Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - September 19th, 2014
(Sep 2014)
SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
SEC Charges Eight for Roles in Widespread Pump-And-Dump Scheme Involving California-Based Microcap Company
September 18, 2014 (Litigation Release No. 23087)
Charges were filed against eight individuals cooperating in what the SEC alleges is a "pump-and-dump scheme involving a penny stock company...that has repeatedly changed its name and purported line of business over the past several years." The SEC named Izak Zirk de Maison and Angelique de Maison as the...
United Development Funding IV Left Investors $34.8 Million Worse Off
(Jun 2014)
On Wednesday last week, another non-traded REIT listed on a public exchange. United Development Funding IV (ticker: UDF), which sold as a non-traded REIT for $20 per share, closed its first day of trading on the NASDAQ at $19.60. As we have argued extensively in the past, we think that non-traded REITs are a very bad deal for investors, and UDF IV was no exception.
We have gone through all of UDF IV's SEC filings and applied the gross proceeds, distributions, and other cash flows to a liquid,...
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...
Non-traded REITs' Annualized Returns Were 4.82% Compared to Traded REITs' 10.44%.
(May 2014)
We have posted previously about how non-traded REITs which have had "liquidity events" have destroyed $27.7 billion in investor wealth compared to traded REITS. See our other blog posts on Non-Traded REITs. In this post, we calculate that the 27 non-traded REITs we discussed in prior posts have an internal rate of return (IRR) of 4.82%, which is 5.62 percentage points lower than the 10.44% IRR of a liquid, diversified REIT mutual fund over the same time period, with the same cash flows.
To...
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 9th, 2014
(May 2014)
SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
SEC Charges Three Friends and Business Associates of Former Chairman of Home Diagnostics, Inc., in Insider Trading Scheme
May 7, 2014, (Litigation Release No. 22987)
John Campani, John Mullin, and Alan Posner have all been charged with trading on insider information concerning Nipro Corporation's acquisition of Home Diagnostics, Inc for combined profits of "more than $105,000." The defendants were allegedly tipped this information by former Chairman of the Board at...
Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - May 2nd, 2014
(May 2014)
SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
SEC Charges Barry R. Bekkedam with Defrauding Investment Advisory Clients in Connection with Multimillion Dollar Rothstein Ponzi Scheme
April 30, 2014, (Litigation Release No. 22983)
According to the complaint, Barry R. Bekkedam, former SEC-registered investment advisor and former owner, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Ballamor Capital Management, LLC, "fraudulently induced, or assisted in inducing, his advisory clients and others to invest approximately...
Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - April 25th, 2014
(Apr 2014)
SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
SEC Files Action Against Former Stock Promoter Now in Prison for Lying to SEC Investigators
April 23, 2014, (Litigation Release No. 22977)
According to the complaint, Robert J. Vitale and Realty Acquisitions & Trust, Inc. "fraudulently raised at least $8.7 million from investors through four real estate securities offerings" by making "materially false and misleading statements and omissions concerning, among other things, the credentials and experience of Vitale...
This is How We Determined Investors Lost $27.7 Billion Investing in Non-Traded REITs
(Apr 2014)
Earlier this week we posted the summary results of our investigation into the performance of 27 non-traded REITs which had had a liquidity event by December 31, 2013. We found that investors are $27.7 billion worse as a result of investing in these 27 REITs rather than investing in a diversified portfolio of traded REITs. The post titled "Retail Investors Have Lost at Least $27.7 billion as a Result of Non-Traded REITs" is available on our blog.
Figuring out this $27.7 billion shortfall...
Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - April 18th, 2014
(Apr 2014)
SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
Federal Prosecutors Charge Massachusetts Resident with Criminal Contempt Based On Violations of Court Orders Obtained by the SEC
April 16, 2014, (Litigation Release No. 22973)
Last week, Steven Palladino was charged with 25 counts of criminal contempt "based on his repeated violations of Court orders obtained by the Commission in its civil action against Palladino and his...company, Viking Financial Group, Inc." The SEC's 2011 complaint alleged that the defendants...
