Investor Lawyers Blog

SEC Fraud Charges Filed in $1.9M Microcap Stock Scalping Scam

Published on: March 20, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed securities fraud charges against the promoter behind affiliated microcap stock promotion websites. The regulator us accusing John Babikian of using PennyStocksUniverse.com and AwesomePennyStocks.com to engage in “scalping” which is a type of securities fraud. The SEC has also obtained an emergency asset freeze.

According to the Commission, the websites, knowing collectively as “ABS,” sent out e-mails to about 700,000 people on February 23, 2012 and recommended that they invest in America West Resources Inc. (AWSRQ), which is a penny stock. However, the e-mails did not disclose that Babikian was the holder of over 1.4 million of the stock shares, which he had positioned and was going to sell right away via a Swiss bank.

Because of the emails, there was a huge increase in the share price of America West’s stock and trading value. Babikian used this to get rid of the stock during the last 90 minutes of the trading day and raked in over $1.9M.

Former Morgan Stanley Broker and Two Others Allegedly Ran $5.6M Insider Trading Scam, Swallowed The Information

Published on: March 19, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

In an alleged insider trading scam that could have been ripped out of the plot of a movie, prosecutors are accusing three men of engaging in methods of spycraft, including eating the evidence, as they ran an insider trading racket that netted about $5.6 million. The information they used was purportedly obtained from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, LLP, which is the premier mergers-and-acquisitions law practice in New York. The firm is known for its work involving mergers and acquisitions and private equity.

Prosecutors say that Steven Metro, a managing clerk at the law firm, used his employer’s computer system to gather information about deals and other corporate developments involving clients. He then shared the information, which, according to The Wall Street Journal, included data about Tyco International Ltd.’s intentions to purchase Brink’s Home Security Holdings Inc., as well as the Office Dept. Inc. Office Max Inc. merger, with an unnamed mortgage broker during coffee shop and bar meetings. That person then allegedly gave the info to broker Vladimir Eydelman, who until recently, was with Morgan Stanley (MS) (and before that (Oppenheimer & Co. (OPY)) Edylman, 42, then traded on the data.

Metro and Eydelman were arrested this week and then released on $1 million bond. They face numerous criminal charges, including securities fraud. Meantime, the unnamed mortgage broker is working with prosecutors and is expected to consent to a plea deal.

Non-traded REITS Exhibit Unbelievable Resistance to FINRA Disclosure Rules

Published on: March 19, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The non-traded real estate investment trusts industry wants to delay the implementation of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority disclosure rule until the end of 2015. The rule would require that investors be given more accurate data about the valuation of direct participation programs and non-traded REITs.

This should provide investors with a more accurate picture of how much it costs to buy non-traded REIT shares. Currently, the self-regulatory authority’s proposal would put the rule change into effect at the end of 2014, which would be about six months after obtaining Securities and Exchange Commission approval.

Almost all non-traded REIT vendors are independent brokerage firms. Generating close to $20 billion in sales last year, which is twice as much as the year prior, broker-dealers and their representatives have gotten commission boosts due to their typical 7% commission.

FINRA Orders Securities America and Triad Advisers to Pay $1.2M Over Reporting Violations

Published on: March 17, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is fining Securities America and Triad Advisors $625,000 and $650,000, respectively, for not properly supervising the way consolidated reporting systems were used. Triad must also pay $375,00 in restitution. Even though they are settling, the two firms are not denying or admitting to wrongdoing.

The self-regulatory organization said this inadequate supervision led to statements containing inaccurate valuations that were sent to customers. The two firms are also accused of disobeying securities laws by not keeping appropriate consolidated reports.

A consolidated report is a document that includes information about the bulk of a customer’s financial holdings. The report is a supplement to official account statements.

Will Castlight Health IPO Prove Too Costly for Investors?

Published on: March 17, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Castlight Health (CLST) saw its share price soar from $16/share to close to $40/share on the first day of its IPO last week. Despite bringing in just $13 million in revenue yearly thus far, its market cap still managed to hit $3 billion. Now some are wondering if this is an indicator that the IPO market may be approaching bubble territory. (Morgan Stanley (MS), Goldman Sachs (GS), and other top underwriters had priced the shares at $16, just over the raised and expected range of $13 to $15 per share)

Motley Fool analyst Ron Gross observed on Friday’s Investor Beat that this is the ninth IPO to double during its first trading day in the last nine months. Previous to that only five IPOs had done the same in the last 12 years. So yes, he says this is bubble area. Gross expressed concern that investors might be getting into stocks with super high valuations in light of the momentum yet later find that they are framing themselves for failure because they didn’t purchase the stocks at the right price.

However, reports USA Today, Castlight EO Giovanni Cilella is saying that the company sold its shares at the right time and financing is being done to keep up with customer demands. The company makes software to help employers and companies control the costs of healthcare.

