Archive

March 14, 2016

The SEC charged microcap company RVPlus Inc. and its CEO, Lee Peterson, with making bogus claims in the company’s public filings and in statements to private investors and with unlawfully distributing RVPlus’ stock.  The SEC alleges that starting in 2012, Peterson filed periodic reports with the SEC claiming that RVPlus had a lucrative relationship with the United Nations and clean energy agreements with governmental bodies in Nigeria, Haiti, and Liberia worth $2.8 billion.  RVPlus had no relationship with the U.N. and the contracts were fictitious.  In addition, the SEC alleges that RVPlus and Peterson gained control of more than 90 percent of RVPlus’ free trading shares and gave them individuals who unlawfully sold them into the market.  SEC

March 10, 2016

The SEC charged Oregon-based investment group Aequitas Management LLC and four affiliates, along with three top executives, with raising more than $350 million from investors while hiding the group’s rapidly deteriorating financial condition.  Aequitas allegedly defrauded more than 1,500 investors nationwide into believing they were making health care, education, and transportation-related investments when their money was really being used in a last-ditch effort to save the firm, including using some new money to pay earlier investors.  SEC

March 9, 2016

Uni-Pixel Inc., a developer of technologies for touchscreen devices, has agreed to pay $750,000 to settle charges it misled investors about the production status and sales agreements for a key product.  The SEC alleged that Uni-Pixel began publicly touting sales of a touchscreen sensor product  supposedly in speedy high-volume commercial production when in fact only a few samples had been manually completed.  The misrepresentations caused Uni-Pixel’s stock price to more than double, enabling then-CEO Reed Killion and then-CFO Jeffrey Tomz to make more than $2 million in personal profits from selling their own shares of company stock.  Uni-Pixel also announced multi-million dollar sales agreements in 2012 and 2013 that highlighted potential revenues but omitted material conditions the company had to meet to actually receive those revenues.  The SEC also filed charges against Killion and Tomz and entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with Uni-Pixel’s former chairman of the board.  SEC

March 8, 2016

The SEC charged fund manager Steven Zoernack and his firm EquityStar Capital Management with operating without registration, providing false and misleading data to investors, and actively hiding Zoernack’s checkered past, including two felony fraud convictions and a bankruptcy filing.  SEC

March 7, 2016

The SEC charged the Rhode Island state agency now known as the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation and its bond underwriter Wells Fargo Securities with defrauding investors in connection with a municipal bond offering to finance a start-up video game company called 38 Studios.  The Rhode Island agency loaned $50 million in bond proceeds to 38 Studios.  However, the bond offering documents produced by the agency and Wells Fargo failed to disclose that 38 Studios had conveyed it needed at least $75 million in funding to produce a particular video game.  Therefore, investors were not fully informed that 38 Studios faced a funding shortfall even with the loan proceeds.  When 38 Studios was unable to obtain additional financing, the company defaulted on the loan.  The SEC also charged Wells Fargo’s lead banker on the deal and two Rhode Island agency executives with aiding and abetting the fraud.  The SEC’s complaint further alleges that Wells Fargo and the lead banker on the 38 Studios deal failed to disclose that Wells Fargo had a side deal with 38 Studios which enabled it to receive nearly double the amount of compensation disclosed in offering documents.  SEC

March 23, 2016

Gilbert G. Lundstrom, the former CEO of TierOne Bank -- a $3 billion publicly-traded commercial bank formerly headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska -- was sentenced to 132 months in prison and to pay a $1.2 million fine for orchestrating a scheme to defraud TierOne’s shareholders and to mislead regulators by concealing more than $100 million in losses on loans and declining real estate.  DOJ

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 9, 2016

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

February 17, 2016

February 17, 2016 – Former Deutsche Bank research analyst Charles Grom will pay $100,000 and be suspended from the security industry for one year, to settle SEC charges that he certified the rating on a stock that was inconsistent with his personal view.  An SEC investigation found that Grom certified that his March 29, 2012 report about discount retailer Big Lots accurately reflected his own beliefs about the company and its securities.  But in private communications with Deutsche Bank research and sales personnel, Grom indicated that he did not downgrade Big Lots from a “buy” recommendation because he wanted to maintain his relationship with Big Lots management.  SEC

February 11, 2016

February 11, 2016 – The SEC charged unregistered broker Gregory Ruehle with fraudulently selling purported stock in medical device company ICB International while pocketing investors’ money and using it to pay gambling debts.  The SEC alleges that Ruehle raised approximately $1.9 million from over 100 investors by claiming that he would sell them his personally-owned securities in ICB International.  However, Ruehle sold far more shares than he in fact owned, owned shares that were non-transferable, and fabricated documents purportedly transferring the shares.  In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California announced criminal charges against Ruehle.  SEC