The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has announced an emergency court order to freeze assets in two brokerage accounts used last week to reap more than $1 million in alleged insider trading profits in connection with a merger announcement by telecommunications companies. According to the SEC’s complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern…
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced enforcement actions against 27 individuals and entities behind various alleged stock promotion schemes that left investors with the impression they were reading independent, unbiased analyses on investing websites while writers were being secretly compensated for touting company stocks. SEC investigations uncovered scenarios in which public companies hired promoters…
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that Kara Novaco Brockmeyer, Chief of the Enforcement Division’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) Unit, is planning to leave the agency later this month. Since 2011, Ms. Brockmeyer has led a national unit of 38 attorneys, accountants, and other specialists focusing on violations of the anti-bribery and accounting…
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved FINRA’s rule proposal addressing financial exploitation of seniors. FINRA today issued Regulatory Notice 17-11 announcing a February 5, 2018 effective date for the rule proposal. The changes approved by the SEC involve two key steps to protect investors: firms will be required to make reasonable efforts to…
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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today announced fraud charges and an emergency asset freeze obtained against a Michigan-based pastor accused of exploiting church members, retirees, and laid-off auto workers who were misled to believe they were investing in a successful real estate business. The SEC alleges that Larry Holley, the pastor of Abundant…
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced an emergency asset freeze and temporary restraining order against a Chicago-based investment adviser and his financial management company accused of scamming elderly investors out of millions of dollars. The SEC alleges that Daniel H. Glick and his unregistered investment advisory firm Financial Management Strategies (FMS) provided clients with…
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that three Peruvian traders have agreed to settle a pending case alleging that they traded on nonpublic information prior to the merger of two mining companies. The SEC filed its complaint in September 2016, and the settlements were approved today in U.S. District Court for the Southern District…
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted an amendment to shorten by one business day the standard settlement cycle for most broker-dealer securities transactions. Currently, the standard settlement cycle for these transactions is three business days, known as T+3. The amended rule shortens the settlement cycle to two business days, T+2. The amended rule is designed…
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The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) today issued an Investor Alert warning anyone involved in binary options trading through unregistered non-U.S. companies to be on guard for a one-two punch: losses followed up by potentially fraudulent pitches to help recoup those losses. Ploys include recovery scams and IRS impersonation scams. Binary options are inherently risky…
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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges against a Ukraine-based trading firm accused of manipulating the U.S. markets hundreds of thousands of times and the New York-based brokerage firm and CEO who allegedly helped make it possible. The SEC’s complaint alleges that Avalon FA Ltd touted itself to traders as a destination…
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