SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review (Part II) - March 16th, 2012
(Mar 2012)
Due to the high volume of litigation releases from the Securities and Exchange Commission over the past week, we're spreading this week's review over two posts. This is the second of the two posts.
SEC Charges Five with Insider Trading on Confidential Merger Negotiations Between Philadelphia Company and Japanese Firm
March 14, 2012 (Litigation Release No. 22288)
The SEC charged Timothy J. McGee, Michael W. Zirinsky, Robert Zirinsky, and Hong Kong residents Paulo Lam and Marianna sze wan Ho with...
SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review (Part I) - March 16th, 2012
(Mar 2012)
Due to the high volume of litigation releases from the Securities and Exchange Commission over the past week, we're spreading this week's review over two posts. This is the first of the two posts.
SEC Files Civil Injunctive Action Against Senior Management of Thornburg Mortgage, Inc. for Alleged Fraudulent Overstatement of Thornburg's Income
March 13, 2012, (Litigation Release No. 22287)
Ealier this week, the SEC charged that Larry Goldstone, Clarence Simmons and Jane Starrett (former...
Greg Smith Leaves Wall Street
(Mar 2012)
The New York Times published an op-ed by Greg Smith, a Goldman Sachs' Executive Director who is resigning from his job after almost 12 years with the firm because, as he puts it, the firm's culture has veered far from what it was when he first joined the firm. He says in spite of the firm's recent scandals "the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money." At SLCG, we have come across many examples of the issues raised by Mr....
SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review - March 9th, 2012
(Mar 2012)
District Judge Approves SEC Settlement with Koss Corporation and Michael J. Koss, its former CEO and CFO
March 9, 2012, (Litigation Release No. 22279)
In the SEC's October 2011 complaint(Litigation Release No. 22138), the SEC alleged that the Milwaukee, Wisconsin based Koss Corporation had prepared materially inaccurate financial statements from FY 2005-2009. The complaint alleged that, during this period, Sujata Sachdeva (Koss Corporation's former Principal Accounting Officer and Vice...
SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review - March 2nd, 2012
(Mar 2012)
Court Enters Summary Judgement Against Insider Trading Defendants John Jantzen and Wife, Marleen Jantzen
March 1, 2012, (Litigation Release No. 22273)
On Wednesday, United States District Judge James R. Nowlin of the Western District of Texas, Austin Division, entered summary judgment against Austin residents John and Marleen Jantzen on insider trading chargesbrought by the Commissionin 2010. The Court found that both Jantzens insider traded in violation of the Exchange Act based on material...
Time to Call for More Transparency in ETF Market
(Mar 2012)
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) started as a "plain vanilla" product: a type of low-fee, tax-efficient mutual funds holding index-mimicking portfolios. The first ETF was formed by the Toronto Stock Exchange in the 1980s and has garnered spectacular popularity in recent years. According to a recent article in The Economist, the number of ETFs in America has almost tripled from its 2006 level of 343 to 1,098 in December 2011. This volume increase has been accompanied by substantial financial...
More SEC Charges Coming Related to MBS Disclosures
(Feb 2012)
According to the Wall Street Journal today, several banks may soon face charges related to the disclosure of risks related to their sales of mortgage-backed-securities in 2006. The SEC is reportedly concerned about whether these banks "misled investors about the underlying pool of assets."
We have several posts lately and a research paper on similar disclosure issues for both collateralized loan obligations and mortgage-backed-securities, in which we describe how the warehousing of assets...
SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review - February 24th, 2012
(Feb 2012)
Federal Court Enters Order Imposing $2.5 Million Civil Penalty Against Investment Adviser Robert Glenn Bard and Vision Specialist Group, LLC.
February 23, 2012, (Litigation Release No. 22267)
In July 2009 (Litigation Release No. 21160), the SEC stopped a fraud allegedly being perpetrated by Robert Glen Bard and his firm (Vision Specialist Group, LLC.). According to the SEC, Bard targeted residents of small rural communities promising high yields on relatively safe investments (such as CDs or...
SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review - February 17th, 2012
(Feb 2012)
Court Enters Default Judgement Against SEC Defendant Daniel J. Burns and Orders Him to Pay over $1.1 Million
February 16, 2012, (Litigation Release No. 22260)
In their January 2011 complaint, the SEC filed a civil injunctive action against Daniel J. Burns and Robert F. McCullough, Jr. alleging that both defendants were guilty of insider reporting violations. In addition, Burns allegedly "received hundreds of thousands of dollars in improper compensation and benefits from CytoCore[, Inc.] as an...
SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review - February 10th, 2012
(Feb 2012)
This is the first post in what will become a weekly tradition on the SLCG blog.
SEC Charges Kenneth A. Dachman for Orchestrating a Misappropriation Scheme and Offering Fraud
February 6, 2012 (Litigation Release No. 22254)
The SEC filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois alleging that Kenneth A. Dachman had misappropriated nearly $2 million of investors funds by making false and misleading statements concerning the offerings of three companies for which...
