Securities Fraud

December 12, 2019

Two oil and gas executives have settled insider trading charges with the SEC by agreeing to pay nearly $6 million in civil penalty, disgorgement, and prejudgment interest.  The two, John Davidson and John Special, allegedly purchased shares of medical device company, Covidien PLC, upon learning non-public information about a potential merger with Medtronic PLC.  When news of the merger was officially released, investment accounts controlled by the men earned over $1 million in illicit gains.  SEC

November 15, 2019

Three whistleblowers who jointly submitted a tip to the SEC were awarded $260,000.  The information provided by the unidentified whistleblowers lead to a successful enforcement action against a fraud that targeted retail investors.  The whistleblowers were reported to be investors who were themselves harmed by the conduct.  SEC

October 2, 2019

Brokerage firm Lek Securities Corp. and its CEO Sam Lek will pay almost $2 million to resolve allegations that they facilitated the manipulative trading scheme of Ukraine-based customer Avalon FA, Ltd.  Lek provided Avalon with the means to engage in "layering" and other cross-market manipulation.  Layering involves placing and canceling orders to signal inaccurate prices.  Avalon also engaged in other practices to buy and sell stocks to artificially impact options prices.  Lek Securities will pay a $1 million penalty plus $526,000 in disgorgement and interest; Sam Lek will pay a $420,000 penalty.  Defendants have admitted the facts alleged and Lek Securities has agreed to retain an independent compliance monitor.  SEC

September 30, 2019

Longfin Corporation has been ordered to pay $6.8 million in a default judgment entered in a federal court case alleging that Longfin filed fraudulent papers to qualify for a public offering under Regulation A+, misrepresenting the business as being based in the U.S.  In addition, Longfin reported fictitious revenue from sham commodities transactions and unlawfully distributed Longfin shares, including in unregistered transactions and to insiders and affiliates.  SEC

September 27, 2019

Pharmaceutical manufacturer Mylan N.V. has agreed to pay $30 million to resolve SEC charges that the company failed to disclose or adequately accrue for possible losses arising from a DOJ investigation into Mylan's classification, pricing, and rebate practices regarding its EpiPen product.  In 2017, Mylan agreed to pay $465 million to resolve that DOJ investigation.  SEC

September 27, 2019

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. and its U.S. subsidiary FCA US LLC will pay $40 million to resolve SEC allegations that the automaker provided false and misleading information in press releases and regulatory filings about its monthly new vehicle sales and vehicle sales growth rate.  The SEC found that FCA US inflated new vehicle sales by paying dealers to report fake vehicle sales, but then failing to report those sales at the time.  Instead, Fiat Chrysler kept these sales in a separate database referred to internally as the "cookie jar," which the company would then dip into to report as current sales in a slow month.  SEC

September 27, 2019

Herbalife Nutrition Ltd. will pay $20 million to settle charges that it made misstatements in regulatory filings about its business in China.  While Herbalife, which has a direct sales model, claimed in filings that it did not use its customary multilevel marketing compensation model in China in order to comply with Chinese law, in fact, its compensation model in China was materially identical to its compensation model in every other country.  By failing to disclose this information, Herbalife was found to have deprived investors of valuable information regarding the risks faced by the company.  SEC