A Non-traded REIT Investor Fights Back
(Jun 2015)
On June 5, 2015, I wrote that American Realty Capital's latest listing of a non-traded REIT was further evidence of the harm caused by sponsors of non-traded REITs. I also pointed out that, contrary to the common pattern in non-traded REIT listings, Schorsch and ARC used their control of the non-traded REIT version of GNL to tie the hands of shareholders and management in the subsequent GNL traded REIT and to opportunistically transfer wealth to themselves. I pointed out that similar...
Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - June 12th, 2015
(Jun 2015)
SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
SEC Names Richard R. Best as Regional Director of Salt Lake Office
June 8, 2015 (Litigation Release No. 113)
Richard R. Best will be succeeding Karen Martinez as Regional Director of the SEC's Salt Lake office. Mr. Best's qualifications include: serving as senior director and chief counsel in the Department of Enforcement for FINRA in New York, holding other supervisory and investigative positions within FINRA's Enforcement function, and having 10 years of...
Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - April 17th, 2015
(Apr 2015)
SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
SEC Halts Investment Scheme Targeting Military Personnel
April 14, 2015 (Litigation Release No. 66)
The SEC has charged Leroy Brown Jr. and his firm, LB Stocks and Trades Advice LLC, with securities fraud and conducting an unregistered securities offering and ordered an asset freeze against Brown. Brown fabricated his stock broking experience to prospective clients telling them that he had many years of experience in securities and that he had all the necessary...
Oil and Gas DPPs From Just Two Sponsors Have Caused $3.7 Billion in Losses
(Feb 2015)
We have written extensively about direct participation programs, or DPPs. See our blog posts on non-traded REITs and our discussion about equipment leasing DPPs. Oil and gas DPPs are another strain of the DPP epidemic: illiquid exposure to an existing underlying asset, loaded with confiscatory fees, conflicts of interest and unnecessary risk.
Oil and gas DPPs use some of investors' money to drill and operate oil and gas wells. Oil and gas DPPs are sponsored and managed either by investment...
Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - February 6th, 2015
(Feb 2015)
SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
SEC Alerts Investors, Industry on Cybersecurity
February 3, 2015(Litigation Release No. 20)
The SEC released a couple of publications regarding cybersecurity threats at brokerage and advisory firms. One publication focused on how firms should identify risks, establish policies, procedures, and oversight processes, protect networks and information, identify risks associated with remote access to client information and transfer requests, and detect unauthorized...
Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - January 16th, 2015
(Jan 2015)
SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
SEC Charges Direct Edge Exchanges With Failing to Properly Describe Order Types
January 12, 2015 (Litigation Release No. 2)
In the first case focused on stock exchange order types, the SEC has settled with the EDGA and EDGX exchanges for $14 million over charges that they did not accurately describe their order types. These exchanges, formerly owned by Direct Edge Holdings before being acquired by BATS Global Markets, were found to have offered multiple "price...
Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - December 19th, 2014
(Dec 2014)
SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
SEC Charges Massachusetts-Based Scientific Instruments Manufacturer with FCPA Violations Rules
December 15, 2014 (Litigation Release No. 280)
The SEC charged Bruker Corporation approximately $2.4 million for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Bruker Corporation had insufficient internal controls which lead to approximately $230,000 in improper payments to various Chinese government officials. The improper payments enabled Bruker to realize...
Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - October 17th, 2014
(Oct 2014)
SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
SEC Obtains Summary Judgment Against Defendants in Securities Fraud Involving Biopharmaceutical Company
October 15, 2014 (Litigation Release No. 23114 )
On October 10, the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted the Commission's motion for "summary judgment and for partial summary judgment, respectively, against Defendants Douglas McClain, Sr. ("McClain Sr."), of Fair Oaks, Texas, and Douglas McClain Jr. ("McClain Jr."), formerly of...
FINRA Enforcement Actions: Month in Review
(Jun 2014)
MAY 2014 SELECTED FINRA ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
FIRMS FINED
ABN AMRO Clearing Chicago LLC (CRD #14020, Chicago, Illinois)
ABN AMRO Clearing Chicago LLC consented to a censure and $95,000 fine for allegedly failing "to report short interest positions to the New York Stock Exchange and FINRA on certain settlement dates, and submitt[ing] to FINRA an inaccurate short-interest position report." FINRA found that the firm's supervisory system did not provide for supervision reasonably designed to achieve...
