On Sep. 14, SEC charged IA on conflicts that defrauded customers. Steele Financial and Tamara Steele sold $15mn in stock from a private company, Behavioral Recognition Systems (BRS), previously charged with fraud by the SEC. Alleged Violations Shares sold to 120 advisory clients, many of whom are current or former teachers. Steele did not disclose…
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SEC Fine BD on Blue Sheet Data
On Sep. 13, SEC fined B/D $2.75mn for deficient blue sheet data. Convergex Execution Solutions charged for filing incomplete trading information. Alleged Violations Due to coding errors, many submissions were missing data, or had deficiencies. Included customer information, order execution time, transaction type identifier. In 2012-16, 29% of submissions had deficient customer identifying information. Follows…
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SEC Short-and-Distort Scheme
On Sep. 12, SEC charged hedge fund for short-and-distort scheme. Lemelson Capital profited from driving down price of Ligand Pharmaceuticals. Alleged Violations Defendant took a short position in May 2014, on behalf of The Amvona Fund. Gregory Lemelson then issued false information about Ligand so the price fell. Ligand’s stock lost more than one-third of…
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FINRA Unregistered Crypto
On Sep. 11, FINRA charged broker for selling crypto securities. Timothy Ayre charged re unlawful distribution of unregistered security HempCoin. Alleged Violations Ayre tried to get investment in worthless public company, Rocky Mountain Ayre. Publicized as HempCoin “the first minable coin backed by marketable securities”. Ayre made and fraudulent, positive statements on RMTN business and…
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SEC Charge Brokers Churning
On Sep. 10, SEC charged brokers for recommending excess trades. Charges for Florida resident Emil Botvinnik, and NY resident Jovannie Aquino. Were representative with Meyers Associates, LP, (later Windsor Street Capital). For recommending excessive level of trading that are costly to retail customers. Follows similar SEC charges of excessive trading, in Jan., Sep., and Dec.…
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SEC Nonko Trading Fraud Charge
On Sep. 5, SEC charged two with fraud in fake trading accounts. Jeffrey Goldman and Christopher Eikenberry of Michigan, in Nonko Trading fraud. Profited from a scheme to defraud Nonko’s customers out of at least $1.4 million. Charges include fraud, aiding, abetting Nonko’s fraud, and registration violations. Allegations Nonko was marketed as a state-of-the-art platform…
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