June 18, 2019

Wedbush Securities, Inc., will pay more than $8.1 million to the SEC to resolve charges that the securities company improperly obtained pre-released ADRs from depositary banks when it should have known that neither the firm nor its customers owned the foreign shares needed to support those ADRs.  This practice inflates the total number of a foreign issuer’s tradeable securities.  The SEC further alleged that Wedbush failed to have adequate compliance and training.  The consent order requires the company to pay more than $4.8 million in disgorgement, approximately $800,000 in prejudgment interest, and a civil money penalty of more than $2.4 million.  SEC

Tagged in: Financial and Investment Fraud, Financial Institution Fraud, Regulatory Violations,