Archive

February 4, 2016

Miami-based brokerage firm E.S. Financial Services, now known as Brickell Global Markets, will pay a $1 million penalty to settle charges that it violated anti-money laundering rules by allowing foreign entities to buy and sell securities without verifying the identities of non-U.S. citizens who beneficially owned them.  Federal law requires all financial institutions to maintain an adequate customer identification program to ensure they know their customers and do not become a conduit for money laundering or terrorist financing.  But during SEC examinations, the firm twice failed to provide required books and records identifying certain foreign customers whom they were soliciting directly and to whom they were providing investment advice.  An ensuing investigation found that the firm’s customer identification program failed to obtain and maintain documentation to verify the identities of 23 non-U.S. citizens, the beneficial owners of 13 non-U.S. corporate entities, who executed more than $23 million in securities transactions through a brokerage account opened by a Central American bank affiliated with the firm.  SEC

February 2, 2016

Fourteen municipal underwriting firms will pay civil penalties to settle charges under the SEC’s Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation (MCDC) initiative.  In all, 72 underwriters (comprising 96% of the municipal underwriting market) have been charged under the voluntary self-reporting program which targets material misstatements and omissions in municipal bond offering documents.  The settling firms and civil penalties paid by the settling firms are as follows: Barclays Capital Inc. ($500,000), Boenning & Scattergood Inc. ($250,000), D.A. Davidson & Co. ($500,000), First Midstate Inc. ($100,000), Hilltop Securities Inc. ($360,000), Janney Montgomery Scott LLC ($500,000), Jefferies LLC ($500,000), KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc. ($440,000), Mitsubishi UFJ Securities  (USA) Inc. ($20,000), Municipal Capital Markets Group Inc. ($60,000), Roosevelt & Cross Inc. ($250,0000), TD Securities (USA) LLC ($500,000), United Bankers’ Bank ($160,000), and Wells Fargo Bank N.A. Municipal Products Group ($440,000).  SEC

February 9, 2016

A federal court ordered Cindy Vandivier and Paul Vandivier of Coconut Creek, Florida to pay almost $3 million in penalties and restitution to settle CFTC charges of fraudulently soliciting customers and misappropriating customer funds in connection with illegal, off-exchange transactions in precious metals.  CFTC

February 5, 2016

The Department of Justice, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, along with 49 states, and the District of Columbia announced that HSBC will pay $470 million to address mortgage origination, servicing, and foreclosure abuses. The settlement also requires HSBC to substantially change how it services mortgage loans, handles foreclosures and ensures the accuracy of information provided in bankruptcy court. These terms are meant to prevent abuses such as robo-signing, improper documentation and the loss of paperwork. NY, CA, PA, TX, IL, MA

February 5, 2016

The CFTC filed a civil injunctive anti-fraud enforcement action against Rico Omar Cox of Dania Beach, Florida, alleging that between August 2010 through March 2015, Cox fraudulently solicited his trading services for managed commodity futures accounts, and lost most of the $499,000 he traded for or on behalf of at least nine clients. CFTC

February 4, 2016

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida ordered Worth Group Inc. of Jupiter, Florida, its owner and operator, Andrew Wilshire of Jupiter, Florida, and Wilshire’s sister, Eugenia Mildner also of Jupiter, Florida, who served as Worth’s sole officer and director prior to February 2012, to pay restitution of $1,250,000 and a civil monetary penalty of $1,250,000 as sanctions for engaging in an illegal off-exchange precious metals scheme.  CFTC

February 3, 2016

The CFTC filed a civil injunctive action against Oakmont Financial, Inc. of Boynton Beach, Florida, and Joseph Charles DiCrisci of New York, New York, an Oakmont owner and principal, alleging that the defendants engaged in illegal, off-exchange transactions in precious metals with retail customers on a leveraged, margined, or financed basis.  CFTC

February 1, 2016

Barclays Capital Inc. and Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC will pay a combined $154.3 million to the State of New York and the SEC to settle investigations into false statements and omissions made in connection with the marketing of their respective dark pools and other high-speed electronic equities trading services. Dark pools are private exchanges for trading securities that are not viewable by the general public and are completed outside of public stock exchanges. Barclays admitted to core facts set forth in the Attorney General’s Complaint from June 2014 alleging misrepresentations about how it operated its dark pool, “Barclays LX,” including that it misled investors and violated securities laws. NY

January 29, 2016

Arthur Budovsky, founder of Liberty Reserve, which billed itself as the Internet’s "largest payment processor and money transfer system," pleaded guilty to running a massive money laundering enterprise used by cybercriminals around the world to launder the proceeds of their illegal activity.  Budovsky specifically designed Liberty Reserve to help users conduct anonymous and untraceable illegal transactions and launder the proceeds of their crimes.  Before the government shut it down in May 2013, Liberty Reserve had more than 5 million user accounts worldwide and had processed millions of transactions.  Budovsky admitted to laundering more than $250 million in criminal proceeds.  DOJ

January 19, 2016

Equinox Fund Management LLC, a Denver-based alternative fund manager, will pay over $6 million to settle charges that the firm overcharged management fees and misled investors about how it valued certain assets.  Equinox will refund investors approximately $5.4 million in excessive management fees collected during a seven-year period.  SEC