Financial and Investment Fraud

February 17, 2022

South Korean telecommunications company KT Corporation will pay $6.3 million to resolve charges that the company and its executives engaged in multiple improper payment schemes in Korea and Vietnam in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The company allegedly failed to have adequate accounting controls, resulting in the creation of slush funds used for gifts and illegal political contributions to government officials who had influence over KT Corp.’s business.  SEC

February 14, 2022

Zachary Joseph Horwitz, 35, of Los Angeles, CA will spend 20 years in federal prison and was ordered to pay over $230 million in restitution. Horwitz raised $650 million from over 250 investors in his Ponzi scheme—investors who were lied to about future licensing and distribution agreements with online platforms such as Netflix and HBO. Horwitz operated his Ponzi scheme via 1inMM Capital, duping five major groups of private investors through hundreds of 6- and 12-month promissory notes, which he defaulted on. Horwitz initiated the scheme in 2014, and it remained active until his arrest by the FBI in April 2021. USAO CDCA

February 14, 2022

BlockFi, Inc. will pay a total of $100 million to resolve SEC and state claims arising from its sale to retail customers of cryptocurrency lending products, including its BlockFi Interest Accounts.  Through the “BIAs,” investors lent cryptocurrency assets to BlockFi in exchange for the company’s promise to provide a variable monthly interest payment.  The SEC alleged that the BIAs were securities, offered without registration, that BlockFi operated as an unregistered investment company, and made false and misleading statements about risk levels. The total settlement includes a $50 million SEC civil penalty and $50 million to be divided equally between U.S. jurisdictions that are members of North American Securities Administrators Association.   SEC; NASAA

February 11, 2022

Defendants Seyed Taher Kameli and his companies, Chicagoland Foreign Investment Group, LLC and American Enterprise Pioneers, Inc., will pay jointly and severally $1.6 million after entering into a judgment for defrauding EB-5 immigrant investors. Kameli is an immigration attorney, some of whose clients were victims of the fraud. He promised at least 226 foreign investors that their $500,000 investments would finance construction of a senior living project and pave the way for at least 10 permanent full-time jobs, as well as qualifying each investor for a path to permanent U.S. residency. Instead, he commingled and misused some of the $88.7 million raised. Defendants are enjoined from further violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. Kameli also agreed administratively to a 5-year suspension from practicing before the SEC as an attorney. SEC

January 21, 2022

A whistleblower received an award of $1.5 million, with the SEC finding that the individual voluntarily provided new and original information as well as substantial assistance during the course of the government’s investigation.  The information helped Commission staff formulate their investigative strategy, saved government time and resources, and significantly contributed to the success of a government investigation.   SEC