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Financial and Investment Fraud

This archive displays posts tagged as relevant to financial and investment fraud. You may also be interested in the following pages:

Page 49 of 91

June 5, 2020

The world’s former largest private manufacturer of dermatology products, along with its former chairman and CEO, have been ordered to pay $37 million to defrauded shareholders, many of whom were company employees.  According to the SEC, Stiefel Laboratories and Charles Stiefel bought back stock at severely undervalued prices and failed to disclose information during the buyback that would have alerted shareholders to the stock’s true value.  At the time, the company was quietly negotiating the sale of the company to GlaxoSmithKline PLC, which ultimately led to a share price of more than four times what defendants paid to shareholders.  SEC

June 4, 2020

Investment advisory firm Navallier & Associates, and its founder and Chief Investment Officer, Louis Navallier, has been ordered to pay $30 million to the SEC for allegedly defrauding prospective clients and retained clients in connection with the firm’s Vireo AlphaSector investment strategies.  The firm was allegedly aware of false and misleading statements regarding the stategies’ performance in marketing materials sent to clients, but failed to inform clients and in fact continued to sell the strategies.  SEC

June 1, 2020

Broker-dealer and investment advisor U.S. Bancorp Investments, Inc. will pay a penalty of $2.4 million as well as disgorgement and interest totaling nearly $16 million to resolve claims that it steered clients to mutual fund share classes that charged 12b-1 and shareholder servicing fees when lower-cost share classes were available.  U.S. Bancorp allegedly failed to disclose to clients that it had a conflict of interest arising from its receipt of fees with respect to such shares, and, in recommending the higher-cost shares, failed to seek best execution for client transactions.  SEC

May 28, 2020

Blockchain company BitClave PTE Ltd agreed to pay disgorgement, penalties, and interest totaling $29.7 million to resolve charges arising from its 2017 unregistered initial coin offering of digital tokens it called Consumer Activity Tokens (CATs).  The CATs were investment contracts, with proceeds of the ICO used to fund the development of BitClave’s blockchain-based search platform for consumer advertising, which BitClave offered and sold to the general public as providing the opportunity for future profits arising from the efforts of BitClave and its agents.  SEC

May 19, 2020

Payment processing company First Data Merchant Services, LLC will pay $40.2 million to resolve FTC charges that it laundered, or assisted laundering of, credit card transactions for scams facilitated by Chi “Vincent” Ko and his company First Pay Solutions LLC, which operated as an independent sales agent for First Data.  Ko allegedly opened hundreds of merchant accounts to process payments for scams that targeted hundreds of thousands of consumers, and First Data knowingly processed payments for those scams.  FTC

May 19, 2020

The country’s largest subprime auto financing company, Santander Consumer USA Inc, has agreed to pay over $550 million to resolve allegations of violating consumer protection laws by knowingly placing consumers in auto loans that the company expected would default at a rate of over 70%.  Under the settlement, affected consumers in 34 states who defaulted on loans between 2010 and 2019 will receive restitution.  Additionally, Santander has agreed to various relief efforts, including transferring titles and waiving balances for consumers who defaulted on loans and had not had their cars repossessed yet, waiving balances or debt still owed even on cars already repossessed, and helping to repair consumer credit scores.  CA AG; NY AG; VA AG

May 15, 2020

Credit rating agency Morningstar will pay $3.5 million to settle charges that it violated conflict of interest rules by having credit rating analysts in its asset-backed securities group engage in marketing to issuers, including offering to provide indicative ratings.  SEC rules prohibit rating agencies from issuing or maintaining a credit rating where an analyst who participates in determining or monitoring credit ratings also participates in sales and marketing activity, and require agencies to have policies to address conflicts of interest.  SEC

COVID Frauds of the Week: Unproven Tests, Nonexistent Equipment, Price Gouging, and $10 Million in SBA Loans

Posted  05/15/20
sample test tubes scattered around
Fraudsters continue to attempt to capitalize on anxiety and uncertainty during the pandemic by marketing unproven products and services for the prevention, treatment, or cure of COVID-19. This week, we highlight the massive FTC efforts to identify and shut down illegal activities via Warning Letters (around 100 issued to date); two new SEC actions; as well other government actions to quash sales of unproven or...

US to Recover More Than $49 Million in Assets Related to the 1MBD Embezzlement and Money Laundering Scandal

Posted  05/8/20
money in a laundry machine
The DOJ entered into a $49 million settlement this week in one of the civil forfeiture cases related to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad fund scandal.  The 1MDB fund was created by the government of Malaysia to promote economic development in Malaysia through global partnerships and foreign direct investment, and its funds were intended to be used for improving the well-being of the Malaysian people. According to...

May 6, 2020

The United States has obtained a settlement of $49 million in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, in which high-level officials of 1MDB and their associates allegedly robbed the people of Malaysia by misappropriating over $4.5 billion in public funds, which they laundered through financial institutions based in the United States and other countries and squandered on expensive properties and possessions.  With the conclusion of the case against Emirati businessman Khadem al-Buraisi, the United States has recovered over $1.1 billion in assets arising from the 1MDB scandal, representing the largest civil forfeiture by the DOJ and the largest recovery to date under the agency’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative.  DOJ; USAO CDCA
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