Blog

Our experts frequently write blog posts about the findings of the research we are conducting.

Displaying 41-50 out of 571 results for "JOBS Act".

A Bad Broker Found His Firm; You Should Avoid Them Both

(Jun 2016)

In June 2016, a FINRA panel in Albuquerque, NM ordered Centaurus Financial, Inc. to pay the Claimant, a recent widow when the subject conduct began, $150,000 plus all hearing fees after reasoned findings that "the investments Hashemian recommended while at Centaurus were not suitable", that Centaurus was responsible for Hashemian's actions which "constituted fraudulent and negligently made misrepresentation and omitted material information in the sale of investments" and that "Centaurus...

Investors Lose Over $7 Billion in SandRidge Energy Stock and Notes

(May 2016)

In recent months, investors have lost billions of dollars as a result of their investments in SandRidge Energy, Inc. stock, notes and bonds. Sandridge is involved in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas in the continental United States with some interests in the Gulf of Mexico.

SandRidge's stock price has lost 99% of its value since 2014, erasing more than $4 billion of market capitalization. In addition to near complete losses to SandRidge stockholders, investors have lost...

Have 1.3% or 7.3% of Stock Brokers Engaged in Misconduct?

(May 2016)

In our recent working paper How Widespread and Predictable is Stock Broker Misconduct? we reconcile estimates of misconduct, demonstrate that broker misconduct is predictable and explain that ostensibly publicly available BrokerCheck data could be used to help investors avoid bad brokers and bad brokerage firms if only it were made truly public instead of only speciously so.

Jason Zweig's recent column in the Wall Street Journal Is Your Broker Good or Bad? discussed our research problem. In...

Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - April 8th, 2016

(Apr 2016)

SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

SEC Charges Four in Fraudulent "Free Dinner" Scheme
April 4, 2016 (Litigation Release No. 63)
Joseph Andrew Paul, John D. Ellis, Jr., James S. Quay and Donald H. Ellison were charged for embezzling money from victims by soliciting a "free dinner" scheme, splitting the victims' money amongst themselves instead of on investments they proclaimed had high returns. Quay has previous convictions of fraud, and both Quay and Ellison have questionable registrations as...

Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - April 1st, 2016

(Apr 2016)

SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

Securities Professional Charged With Defrauding Institutional Investors
March 28, 2016 (Litigation Release No. 58)
The SEC has charged Andrew W.W. Caspersen for embezzling approximately $95 million from two institutions. Caspersen deceived and offered promissory notes issued by Irving Place II SPV LLC, a name deceptively similar to a legitimate private equity fund Irving Place Capital Partners III SPV that is in no way associated with Caspersen. The U.S. Attorney's...

Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - March 18th, 2016

(Mar 2016)

SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

SEC Approves 2016 PCAOB Budget and Accounting Support Fee
March 14, 2016 (Litigation Release No. 51)
The SEC approved the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) annual budget and accounting support fee for 2016 which is a task that SEC is required to do annually according to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was established in efforts of the SEC to oversee and approve the PCAOB's accounting support fee and budget which funds its...

Ohio Division of Securities, In the Matter of Timothy K. Fife - Ohio IA Registration to be Revoked

(Feb 2016)

In February 2016, after evidentiary hearings, the Hearing Examiner recommended that Timothy Fife's investment adviser representative registration be revoked. The Report and Recommendation is available on our website. Fife's registration is being revoked because he provided investment advice and initiated securities transactions while not licensed in Ohio and because he recommended the unsuitable purchase and holding for extended periods of time of leveraged and inverse ETFs. Dr. McCann ...

Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - January 15th, 2016

(Jan 2016)

SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

SEC Announces 2016 Examination Priorities
January 11, 2016 (Litigation Release No. 4)
The SEC has announced its new 2016 priorities for its Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations. The new priorities center around liquidity controls, public pension advisers, product promotion, exchange-traded funds, and variable annuities.

Julie M. Riewe, Co-Chief of Asset Management Unit, to Leave SEC After 10 Years of Service
January 11, 2016 (Litigation Release No. 5)...

Nicholas Schorsch Cheated Investors in Recent Nontraded REIT Mergers

(Dec 2015)

Roll-ups

Recently we posted More Non-traded REIT Perfidy: The Roll-up Grift.

To re-cap: Non-traded REITs are required by state securities regulators to include language in their bylaws which closely tracks the 2007 North American Securities Administrators Association's Statement of Policy Regarding Real Estate Investment Trusts.¹

NASAA guidelines protect shareholders in REITs which have not been trading for at least 12 months before being rolled-up. The protections include the requirement...

More Impossible Trade Prices Caused by Auto-liquidators: Option Combinations

(Dec 2015)

In three previous blog posts, we documented how auto-liquidators execute option trades at distorted prices to their clients' detriment. The price distortions are caused by the price impact of large sell or buy orders on thinly traded securities. These distortions were reversed within minutes, but not before causing investors millions of dollars of unnecessary losses.

In "The Recent Market Turmoil Spells Trouble for Auto-liquidators like Interactive Brokers", we showed that thinly traded...

571 Results

<
1
...
3
4
5
6
7
...
58
>