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Page 29 of 212

January 10, 2022

The SEC has issued two awards totaling more than $4 million to three whistleblowers whose information and assistance helped bring about two successful enforcement actions.  In the first order, a single whistleblower who reported internally before providing significant new information to the agency on an existing investigation was awarded $2.6 million.  According to the SEC, the misconduct occurred overseas and would have been difficult to detect without the whistleblower’s tip.  In the second order, two whistleblowers received a joint award of $1.5 million for providing substantial ongoing assistance.  SEC

Tagged in: Financial and Investment Fraud, International Whistleblowers, SEC Whistleblower Reward Program, Securities Fraud, Whistleblower Rewards,

January 5, 2022

Two Florida men, Reinier Gonzalez Caballero and Alexeis Napoles Manresa, have each been sentenced to a little over four years in prison for laundering the ill-gotten proceeds of a $3 million healthcare fraud scheme against Medicare.  Over a couple months in 2019, durable medical equipment company Universal Ortho Supplies, Inc. billed Medicare for orthosis and prosthetics that were never prescribed by physicians, nor provided to patients.  The reimbursements were then turned over to the defendants, who attempted to disguise the source of the funds by setting up shell corporations and opening up fake bank accounts.  Two co-conspirators have already been convicted and sentenced; another two have pleaded guilty and await sentencing.  USAO SDFL

Tagged in: Criminal Proceedings, Healthcare Fraud, Medical Devices and DME, Medicare, Money Laundering,

January 3, 2022

Previous metals dealer Lear Capital, Inc., and its founder, Kevin DeMeritt, have agreed to pay $5 million to settle a lawsuit by the New York Attorney General that alleged the company fraudulently charged investors up to 33% in undisclosed commissions, in violation of state laws requiring commodity broker-dealers and telemarketers to register with the state.  As part of the settlement, Lear has agreed to begin providing clear and conspicuous disclosures of the fees, enhance its complaint tracking procedures, and provide better training to its personnel.  NY AG

Tagged in: Financial and Investment Fraud, Misrepresentations, Regulatory Violations,

January 3, 2022

Blockratize, Inc., d/b/a Polymarket has been ordered to pay a $1.4 million civil monetary penalty to resolve charges of violating the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations.  According to the CFTC, Polymarket illegally offered over 900 separate off-exchange event-based binary options contracts, and failed to obtain designation as a designated contract market (DCM), or register as a swap execution facility (SEF).  CFTC

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

December 21, 2021

Financial services firm NatWest Markets Plc has pleaded guilty to charges related to its manipulation of the market for U.S. Treasury futures contracts and for the purchase and sale of U.S. Treasury securities in the secondary (cash) market.  NatWest will pay approximately $35 million in criminal fines, restitution, and forfeiture.  The government charged that NatWest traders engaged in spoofing by placing orders with the intent to cancel those orders before execution in order to artificially push up or down the prevailing market price.  DOJ; USAO CT

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

December 21, 2021

Nikola Corporation will pay $125 million to resolve charges that the transportation systems provider, which designs and manufactures electric trucks and hydrogen fuel systems, misrepresented or omitted material facts about its products, technical advancements, and commercial prospects.  Many of these statements were made by Nikola’s founder and former CEO, Trevor Milton, on social media and otherwise, both before and after Nikola went public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).  An SEC action against Milton is continuing.   SEC

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

December 20, 2021

Private equity fund adviser Global Infrastructure Management, LLC will pay a $4.5 million civil penalty to resolve SEC charges that the company overcharged clients by failing to offset certain portfolio company fees against management fees charged to clients, as it was required to do under the offering and governing documents. Global has previously repaid $5.4 million to affected clients.  SEC

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

December 17, 2021

Easterday Ranches, Inc. has been ordered to pay a $30 million civil penalty and $233 million in restitution following an investigation into claims that the company, which has since filed for bankruptcy, sold more than 200,000 head of non-existent cattle to a beef processor and falsely reported information about its cattle inventory, purchases, and sales to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in two hedge exemption applications seeking permission to exceed the exchange’s position limits.  CFTC

Tagged in: Financial and Investment Fraud, Fraud in CFTC-Regulated Markets, Misrepresentations,

December 17, 2021

J.P. Morgan Chase entities, including broker-dealer J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, will pay a total of $200 million -- $125 million as an SEC penalty and $75 million as a CFTC penalty -- to resolve claims that firm employees communicated both internally and externally on unapproved channels, failed to preserve written communications, and failed to supervise.  Defendants admitted that employees, including senior and supervisory employees, regularly and openly communicated about business using personal devices, text messages, WhatsApp, and other private messaging, none of which were preserved by the firm, in violation of recordkeeping requirements.  As a result, J.P. Morgan entities were unable to provide information in response to subpoenas and information requests from regulators.  SEC; CFTC

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

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