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September 27, 2019

Herbalife Nutrition Ltd. will pay $20 million to settle charges that it made misstatements in regulatory filings about its business in China.  While Herbalife, which has a direct sales model, claimed in filings that it did not use its customary multilevel marketing compensation model in China in order to comply with Chinese law, in fact, its compensation model in China was materially identical to its compensation model in every other country.  By failing to disclose this information, Herbalife was found to have deprived investors of valuable information regarding the risks faced by the company.  SEC

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

September 23, 2019

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and PwC partner Brandon Sprankle will collectively pay $7.9 million to resolve SEC claims that they violated PCAOB Rule 3525 and SEC Rules of Practice 102(e) in performing non-audit services for 15 different SEC-registered audit clients.  The SEC found that PwC failed to make required disclosures of the non-audit services, denying the clients of information necessary to assess PwC's independence.  In addition, the SEC found that PwC failed to have adequate internal controls to monitor non-audit services for audit clients.  PwC and Sprankle consented to the order without admitting or denying the SEC findings.  SEC

Tagged in: Accounting Fraud, Financial and Investment Fraud, Securities Fraud,

September 18, 2019

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed an emergency action against Mediatrix Capital Inc. and three of its principals for misrepresenting the profitability of an algorithmic international trading program, which the company claimed had returned “more than 1,600 percent” since its inception. According to the SEC’s complaint, the trading strategy instead consistently failed to perform, losing $18 million in 2018 alone. The company also allegedly misled investors by falsifying statements and misusing funds to pay for personal purchases, including luxury cars. The SEC estimates that Mediatrix put a total of $125 million of investor funds at risk. SEC

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

September 16, 2019

Marvell Technology Group, Ltd. will pay $5.5 million to resolve charges of fraudulent accounting practices in 2015 and 2016.  Marvell allegedly accelerated sales in the fourth quarter of 2015 and first quarter of 2016, pulling those sales into the earlier quarters in order to mask a substantial decline in customer demand and loss of market share and make it appear that they were meeting forecasted revenue and publicly-issued revenue guidance.  The "pull-in" sales, in the amount of $24 million and $64 million, accounted for 5% and 16% of total revenue in the respective quarters.  SEC

Tagged in: Accounting Fraud, Financial and Investment Fraud, Securities Fraud,

September 16, 2019

Two subsidiaries of Prudential Financial, Inc., AST Investment Services Inc. and PGIM Investments LLC, will pay a civil monetary penalty of $5 million and disgorge $27.6 million to resolve charges that they failed to disclose a conflict of interest that arose between the subsidiaries, which served as investment advisors to 94 insurance-dedicated mutual funds, and Prudential, following a 2006 reorganization.  The reorganization was designed so that Prudential could receive certain tax benefits, but resulted in increased costs to the funds, which were not disclosed to the funds' boards of trustees of the beneficial owners of the funds' shares.  Prudential had previously reimbursed the funds for $155 million, and AST and PI self-reported to the SEC.  SEC

Tagged in: Financial and Investment Fraud, Financial Institution Fraud, Regulatory Violations, Securities Fraud,

September 16, 2019

Stephen Condon Peters of Raleigh, North Carolina, was sentenced to 40 years in prison for investment advisor fraud, fraud in the sale of unregistered securities, and related charges.  Peters, a registered investment advisor, defrauded clients by steering them to investments in which he had a personal financial interest, stole clients' funds, and made misstatements to the SEC.  In addition to his prison sentence, the court ordered Peters to pay restitution of more than $15 million.  USAO EDNC

Tagged in: Criminal Proceedings, Financial and Investment Fraud, Securities Fraud,

September 16, 2019

Two investment banks--Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc. and BMO Capital Markets--pay $2.7 million and and $1.95 million in penalties, respectively, for failing to provide accurate data to the SEC. Broker-dealers must provide what is known as "blue sheet data," information about securities trading information that the SEC uses to monitor and investigate transactions. For a period of seven years, both entities failed to provide data and inaccurately reported information for several millions of transactions. The banks also admitted the SEC's allegations that they did not have proper mechanisms in place to verify the accuracy of their submissions. SEC

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

September 13, 2019

The SEC has enjoined Kevin B. Merrill, Jay B. Ledford, and Cameron R. Jezierski from further violations of securities laws, based on their role in a $345 million offering fraud, through which they represented to investors that their funds would used to acquire and service debt portfolios, but instead used investor funds to make payments to earlier investors, and to fund their own extravagant lifestyles.  The SEC continues to investigate the Ponzi-like scheme, and a receiver has been appointed for the involved entities, Global Credit Recovery, LLC, Delmarva Capital, LLC, Rhino Capital Holdings, LLC, Rhino Capital Group, LLC, DeVille Asset Management LTD, and Riverwalk Financial Corporation.  SEC

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

September 12, 2019

Ronald Hardy and Dennis Verdosa, both formerly associated with Power Traders Press and My Street Research, were sentenced to, respectively, 10 years and 6 years in prison following their 2018 guilty pleas for their roles in a "boiler room" operation that defrauded investors, many elderly, of $147 million.  Defendants artificially inflated the price and trading volume of stock in certain publicly-traded companies, and misrepresented the advisability of purchasing the stock and its potential profitability to victim investors.  The defendants often themselves held interests in the companies, and profited when their victims lost.   USAO EDNY

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

September 4, 2019

Chicago-based Options Clearing Corporation (OCC), the registered clearing agency for exchange-listed option contracts on equities, will pay $15 million in penalties to the SEC and $5 million in penalties to the CFTC to resolve allegations that it failed to comply with regulations related to clearing agency standards.  As a systemically important financial market utility (SIFMU), OCC is subject to SEC and CFTC regulations regarding the implementation and management of risk management systems, to reduce the risk of disruption in OCC's operations, and allegedly failed to comply with those standards, including through changing policies without obtaining SEC approval.  SEC; CFTC

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

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