Securities Fraud

June 1, 2015

The SEC charged Miami investment adviser Phil Donnahue Williamson with running a Ponzi scheme under which he siphoned money from his Sterling Investment Fund and defrauded investors, including several local teachers and law enforcement officers.  SEC

June 1, 2015

Merrill Lynch agreed to admit wrongdoing and pay nearly $11 million to settle charges that two of its entities used inaccurate data in the course of executing short sale orders.  SEC

May 28, 2015

The SEC announced fraud charges against William Quigley for allegedly fleecing investors and stealing money from Trident Partners Ltd., the brokerage firm where he worked as the director of compliance.  According to the SEC, Quigley was involved in a scheme to solicit investors to buy stock in well-known companies or supposed start-ups on the verge of going public, but the securities were never actually purchased for them.  Instead, after investors wired their funds to bank and brokerage accounts that Quigley set up and controlled, the money was quickly wired to a bank account in the Philippines or withdrawn in small increments from ATM machines in the vicinity of Quigley’s home and office.  SEC

May 26, 2015

The SEC announced fraud charges against Adam S. Gottbetter, a securities lawyer who used his New York law office as the headquarters for planning and implementing market manipulation schemes.  According to the SEC, Gottbetter orchestrated promotional campaigns that touted the prospects of microcap companies and enticed investors to buy their stock at inflated prices so he and his cohorts could sell shares they controlled and reap massive profits.  Gottbetter agreed to pay $4.6 million to settle the SEC’s charges.  SEC

May 26, 2015

Deutsche Bank agreed to pay a $55 million penalty to settle SEC charges of filing misstated financial reports during the height of the financial crisis that failed to take into account a material risk for potential losses estimated to be in the billions of dollars.  SEC

May 21, 2015

The SEC announced fraud charges against Atlanta-based investment advisory firm Gray Financial Group, its founder and president Laurence O. Gray, and its co-CEO Robert C. Hubbard IV, for allegedly selling unsuitable investments to pension funds for the city’s police and firefighters, transit workers, and other employees.  SEC

May 20, 2015

The SEC announced fraud charges against the co-owners of a Manhattan-based brokerage firm.  The SEC alleges that as Arjent LLC and its UK-based affiliate Arjent Limited were approaching insolvency, chairman and CEO Robert P. DePalo attempted to keep the firms afloat and maintain his extravagant lifestyle by selling shares in a holding company called Pangaea Trading Partners.  DePalo along with managing director and co-owner Joshua B. Gladtke allegedly misrepresented to investors the value of Pangaea’s assets and how their money would be used – transferring the first $2.3 million raised in the offering directly to his own bank accounts and using it for his personal benefit.  SEC

May 14, 2015

The SEC charged Sean R. Stewart, a managing director at a prominent investment bank, with routinely tipping off his father Robert K. Stewart with confidential information about future mergers and acquisitions involving clients of two investment banks where he has worked during the past few years. The elder Stewart, a certified public accountant and CFO of a technology company, cashed in on the tips by placing and directing highly profitable securities trades ahead of at least a half-dozen merger and acquisition announcements. The scheme generated approximately $1.1 million in illicit proceeds in a four-year period. SEC

May 14, 2014

Nationwide Life Insurance Company agreed to pay an $8 million penalty to settle SEC charges it routinely violated pricing rules in its daily processing of purchase and redemption orders for variable insurance contracts and underlying mutual funds. SEC

May 11, 2015

The SEC charged a self-described retirement planning firm, Novers Financial and its principals Christopher A. Novinger and Brady J. Speers with falsely telling customers that interests in life settlements they offered and sold were “guaranteed,” “safe as CDs,” and “federally insured.” In addition to the charges against Novers Financial and the two principals, the SEC charged ICAN Investment Group LLC and Speers Financial Group LLC for acting as unregistered broker-dealers. SEC