Variable Annuities Scam Sought to Profit From Terminally Ill Patients’ Deaths, Says SEC

Published on: March 15, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against brokers Michael A. Horowitz and Moshe Marc Cohen, investment adviser BDL Manager LLC, and four others for their involvement in a variable annuities scam. The financial fraud purportedly aimed to make money from the deaths of terminally sick patients living under hospice care and in nursing homes.

Variable annuities are supposed to act as long-term investment vehicles to offer income upon retirement. One common feature is that a beneficiary of an annuity, usually a child or spouse, is paid a death benefit if the annuitant passes away. There is also usually a bonus credit that the issuer of the annuity adds to the value of the contract according to a specific percentage of purchase payments.

The SEC Enforcement Division claims that Horowitz set up a scam to exploit the benefits offered in annuities. Working with the help of others, he used the information of terminally ill patients in Southern California and Chicago, Illinois and sold variable annuity contracts, along with the bonus credit and benefit, to rich investors.

1 in 5 Seniors Fall Prey to Financial Fraud

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

According to the Investor Protection Trust, out of every five senior citizens over age 65, one of them will fall victim to a financial scheme in 2012. The Federal Trade Commission says that citizens over age 60 made up the largest group of people to report elder financial fraud to the Federal Trade Commission in 2013-that’s 27% of those who made such reports. That figure was just 22% in 2011.

At Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas, LTD LLP, please contact our senior investor fraud lawyers today if you feel that your losses may be a result of financial fraud or some other elder exploitation case. We work with elderly investors to get their money back.

The reason for the increase in elderly victims can in part be attributed to people living longer lives and the baby boom generation getting older. The Street reports that according to a survey conducted by the Metropolitan Life Foundation in 2010, elder financial abuse victims lost a minimum of $2.9 billion in 2010, which was a 12% increase from the number of senior financial fraud victims in 2008. Aside from negligent financial representatives, other fraudsters can include caregivers, relatives, immediate family, and strangers.

Ex-Goldman Trader Tourre Must Pay $825M in Securities Fraud Involving CDO Abacus 2007-AC1

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

Following a jury finding ex-former Goldman Sachs Group (GS) trader Fabrice Tourre liable for bilking investors in a synthetic collateralized debt obligation that failed, U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest ordered him to pay over $825,000. Tourre is one of the few persons to be held accountable for wrongdoing related to the financial crisis. In addition to $650,000 in civil fines, Tourre must surrender $185,463 in bonuses plus to interest in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s case against him.

The regulator accused Tourre of misleading ACA Capital Holdings Inc., which helped to select assets in the Abacus 2007-AC1, and investors by concealing the fact that Paulson & Co., a hedge fund, helped package the CDO. Tourre led them to believe that Paulson would be an equity investor, instead of a party that would go on to bet against subprime mortgages. Paulson shorted Abacus, earning about $1 billion. This is about the same amount that investors lost.

Judge Forrest noted that for the transaction to succeed, the fraud against ACA had to happen. She said that if ACA had not been the agent for portfolio selection, Goldman wouldn’t have been able to persuade others to get involved in the transaction’s equity. It was last year that the jury found Tourre liable on several charges involving Abacus.

Jefferies LLC Settles SEC Charges for $25 Million

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

Broker-dealer and investment bank Jefferies LLC (JEF) has consented to pay $25 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that it did not properly supervise traders at its mortgage-backed securities desk. These same staffers purportedly lied to investors about pricing.

The regulator contends that Jefferies did not give its supervisors what they needed to properly oversee trading activity on the MBS desk and that these managers neglected to find out what bond traders were telling customers about pricing information in terms of what the bank paid for certain securities. This inaccurate information was misleading to investors, who were not made aware of exactly how much the firm profited from in the trading.

While Jefferies’ policy makes supervisors look at electronic conversations of salespeople and traders so any misleading or false information given to customers would be detected, the SEC says that the policy was not effected in a manner that price misrepresentations were identified. The supervisory failures are said to have taken place between 2009 and 2011.

SEC Investigates Whether Currency Traders Distorted ETF and Options Prices, Manipulated Currency Markets

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

InvestmentNews is reporting that according to sources in the know, the Securities and Exchange Commission is trying to figure out whether currency traders at the biggest banks fixed benchmark foreign-exchange rates and distorted the process for exchange-traded funds and options. The regulator, which oversees the options and ETFs involved with the rates, joins the ongoing US and European regulatory investigations into possible currency market manipulation. Also probing the matter is the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Federal Reserve, the US Justice Department, New York’s lead banking regulator, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

European and US authorities have talked to at least 12 banks as they look into allegations reported by Bloomberg News last year accusing dealers of saying they shared data about client orders to manipulate currency benchmark spot rates. Options and other derivatives comprise over 50% of the $5.3 trillion/day foreign exchange market, with the remaining consisting of spot transactions.

In London today, with the Bank of England’s governor, Mark J. Carney talked to lawmakers about concerns that banking officials might have known about and tolerated currency market manipulation. Independent directors are currently conducting a review. Carney testified in front of the Treasury Select Committee.