Financial and Investment Fraud

April 19, 2021

Unregistered investment adviser Hai Khoa Dang has been ordered to pay a $2.2 million penalty and about $7,000 in disgorgement and interest for defrauding a retired couple who had been his clients for 20 years.  Dang allegedly informed the couple that he would invest their funds conservatively; unbeknownst to his clients, he then engaged in a risky options trading strategy that ultimately caused their funds to plummet from over $2.2 million to $27,000.  SEC

April 15, 2021

The SEC has awarded two whistleblowers a joint award of over $50 million for providing information, voluminous documents, and substantial assistance that led to the return of tens of millions of dollars to harmed investors.  According to the SEC, the fraud scheme at issue involved highly complex transactions that would have been difficult for the agency to detect.  SEC

April 9, 2021

The Alista Group, LLC, and Luis M. Pineda Palacios, a/k/a Luis Pineda, have been ordered to pay civil monetary penalties and restitution in an action initiated by the CFTC alleging that they engaged in precious metals fraud and illegal, off-exchange precious metals sales to retail customers.  In addition, the government alleged that defendants misappropriated customer funds to trade on their own account, pay business expenses, and make payments to customers to sought to cash out.  Alista was ordered to pay a total of $2.2 million, and Pineda was ordered to pay $448,000. CFTC

April 9, 2021

The SEC has awarded approximately $2.5 million to an individual who provided key information and evidence regarding a breach of fiduciary duties to investors.  The whistleblower’s assistance contributed substantially to a successful enforcement action.  SEC

April 8, 2021

Circle Society, Corp. and its owner, David Gilbert Saffron, have been ordered to pay more than $32 million in restitution, disgorgement, and civil monetary penalty for cryptocurrency fraud and misappropriation.  First as an individual, and then through Circle Society, Saffron allegedly solicited millions in Bitcoin and U.S. dollars from at least 179 individuals by making false statements regarding his trading expertise and guaranteed rates of return.  However, rather than trading the fu­nds on foreign currencies and cryptocurrency pairs, Saffron directed­­ portions to his personal cryptocurrency wallet and used other portions to pay prior investors.  CFTC

April 8, 2021

A man in New Mexico has been ordered to pay over $10.3 million in monetary sanctions and relief after he admitted to running a Ponzi scheme that spanned nearly twenty years.  Instead of investing client funds in U.S. Treasury Bond futures, Douglas Lien misappropriated over $14.2 million from 45 clients, while charging them over $3.5 million in so-called management fees.  Lien has now been permanently banned from commodities trading and registering as a futures commission merchant.  CFTC