FINRA Enforcement Actions: Month in Review
(May 2014)
APRIL 2014 SELECTED FINRA ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
FIRMS FINED
The Huntington Investment Company (CRD #16986, Columbus, Ohio)
The Huntington Investment Company consented to a $25,000 fine and censure. The firm consented to an entry of "findings that it failed to provide notice to the MSRB via the Electronic Municipal Market Access System (EMMA) that no preliminary official statements or official statements were to be prepared for bond anticipation note offerings in which the firm participated."...
Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - May 16th, 2014
(May 2014)
SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
SEC Charges Unregistered Securities Salesman for Selling Millions of Dollars in Oil-And-Gas Investments
May 15, 2014, (Litigation Release No. 22993)
According to the complaint, Behrooz Sarafraz "acted as the primary salesman on behalf of TVC Opus I Drilling Program LP and Tri-Valley Corporation" and received over $16 million in sales commissions while failing to be registered with the SEC as a broker-dealer. Sarafraz has agreed to a final judgment that enjoins...
Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - April 4th, 2014
(Apr 2014)
SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
SEC Charges Two Friends with Insider Trading Ahead of Impending Acquisition Announcement
April 3, 2014, (Litigation Release No. 22965)
According to the complaint, Walter D. Wagner and Alexander J. Osborn traded on insider information they learned from investment banker, John W. Femenia, "about the impending acquisition of The Shaw Group Inc." Wagner has agreed to a settle the charges by "disgorging his ill-gotten gains plus interest, with any additional financial...
SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review - March 7th, 2014
(Mar 2014)
SEC Obtains Summary Judgment Win On Liability Against All Defendants in a Penny Stock Fraud Case
March 5, 2014, (Litigation Release No. 22936)
A summary judgment was entered against StratoComm Corporation, its CEO, Roger D. Shearer, and its former Director of Investor Relations, Craig Danzig, for issuing and distributing "public statements falsely portraying the penny stock company as actively engaged in the manufacture and sale of telecommunications systems for use in underdeveloped...
SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review - February 14th, 2014
(Feb 2014)
SEC Charges James Y. Lee for Defrauding His Advisory Clients
February 14, 2014, (Litigation Release No. 22927)
According to the complaint, James Y. Lee defrauded his advisory clients in several ways including "charg[ing] some clients fees...based on false performance and conceal[ing] from them that they had actually incurred realized losses," failing to disclose information about his background including "a criminal conviction for embezzlement and an SEC cease-and-desist order for his role in...
SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review - January 10th, 2014
(Jan 2014)
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Diamond Foods, Inc.
January 9, 2014, (Litigation Release No. 22902)
According to the complaint, Diamond Foods, Inc. manipulated walnut costs to report "higher net income and inflated earnings to exceed analysts' estimates for fiscal quarters in 2010 and 2011." According to the complaint against Diamond's former CFO, Steven Neil, Neil "directed the effort to fraudulently underreport money paid to walnut growers." Diamond's former CEO, Michael Mendes, has...
Feliz Navidad de parte de UBS Asset Managers de Puerto Rico
(Dec 2013)
Anteriormente SLCG había publicado dos entradas sobre el colapso de los fondos UBS de bonos municipales de Puerto Rico incluyendo los fondos Puerto Rico Fixed Income Funds I y VI y Puerto Rico Investors Tax-Free Funds I y VI. Nuestra entrada del 7 de Octubre de 2013 titulada Peligro en la Isla del Encanto: Inversionistas de UBS Puerto Rico Sufren Cuantiosas Pérdidas, reportamos sobre las pérdidas en los fondos cerrados de bonos municipales administrados por UBS Asset Managers de Puerto Rico...
Merry Christmas from UBS Asset Managers of Puerto Rico
(Dec 2013)
SLCG previously posted two blog entries on the collapse of UBS's Puerto Rico municipal bond funds including the Puerto Rico Fixed Income Funds I to VI and Puerto Rico Investors Tax-Free Funds I to VI. Our October 7, 2013 post, Trouble in Paradise: UBS Puerto Rico Bond Fund Investors Hit Hard, reported on losses in closed end municipal bond funds managed by UBS Asset Managers of Puerto Rico and sold by UBS brokers in Puerto Rico. Then on December 18, 2013 in our Did UBS Charge its Proprietary...
Are Managed Futures a License to Steal?
(Dec 2013)
Bloomberg's David Evans raised this question in his recent Fleeced by Fees. David found that 89% of the futures trading profits and interest on collateral in 63 SEC-registered managed futures funds from 2003 to 2012 were consumed by fees and commissions. David's story shines a light on the abusive fees charged by the managed futures partnerships. His story quotes a spokesperson for the National Futures Association self-regulatory organization / trade group as saying that "We can't just give...
Did UBS Charge its Proprietary Puerto Rico Bond Funds Excessive Markups?
(Dec 2013)
UBS Puerto Rico's closed-end funds have received much attention in recent months. While the coverage has focused on the funds' leverage and concentration in Puerto Rican municipal bonds (see for example, New York Times and Bloomberg), discovery and further research into the funds is likely to reveal other important issues -excessive markups, for instance.
Investors, including mutual funds like the UBS Puerto Rico Funds, buy municipal bonds from dealers who typically charge a markup over the...
