Financial and Investment Fraud

June 14, 2019

In the SEC’s largest recovery from a broker for improper ADR practices, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Financial Services LLC (ICBCFS) has agreed to pay more than $42 million for improperly handling pre-released American Depository Receipts (ADRs).  Because ADRs represent foreign shares of a foreign company, they usually require a deposit of a corresponding number of foreign shares, but can be pre-released if certain conditions are met.  ICBCFS allegedly facilitated the early issuance of ADRs in order to allow certain tax-advantaged borrowers to collect dividends without taxes.  This left the door open for abusive practices such as the inflation of securities held by foreign issuers, short selling, and dividend arbitrage.  SEC

June 7, 2019

A New York cold-caller and executive at My Street Research has been sentenced to 2 years in prison and ordered to pay $86,168 for his role in a stock fraud scheme that cost investors $147 million over three years.  Along with 15 co-defendants, Emin Cohen lured elderly and vulnerable investors to a “pump and dump” scheme where the accused artificially inflated the prices and volumes of publicly traded companies that they controlled.  When the stock eventually plummeted, investors lost millions of dollars.  Ten of the co-defendants have since pleaded guilty and await sentencing, while the other five are scheduled to go on trial.  USAO EDNY

May 28, 2019

John K. Morrow, former owner of Louisiana company UVC Technologies, LLC, was sentenced to over seven years in prison for defrauding investors out of more than $2 million dollars. Instead of using the funds for business expenses, Morrow spent the money on personal living and travel expenses. In addition to time in prison, Morrow was also sentenced to three years of supervised release, and he must pay $2,066,923 in restitution. DOJ

May 10, 2019

Broker-dealer Banca IMI Securities Corp. pleaded guilty to criminal antitrust charges arising from a conspiracy to rig bids to borrow pre-release American Depository Receipts (ADRs) from one of the depository banks permitted to create ADRs.  The depository bank instituted an auction process for pre-release ADRs, and Banca IMI conspired with others to submit artificially low, sometimes identical, bids, to the bank.  Banca IMI will pay a criminal fine of $2 million.  DOJ

May 7, 2019

The SEC has tentatively settled insider trading charges with a Nevada man who allegedly engaged in prohibited insider trading after he peeked at confidential details of a possible acquisition by Cintas Corporation while at the home of Cintas’s general counsel, a lifelong friend. Armed with information about the company’s plan to acquire G&K Services, Brian Fettner purchased G&K stock through his ex-wife and ex-girlfriend’s brokerage accounts, then persuaded both a third love interest and his father to purchase G&K stock on their own. When the merger was publicly announced in August 2016, accounts associated with Fettner netted profits exceeding $250,000. Fettner is expected to pay a penalty of $252,995, and his ex-wife and ex-girlfriend is expected to disgorge of their illicit gains. SEC

May 3, 2019

The CFTC has filed a civil enforcement action against two men and their company, Berkley Capital Management, LLC (BCM), which operates two binary options trading pools, BBOT 1, LP and Berkley II, LP.  In order to open pool accounts with the North American Derivatives Exchange (NADEX), defendants Arie Bos of the Netherlands and William Caniff of the U.S. submitted false statements to conceal Caniff’s criminal background, then misappropriated at least $2.3 million from more than $4.8 million that was fraudulently solicited from the pools’ 62 participants.  CFTC

April 30, 2019

Brynee Baylor, a former D.C. attorney, was convicted for her role in a $2 million investment fraud scheme. Baylor and her co-conspirators recruited investors into a phony trading program which promised large profits in a short amount of time with little to no risk. Baylor faces five years in prison for the conspiracy count, 20 years for the securities fraud count, and 10 years in prison for each of the first-degree fraud counts. Sentencing has not yet been scheduled.   DOJ