Archive

March 22, 2016

The CFTC has ordered payment of penalties of $665,000 by Credit Suisse International for violating speculative position limits for wheat futures and by Credit Suisse Securities LLC for submitting false or misleading information to the CFTC.  CFTC

March 16, 2016

A Thurston County judge ordered a California company that scammed new Washington property owners into buying overpriced deeds to pay more than $3.6 million, after granting summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by Attorney General’s office. The court found the Bellflower, Calif.-based LA Investors, LLC, which conducts business as “Local Records Office.” violated the state Consumer Protection Act at least 256,998 times by sending deceptive mailers. The company sent official-looking notices implying that consumers must buy a dramatically overpriced $89 copy of their deeds. Deeds typically cost only a few dollars from a local county office, and many property owners can obtain a copy of their deed for free online. WA

March 16, 2016

New Jersey announced that four individuals have been charged in connection with two separate schemes in which investors allegedly were defrauded of a total of $350,000 that they invested in purported medical ventures. In the first scheme, Joseph Denti Jr., Joseph Giardina and Heidi Francavilla allegedly stole $250,000 from a doctor by convincing him to advance that amount for a bogus investment involving a surgical center. They allegedly diverted his funds for their personal benefit. In the second scheme, Ralph Perricelli Jr. and Joseph Denti Jr. allegedly convinced a married couple to invest $100,000 in a blood-testing laboratory by falsely claiming to be joint owners of the lab. NJ

March 15, 2016

The CFTC announced that a federal district court has unsealed a civil complaint the CFTC filed with the Northern District of Illinois on February 2, 2016, against two foreign web-based binary options firms, Vault Options, Ltd. and Global Trader 365, both Israeli web-based companies. The CFTC’s complaint alleges that the two firms unlawfully solicited and accepted more than $1 million from at least 50 U.S. customers to trade off-exchange binary options contracts, defrauded those customers, and operated as unregistered Futures Commission Merchants.  CFTC

March 14, 2016

The CFTC ordered Florida-based IBFX, Inc. to pay a $1 million penalty for failing to meet capital requirements, failing to report minimum net capital violations on time, supervisory failures, and violating a previous CFTC order.  CFTC

March 9, 2016

New Jersey announced that the owner of a now-defunct Bergen County used car dealership, D.I.B Leasing, along with three employees and a bookkeeper, have been charged with conspiracy, money laundering, and other offenses in connection with bank financing scam that allegedly netted $1.4 million in fraudulent loans for luxury cars. Prosecutors allege the defendants created fake employment records, inflated incomes, and supplied false pay stubs and fictitious employee verifications to dupe banks into approving auto financing for customers whose income levels did not qualify them for loans on the pricey vehicles. NJ

March 9, 2016

A Las Vegas court ordered Banc de Binary Ltd., ET Binary Options Ltd., BO Systems Ltd., BDB Services Ltd., and Oren Shabat Laurent to pay over $9 million in penalties and restitution for violating the CFTC's prohibition against trading binary options off-exchange.  CFTC

March 9, 2016

The CFTC ordered CHS, Inc. and CHS Hedging, LLC  to pay $1 million for inaccurately reporting positions in corn and soybeans.  CFTC

March 7, 2016

A Colorado-based telecommunications and Internet service provider company, Level 3 Communications, has agreed to pay more than $8 million to resolve allegations it improperly withheld rental payments to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (“MassDOT”) under an agreement that allows it to run fiber optic cables alongside state highways. The settlement agreement resolves allegations that Level 3 Communications breached its contract with MassDOT and violated the Massachusetts False Claims Act by concealing the amount it owed the state agency and knowingly avoiding its annual rent obligations. MA

March 1, 2016

March 1, 2016 – Telecommunications company Qualcomm Inc. will pay $7.5 million to settle charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by hiring relatives of Chinese government officials involved with the decision of whether to purchase Qualcomm’s mobile technology products.  An SEC investigation also found Qualcomm provided gifts, travel, and entertainment to officials at government-owned telecom companies in China in an attempt to influence their purchasing decisions.  SEC