Archive

March 15, 2022

London-based swap dealer ED&F Man Capital Markets, Ltd. will pay $3.25 million to resolve claims that it failed to comply with swap dealer requirements including by failing to report accurate swaps data to a swaps data repository, failing to disclose to its U.S. swaps counterparties that affiliated-entity proprietary traders had access to counterparties’ trade information, and failing to disclose mid-market marks to counterparties. The CFTC further found that the entity failed to maintain an adequate supervisory system or perform its supervisory obligations diligently.  CFTC

March 15, 2022

Fund manager Eric Malley, his company MG Capital Management LP, and related entities MG Capital Realty Management LLC and MG GP III LP, have agreed to pay $12 million to resolve charges of defrauding investors.  In order to market two real estate funds managed by MG Capital, Malley allegedly made a number of material misrepresentations, including that he’d previously managed two highly successful funds and that investor funds were protected against loss.  In fact, Malley was a real estate broker with no experience managing investments, the prior funds did not exist, and he was misappropriating millions from the new funds.  SEC

March 14, 2022

An energy service company has agreed to pay $2.15 million in restitution to New York consumers after an investigation found that its dishonest business practices caused consumers to pay hundreds of dollars extra per year for gas and electricity.  In addition to the monetary penalty, Family Energy is also required to take measures to prevent future abuses, including adequately training its representatives, monitoring and recording telephone communications, refraining from misleading marketing, and implementing disciplinary actions for any violations.  NY AG

March 11, 2022

A whistleblower was awarded $14 million by the SEC in a decision that departed from the recommendation of the Claims Review Staff to deny the award.  A report about a fraud committed by a company and its CEO was published online; two individuals claimed to be authors of the report, which contained analysis derived from a large number of publicly-available and non-public sources.  Neither submitted a TCR to the SEC at the time the report was published, although the whistleblower who received the award provided the report directly to Commission staff and provided additional information during the course of the enforcement action that the SEC initiated based on the report’s allegations.   The whistleblower did submit a TCR two months after the SEC posted a Notice of Covered Action, more than four years after the report was publicly released.  The Commission found that it would be in the public interest and consistent with the protection of investors to exercise its discretionary authority and grant an award despite the individual’s failure to initially file a TCR.  The second claimant, who did not submit a TCR at any time, and who did not communicate with enforcement staff, was denied an award.  SEC

March 8, 2022

The owner and operator of Rust Rare Coin, Inc. (RRC), Gaylen Dean Rust, has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for running a 12-year Ponzi scheme that defrauded 568 victims of over $153 million.  Many of the victims were his own family, friends, and fellow church members, whom he’d convinced to invest in RRC’s silver trading program through false promises.  Rust was also convicted of laundering $18 million in fraud proceeds through three personal bank accounts.  USAO UT

March 8, 2022

The operators of online stock trading site RagingBull.com, which used bogus earnings claims to lure customers into expensive and hard to cancel subscriptions, have been ordered to pay $2.4 million.  The proposed settlement order also prohibits the defendants from making similar claims in the future, requires them to obtain informed consent from consumers before signing them up to subscriptions, and requires them to provide consumers with easy methods of cancellation.  FTC

March 8, 2022

The SEC has awarded more than $3.5 million to a whistleblower whose information significantly contributed to two successful enforcement actions by prompting staff to further investigate securities violations, saving time and resources, and helping to advance settlement discussions.  SEC

March 4, 2022

Venture capital fund adviser Alumni Ventures Group, LLC and its CEO Michael Collins have agreed to pay civil penalties totaling $800,000, and have returned $4.8 million to affected funds to resolve claims that they made misleading representations about AVG’s fees, and made inter-fund loans and transfers in violation of the funds’ respective operating agreements.  The SEC alleged that while AVG told customers that its management fee was the “industry standard ‘2 and 20.,” its practice was different from the industry standard in that it assessed the entire 20 percent in management fees – that is, 10 years’ worth of management fees of two percent per annum – upfront at the time an investor made the capital contribution.  SEC

March 3, 2022

City National Rochdale, LLC agreed to a civil penalty just over $30 million to resolve SEC allegations that the registered investment adviser failed to disclose to discretionary account clients that it invested their assets in proprietary mutual funds that generated fees for CNR and its affiliates, rather than in competitor funds whose fees may be lower.  The government also alleged that CNR failed to fully inform certain prospective customers of fees with respect to its proprietary funds.  The disclosure failures resulted in an undisclosed conflict of interest according to the SEC.  SEC

February 28, 2022

The Income Collecting 1-3 Months T-Bills Mutual Fund and one of its principals, Victor Chilelli, have consented to judgments ordering the return $77 million to investors; litigation against other defendants continues.  The SEC alleges that defendants, including Ofer Abarbanel, defrauded investors by misrepresenting the planned use of their funds, directing customer funds to shell companies under their control in uncollateralized loan transactions, and misappropriating investor funds for high-risk trading. SEC