Contact

Click here for a confidential contact or call:

1-347-417-2192

Archive

Page 26 of 57

December 10, 2018

Steven Pagartanis pled guilty to conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud for orchestrating a Ponzi scheme that ran for 18 years. Pagartanis solicited elderly victims by guaranteeing a fixed return of 4.5 to 8 percent annually in real estate-related investments. Pagartanis directed his victims to make checks payable to an entity he secretly controlled and then utilized a network of bank accounts to launder the stolen funds, which he used to pay for exorbitant personal expenses and to cover purported “interest” payments. Pagartanis’ scheme resulted in actual losses of over $9 million and many of his victims lost substantial portions of their life savings. A civil case against Pagartanis has also been filed by the SEC. DOJ

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

November 28, 2018

Edwin Fujinaga, the former president and CEO of MRI International, Inc., which purported to be a medical collections and investment company, was convicted after a five-week trial for his role in a $1.5 billion ponzi scheme. Fujinaga solicited investments from over 10,000 Japanese residents, promising investors that their funds would be used to purchase medical debt. In fact, less than two percent of investor funds were used to purchase medical claims.  Fujinaga diverted the remainder for personal use and to pay off earlier investors.  In 2013, the Japanese government revoked MRI's license to market securities.  USAO NV Subsequent sentencing.

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

November 7, 2018

ITG Inc. and its affiliate AlterNet Securities Inc. have agreed to pay a $12 million SEC fine to settle charges that ITG made misstatements about the operation of its dark pool, POSIT, and failed to establish adequate safeguards and procedures to protect POSIT subscribers’ confidential trading information.  The SEC found that ITG improperly disclosed the confidential dark pool trading information of firm clients, and failed to disclose certain structural features of the dark pool, including segmentation and speed limits.  SEC

Tagged in: Dark Pools, Misrepresentations, Regulatory Violations, Securities Fraud,

October 24, 2018

The Attorney General of New York has filed a lawsuit against ExxonMobil for misleading investors about the risks it faces due to climate change, which has resulted in billions of dollars in losses to investors such as the New York State Common Retirement Fund and New York State Teachers Retirement System. For years, the oil and gas titan allegedly falsely represented to investors that it was accounting for the rising tide of climate change regulations to its business planning. In truth, it was accounting for far less than it should or not even accounting for it at all. AG NY

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

October 19, 2018

Nicholas Joseph Genovese pleaded guilty to securities fraud and agreed to forfeit more than $13 million in proceeds from the fraud.  Genovese admitted to misrepresenting his qualifications and professional background and concealing that he had prior felony convictions for fraud-related crimes as he solicited investors for a hedge fund he founded, Willow Creek Investments LP.  Genovese lost over $8 million of investor funds between January 2015 and December 2017.  SDNY

Tagged in: Misrepresentations, Securities Fraud,

October 16, 2018

Cesare Alessandrini and his company, Forms Direct, Inc. (also known as American Immigration Center), have agreed to pay $2.2 million in restitution to customers defrauded by the company's deceptive websites, which used URLs and graphics that made them appear affiliated with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). After customers provided their personal information and paid between $120 to $300, many realized that they were not in fact on a government website, but rather the website of a form preparation service. As part of the settlement, Forms Direct has been ordered to clearly disclose its real identity to future customers, as well as inform them that they must submit their completed forms and fees separately to the government. FTC

Tagged in: Misrepresentations,

October 16, 2018

Nomura Holding America Inc. and its affiliates have agreed to pay a civil penalty of $480 million to settle claims that it knowingly misled investors of its residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) in the years leading up to the financial crisis of 2008. From 2006 to 2007, Nomura allegedly marketed falsely to investors that its due diligence process was "industry leading," despite knowing that many of the loans it sold did not comply with regulations, or had not even gone through their due diligence process. Among the investors defrauded were Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, retirement funds, and university endowments. USAO EDNY

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

October 9, 2018

HSBC will pay a $765 million civil penalty under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) to settle claims that it misrepresented the quality of assets in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) that HSBC packaged and sold to investors between 2005 and 2007.  HSBC was also alleged to have misrepresented the due diligence procedures it followed in reviewing loans for securitization, claiming to follow more stringent procedures than it actually did follow.  USAO Colorado.

Tagged in: Financial and Investment Fraud, Financial Institution Fraud, FIRREA, Housing and Mortgage Fraud, Misrepresentations,

October 9, 2018

Darrell Smith, who had worked as an investment advisor in Northern Iowa, was sentenced to nearly 15 years in prison following a guilty plea for charges arising from his fraudulent  diversion of funds from his clients to bio-energy and ethanol companies that he owned and/or controlled.  Smith stole over $2.4 million from client accounts, and has been ordered to pay restitution of over $ 1 million.   DOJ

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

September 25, 2018

Edward J. DiMaria, the former chief financial officer of Bankrate, Inc., a publicly traded company, plead guilty and was sentenced to ten years in prison for orchestrating an accounting and securities fraud scheme that caused more than $25 million in shareholder losses.  DiMaria admitted that between 2010 and 2014 he took actions to artificially inflate Bankrate’s earnings by leaving millions of dollars in unsupported expense accruals on Bankrate’s books, then selectively reversing those accruals in later quarters to boost earnings, as well as misrepresenting other company expenses.  DiMaria lied to Bankrate's independent auditors to conceal the fraud.  As a result of the accounting fraud, Bankrate’s financial statements filed with the SEC were materially misstated.  S.D. Fla. USAO; DOJ

Tagged in: Accounting Fraud, Criminal Proceedings, Misrepresentations, Securities Fraud,

1 … 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 … 57

Newsletter

Subscribe to receive email updates from the Constantine Cannon blogs

Sign up for: