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Page 13 of 212

February 16, 2023

Derivative clearing organization (DCO) The Options Clearing Corporation (“OCC”) has been ordered to pay $17 million to the SEC and $5 million to the CFTC for its failure to establish, implement, maintain, and enforce policies and procedures to manage operational risks related to its automated systems, in violation of numerous rules and regulations, including the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations called DCO Core Principles.  Due to those deficiencies, between 2019 and 2021, OCC’s Clearing Fund was underfunded by $200 million to nearly $600 million.  OCC previously settled other charges with the SEC for $15 million and the CFTC for $5 million.  SEC; CFTC

Tagged in: Financial and Investment Fraud, Fraud in CFTC-Regulated Markets, Regulatory Violations, Securities Fraud,

February 9, 2023

Payward Ventures, Inc. and Payward Trading Ltd., better known as Kraken, has agreed to pay $30 million in disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties for its failure to register the offer and sale of its crypto asset staking-as-a-service program.  Staking involves investors locking their crypto tokens with a blockchain validator; if the tokens then become used to validate data for the blockchain, their owners are rewarded with additional tokens.  According to the SEC, Kraken advertised its staking-as-a-service program as having annual investment returns of as much as 21%, but failed to properly register or disclose risks to investors.  SEC

Tagged in: Cryptocurrency,

February 7, 2023

Saivian LLC and owner EJ Dalius have agreed to pay $24 million in disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and penalties for operating a multimillion-dollar Ponzi and pyramid scheme.  According to the SEC, Savian and Dalius promised investors 20% cash back on retail shopping purchases as long as they paid a $125 fee every 28 days and submitted receipts for their purchases.  Savian and Dalius claimed the cash back payments were funded by monetizing receipt data, when in fact, it was funded by payments from prior investors.  In addition to the Ponzi scheme, Savian and Dalius also ran a pyramid scheme wherein affiliates sold memberships to others down the line.  SEC

Tagged in: Financial and Investment Fraud, Ponzi Schemes,

January 24, 2023

A former energy company executive accused of defrauding investors of more than $15 million and misappropriating investor funds has been sentenced to 5 years in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud.  While serving as the executive chairman and managing partner of Citadel Energy, which supposedly helped oil and gas companies with fluid management, Joey Stanton Dodson made false and misleading representations and omissions to investors concerning the intended use of their funds and his own compensation.  After obtaining over $15.6 million from over 50 investors, Dodson misappropriated $1.3 million into his own accounts, and used some of it to repay investors of unrelated entities.  DOJ

Tagged in: Financial and Investment Fraud, Misrepresentations, Ponzi Schemes,

January 24, 2023

Popular Bank was fined $2.3 million by the Federal Reserve Board following an investigation into its processing of Paycheck Protection Program loans.  Popular Bank was approved as a PPP lender by the Small Business Administration, and was required to follow the Bank Secrecy Act and program guidelines, including verification of customer identity and the documentation, investigation, and reporting of suspicious activities.  The Board’s Consent Order found that in August 2020, the Bank processed and funded six PPP loans, totaling approximately $1.1 million, despite having detected that the loan applications contained significant indicia of potential fraud.  The Bank self-reported to the Board.  Fed

Tagged in: COVID-19, Financial Institution Fraud, Government Loan Programs, Money Laundering,

January 23, 2023

Bloomberg Finance L.P. has been ordered to pay $5 million to settle charges of making misleading disclosures related to BVAL, a paid subscription service that provides daily price valuations for fixed-income securities.  According to the order, Bloomberg failed to disclose that its valuations for certain fixed-income securities did not adhere to previously disclosed methodologies.  Financial service entities that relied on such valuations, including mutual funds, were impacted by the misleading disclosures.  SEC

Tagged in: Financial Institution Fraud,

January 23, 2023

Charlie Abujudeh of California has been ordered to pay over $5 million for his role in defrauding retail investors through a microcap fraud scheme.  Abujudeh and associates allegedly made misleading statements during high pressure sales calls and email promotions to urge investors to invest in Odyssey Group International, Inc., Scepter Holdings, Inc., and CannaPharmaRx, Inc., then gave hundreds of thousands of investor funds to a contact within Odyssey.  SEC

Tagged in: Financial and Investment Fraud,

January 19, 2023

Cryptocurrency company Nexo Capital Inc. has agreed to pay $22.5 million and comply with a cease and desist order in order to settle SEC charges of failing to register the offer and sale of its retail crypto asset lending product.  The company has agreed to pay another $22.5 million and comply with additional terms in order to settle similar charges in California, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.  As part of those additional terms, Nexo must notify all remaining U.S. investors to withdraw all remaining assets from Nexo’s platform by April 2023.  SEC, AG NY

Tagged in: Cryptocurrency, Securities Fraud,

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