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 - May 22nd, 2015
(May 2015)
SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
Peter J. Curley, Associate Director in the Division of Trading and Markets, to Leave SEC
May 18, 2015 (Litigation Release No. 91)
Peter J. Curley, Associate Director for Clearance and Settlement in the Division of Trading and Markets, will be leaving the SEC later this month. Mr. Curley has made many contributions to the division and the agency during the time of development by heading the Office of Clearance and Settlement since October 2011. Mr. Curley's had...
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...
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 - January 2nd, 2015
(Jan 2015)
SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
SEC Announces Charges Against N.Y.-Based Firm and Three Executives Accused of Siphoning Investor Money
December 29, 2014 (Litigation Release No. 294)
The SEC has charged VERO Capital Management, its president, general counsel, and CFO with channeling investors' money into a side venture. Robert Geiger, George Barbaresi and Steven Downey managed a pair of funds invested primarily in mortgage-backed securities at VERO Capital Management. The SEC alleges that, while in...
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...
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."...
