Government Enforcement Actions

April 23, 2015

German-based Deutsche Bank AG and its UK-based subsidiary DB Group Services (UK) Limited agreed to pay more than $2.5 billion to settle US and UK allegations relating to their role in manipulating and false reporting of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and Euribor.  In addition to the monetary payout, DB Group Services agreed to plead guilty to wire fraud and Deutsche Bank entered into a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve wire fraud and price-fixing charges. The settlement payment consists of an $800 million CFTC penalty, a $600 million penalty payable to the New York Department of Financial Services, $344 million payable to the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) action, and criminal penalties and disgorgement payable in an agreement with DOJ, including a $150 million fine payable by DB Group Services and a $625 million penalty payable by Deutsche Bank.  DOJ; CFTC; NY

April 22, 2015

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced the filing of a complaint against the Center for Psychiatric Medicine for unlawfully profiting off of patients seeking treatment for opiate addiction. The state alleges that since October 2010, the company charged hundreds of its patients cash fees to receive Suboxone treatment, a medication covered by MassHealth, when they should not have been charged at all. MA

April 21, 2015

National mortgage servicing company Green Tree Servicing LLC agreed to pay $63 million to resolve FTC charges that it harmed homeowners with illegal loan servicing and debt collection practices. The FTC alleged that Green Tree made illegal and abusive debt collection calls to consumers, misrepresented the amounts people owed, and failed to honor loan modification agreements between consumers and their prior servicers, among other charges. Green Tree has also agreed to create a home preservation plan for some distressed homeowners and take rigorous steps to ensure that it collects the correct amounts from consumers. FTC

April 21, 2015

The CFTC filed a civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Sentry Asset Group, LLC of Boca Raton, Florida, and its owner and manager, John Pakel of Del Ray, Florida, alleging that they engaged in illegal, off-exchange transactions in precious metals with retail customers on a leveraged, margined, or financed basis.  CFTC

April 21, 2015

A CFTC civil enforcement action was unsealed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against Nav Sarao Futures Limited PLC and Navinder Singh Sarao for price manipulation and spoofing.  CFTC

April 20, 2015

The FTC announced that Cardinal Health, Inc. has agreed to resolve charges that it illegally monopolized 25 local markets for the sale and distribution of low-energy radiopharmaceuticals and forced hospitals and clinics to pay inflated prices for these drugs. The proposed stipulated order requires Cardinal to pay $26.8 million of ill-gotten gains and represents the second largest monetary settlement the FTC has obtained in an antitrust case. The order also includes provisions to prevent future violations and restore competition in six markets where Cardinal remains the dominant radiopharmacy. FTC

April 20, 2015

The FTC has approved a final consent order with AmeriFreight, an automobile shipment broker, which stops the company from touting its highly rated online reviews while failing to disclose that the company compensated consumers to write them. According to the FTC’s complaint, AmeriFreight represented that its online reviews were those of satisfied customers, but failed to disclose that AmeriFreight compensated the reviewers with discounts and incentives. AmeriFreight gave consumers $50 discounts to write favorable reviews, and offered consumers the chance to win an additional $100 if their review was selected for a monthly prize. FTC

April 20, 2015

The Texas Attorney General’s Office filed a lawsuit against Houston-based learning center Parkview Home School for unlawfully marketing and selling fraudulent high school diplomas and transcripts. According to the state, Parkview has provided fake high school diplomas and transcripts to Texas consumers for a fee and employs no teachers, requiring little or no coursework or educational requirements on their students. TX

April 20, 2015

The CFTC announced that the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida entered an emergency restraining order freezing assets and prohibiting the destruction or concealment of books and records of Dorian A. Garcia, and his companies, DG Wealth Management, Macroquantum Capital LLC, and UKUSA Currency Fund LP, all of Naples, Florida.  The CFTC previously had filed a complaint charging the defendants with fraud in connection with their solicitation of customers for their foreign currency and options trading pools, misappropriation of customer funds, and their issuance of false statements and registration violations.  CFTC

April 17, 2015

The CFTC announced that it filed a civil enforcement action in a Chicago federal court against Matthew J. Marcus of California and his company, Tech Power, Inc., a Nevada corporation located in California, and John D. Briner, an attorney residing in Vancouver, Canada, and his company, MetroWest Law Corporation, a Canadian law firm, for engaging in fictitious single stock futures transactions on OneChicago LLC and trading non-competitively.  CFTC