Contact

Click here for a confidential contact or call:

1-212-350-2774

Archive

Page 1 of 66

February 9, 2024

Five broker-dealers, seven dually registered broker-dealers and investment advisers, and four affiliated investment advisors have been ordered to pay more than $81 million in total for longstanding, widespread violations of the recordkeeping provisions of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.  The firms were found to have failed to maintain and preserve electronic communications since at least 2019.  The firms include Northwestern Mutual Investment Services LLC, Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Co. LLC, and Mason Street Advisors LLC, who will pay $16.6 million; Guggenheim Securities LLC and Guggenheim Partners Investment Management LLC, who will pay $15 million; Oppenheimer & Co. LLC, who will pay $12 million; Cambridge Investment Research Inc. and Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc., who will pay $10 million; Key Investment Services LLC and KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., who will pay $10 million; Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp. and Lincoln Financial Securities Corp., who will pay $8.5 million; U.S. Bancorp Investments Inc., who will pay $8 million; and The Huntington Investment Company, Huntington Securities Inc., and Capstone Capital Markets LLC, who will pay $1.25 million.  SEC

Tagged in: Financial Institution Fraud,

December 26, 2023

A temporary restraining order was issued on December 21 against ArciTerra Companies LLC and its CEO Jonathan M. Larmore, along with Cole Capital Funds LLC, an entity formed by Larmore. Larmore and other charged entities misappropriated more than $35 million from private real estate funds and other investment vehicles to fund his family's lavish lifestyle. In another scheme, Larmore issued a press release from Cole Capital Funds, announcing they were buying 51% of WeWork's minority ownership shares at nine times the current trading price. Not disclosed was that Larmore had purchased more than 72,000 call options in the days prior to the press release. Larmore's intent was to earn a windfall on the options; instead, the press release was delayed so most of the call options expired before he could exercise them. SEC

Tagged in: Financial and Investment Fraud, Market Manipulation and Trading Violations, Misrepresentations, Regulatory Violations, Securities Fraud,

December 14, 2023

Freepoint Commodities LLC will pay more than $98 million in civil penalties and disgorgement for improperly obtaining and trading on material non-public information. Freepoint paid millions in bribes to government officials in Brazil to obtain highly confidential information related to the purchase and sale of fuel oil. Certain members of Freepoint's oil trading team knew of and took steps to conceal the fraud by using code words, fake names, and private email addresses, all to gain unlawful competitive advantages in oil products trading. DOJ; CFTC

Tagged in: Bribery and Bid-Rigging, FCPA, Fraud in CFTC-Regulated Markets, Market Manipulation and Trading Violations, Misrepresentations, Regulatory Violations,

December 13, 2023

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC and two affiliates will pay more than $10 million for providing prohibited underwriting and advising services to mutual funds, in violation of an October 2022 Superior Court of New Jersey consent order. Per the order, Credit Suisse was prohibited from serving as principal underwriter or investment adviser to mutual funds and employees' securities companies; however, Credit Suisse acted in that capacity prior to receiving a time-limited exemption to such prohibitions in June 2023. SEC

Tagged in: Financial and Investment Fraud, Financial Institution Fraud, Misrepresentations,

November 21, 2023

Rio Tinto plc, Rio Tinto Limited, and Rio Tinto's former CEO Thomas Albanese have agreed to entry of a final judgment, ordering it to pay $28 million and permanently restraining Rio Tinto from violating Sections 13(a) and 13(b)(2)(A) of the Exchange Act and Rules 12b-20 and 13a-16 thereunder. The judgment stems from the SEC's 2017 complaint which alleged that Rio Tinto's public filings contained misleading statements about the value of its Mozambican coal assets. Rio Tinto has agreed to retain an independent consultant to review its compliance with accounting standards. Albanese will pay a $50,000 civil penalty and is required to cooperate in the SEC's continuing investigation into Rio Tinto's former CFO Guy Elliott. SEC

Tagged in: Accounting Fraud, Misrepresentations, Regulatory Violations, Securities Fraud,

November 2, 2023

Royal Bank of Canada has agreed to pay a $6 million civil penalty to the SEC to settle charges of violating the internal accounting controls and books and records provisions of the Securities Exchange Act.  Between 2008 and 2020, the firm failed to properly account for the costs of internally developed software.  Because it was unable to differentiate between capitalizable and noncapitalizable costs, the bank applied a single capitalization rate year after year without sufficient basis.  SEC

Tagged in: Accounting Fraud, Financial Institution Fraud,

September 29, 2023

Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and Bank of America and Merrill Lynch have been ordered to pay $30 million, $15 million, and $8 million respectively in connection with a variety of swap dealer failures.  Goldman Sachs failed to diligently supervise a wide range of its swap dealer activities, some of them since 2013, and failed to accurately or timely report a significant portion of its swap data.  J.P. Morgan underreported or misreported over 40 million swap transactions.  Bank of America and Merrill Lynch underreported or misreported almost 4 million swap transactions.  CFTC

Tagged in: Financial Institution Fraud, Fraud in CFTC-Regulated Markets,

September 29, 2023

Interactive Brokers Corp., an introducing broker, and Interactive Brokers LLC, a futures commission merchant, has been ordered to pay $20 million to the CFTC and $35 million to the SEC to resolve charges of failing to maintain and preserve records.  The records included communications through unapproved channels, such as text and WhatsApp, which employees at all levels used and which the company failed to maintain and preserve.  The SEC also resolved charges against other firms for similar misconduct, including Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. ($15 million); William Blair & Company LLC and William Blair Investment Management LLC ($10 million); Nuveen Securities LLC ($8.5 million); Fifth Third Securities Inc. ($8 million); and Perella Weinberg Partners LP, Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities LLC, and Perella Weinberg Partners Capital Management LP ($2.5 million).  CFTC; SEC

Tagged in: Financial Institution Fraud, Fraud in CFTC-Regulated Markets, SEC Whistleblower Reward Program,

September 25, 2023

Investment adviser DWS Investment Management Americas Inc. (DIMA), a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank AG, has agreed to pay $25 million to settle two separate enforcement actions.  In the first action, DIMA was found to have failed to develop and implement an anti-money laundering (AML) program to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network regulations.  In the second action, DIMA was found to have made materially misleading statements about how it managed its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) products while marketing itself as a leader in the field.  SEC

Tagged in: Financial Institution Fraud, Misrepresentations,

September 22, 2023

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC has agreed to pay $6 million to resolve charges of failing to provide accurate securities trading information to the SEC.  The firm admitted to making 26 of 43 total types of errors, through 22,000 deficient blue sheet submissions, ultimately causing inaccurate or missing trade data for at least 163 million transactions.  SEC

Tagged in: Financial Institution Fraud,

1 2 3 4 … 66

Newsletter

Subscribe to receive email updates from the Constantine Cannon blogs

Sign up for: