal with someone at a broker-dealer branch to send him the commissions generated by the broker for bond trades that this person did with Malouf’s firm. The regulator claims that rather than look for the best way to make the bond trades happen, UASNM worked only with the broker-dealer. Over the approximately three-year period, the investment advisory firm made over 200 bond trades through the unnamed branch. This was about $30 million to $40 million in trades every year, for which Malouf obtained about $1.1M in commissions.

In 2011, UASNM fired Malouf, who was a majority owner,because of misconduct allegations. He then sued for wrongful termination and that is when the firm’s attorneys discovered the purported commission deal.

FINRA Headlines: SRO Fines Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, and Barclays Capital $1M Each & Makes Dark Pool Data Available

Published on: June 7, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

FINRA Fines Merrill Lynch, Goldman, and Barclays Capital $1M Each Over Blue Sheet Data

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has issued a censure that fines Goldman Sachs & Co. (GS), Merrill Lynch, Pierce Fenner & Smith Inc., and Barclays Capital Inc. $1 million each. The firms are accused of not submitting accurate and complete data about trades conducted by them and their customers to the SRO and other regulators. This information is known as “blue sheet” data. Firms are legally required to give regulators this information upon request.

Blue sheets give regulators specific information about trades, including the name of a security, the price, the day it was traded, who was involved, and the size of transaction. This information is helpful to identify anomalies in trading and look into possible market manipulations.

Bank of America Could Settle Mortgage Probes for $12B

Published on: June 7, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

According to The Wall Street Journal, Bank of America Corp. (BAC) is in negotiations to settle the mortgage probes by the U.S. Department of Justice and several states for at least $12 billion. The bank has been under investigation over the sale, underwriting and securitization of residential mortgage bonds from prior to the 2008 financial crisis.

At least $5 billion would go to consumer relief as help for homeowners to lower their principals, as well as pay blight removal in certain neighborhoods. Already, BofA has agreed to pay $6 billion to settle with the Federal House Finance Agency related to residential mortgage backed securities that were purchased by Freddie Mac (FMCC) and Fannie Mae (FNMA) between 2005 and 2007. That case also involved allegations made against the bank’s Merrill Lynch and Countrywide Financial Group.

However, government negotiators are pressing BofA to pay billions of dollars more than $12B in this case. If a deal isn’t struck, the US Department of Justice may opt to file a civil lawsuit against the bank.