The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that a federal court in Florida has fined Woodbridge Group of Companies LLC and its former owner Robert H. Shapiro $1 billion. They have been charged with operating a Ponzi scheme that targeted retail investors. Woodbridge and its 281 related companies will have to pay $892 million…
Read more
Back in September 2017, LeapRate reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)' EDGAR system data has been hacked. Some individuals have extracted a nonpublic information to use for illegal trading, or as SEC Chairman Jay Clayton issued in his statement back then - the data may have been used for “illicit gain through trading”.…
Read moreThe Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that it has charged JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. with improper handling of “pre-released” American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). The financial services company has agreed to pay more than $135 million to settle the charges. The official announcement reads as follows: ADRs – U.S. securities that represent foreign shares…
Read moreThe Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has informed the public that it has charged a former New York-based investment adviser and his daughter with conducting a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme. The individuals have defrauded local community members as well as members of their family and close friends. The official announcement by SEC reads as follows:…
Read more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that the federal court has fined AriseBank’s two former execs nearly $2.7 million. Former CEO Jared Rice Sr. and then-COO Stanley Ford were accused of offering and selling unregistered investments in their purported “AriseCoin” cryptocurrency. The allegedly fraudulent initial coin offering (ICO) scheme was stopped by the SEC earlier…
Read moreCrypto enthusiasts were cheering what many reports were calling a “Monumental” ruling by a Federal Court. The court ruled in favor of Blockvest, a crypto Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that was still in its initial testing phase, well before any real investing had ever taken place. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had shuttered…
Read more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently released its fiscal Annual Report for 2018, which outlined the five principles that will guide its assessment of its performance, but which also revealed an accelerated focus on digital assets, with a primary emphasis on Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). The ICO space has been perceived as the “Wild…
Read more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that it has charged Giga Entertainment Media Inc. and five of its former officers and directors—Gary Nerlinger, Jarret Streiner, Lawrence Silver, Alfred Colucci, and Charles Noska—with fraud in connection with a scheme to mislead investors. According to the SEC’s complaint, between February and August 2016, the company…
Read more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that it has agreed to resolve its insider trading claims against James V. Mazzo, the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Advanced Medical Optics, Inc. (AMO) for allegedly tipping information about his company's acquisition to his close personal friend, former professional baseball player Douglas V. DeCinces.…
Read more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has just announced that Citibank N.A. has agreed to pay $38.7 million to settle charges of improper handling of “pre-released” American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). ADRs – U.S. securities that represent foreign shares of a foreign company – require a corresponding number of foreign shares to be held in custody…
Read more