Author Archives: FLSecurities
UBS Under Investigation for Puerto Rico Closed-End Bond Funds
The SEC has issued a Wells notice to UBS regarding secondary market trading of closed-end funds sold in Puerto Rico in 2008 and 2009. UBS, a former financial adviser to Puerto Rico’s Employees Retirement System that provides pensions for government workers, led the 2008 sale of $2.9 billion in bonds. The sale resulted in… Read More »
JPMorgan Chase Responds to Claims by Madoff Trustee
In response to the $6.4 billion lawsuit filed by Irving Picard, the trustee for Bernie Madoff, JPMorgan Chase has stated that it had no legal obligation to discover Madoff was perpetrating a Ponzi scheme. The bank claims Picard is holding the bank to accountability standards not prescribed under the law. In addition to the… Read More »
SEC Charges Hedge Fund Manager for Misappropriating Investor Assets
On January 28, 2011, the SEC received a court order freezing the assets of a Stamford, Connecticut-based investment adviser and its principal, Francisco Illarramendi, claiming that both misappropriated over $53 million in investor money and used the funds for their own gain. The SEC claims that Illarramendi defrauded investors in his managed hedge funds… Read More »
SEC Charges TD Ameritrade for Failure to Supervise Its Brokers
The SEC has charged TD Ameritrade for failing to supervise its brokers who misled clients who bought shares in the Reserve Yield Plus Fund. Various brokers at the firm violated securities laws when they misrepresented the mutual fund as a money market fund, with the safety of a cash investment and with guaranteed liquidity…. Read More »
FINRA Expels Brokerage Firm and Its Employees for Draining $1 million From Elderly Investor
On December 29, 2010, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced that it expelled APS Financial Corporation (APS), barred the firm’s former President, George Conwill, and the firm’s former broker, Peter Aman, for engaging in a scheme which overcharged an elderly investor by $1.2 million. FINRA found that Aman charged mark-ups ranging from 4.15%… Read More »
Sarasota’s Diamond Appeals Conviction
Robert Barnes, attorney for Sarasota resident Beau Diamond, has appealed his client’s conviction to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. As a result of a Ponzi scheme where he defrauded nearly 200 investors by convincing them they were trading in foreign currency, Diamond was convicted on 18 felony counts. On December… Read More »
SEC Charges Lawyer with Aiding and Abetting Client’s Fraud
The SEC charged the former financial advisor Kenneth Ira Starr, Jonathan Star Bristol, with aiding and abetting Starr’s multi-million dollar fraud by allowing Starr to use his attorney trust accounts as conduits for money Starr stole from his clients. The SEC claims that over $25 million of Starr’s clients’ money came through Bristol’s trust… Read More »
Prosecutors Seek 22-Year Prison Sentence for Diamond
Following the 14-year prison sentence handed to Ponzi schemer Art Nadel, prosecutors are now seeking a longer sentence for a fellow Southwest Florida fraudster. Prosecutors will be asking the court to sentence Beau Diamond to between 17 ½ and 22 years in prison. This prison term will be in addition to the forfeiture money… Read More »
SEC Charges Two Madoff Employees for Participating in Ponzi Scheme
The SEC has charged two employees at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (BMIS) with participating in the largest Ponzi scheme in American history. Anette Bongioro created phony account statements for investors and took money for her personal gain. Joann Crupi conspired to cash out Madoff’s friends and family as the fraud was collapsing… Read More »
Wife of Nadel’s Business Partner Surrenders Property as Settlement
Sharon Carter, formerly married to Neil Moody, has surrendered in excess of $1.1 million in property to try and settle her case against Nadel’s receiver. Moody was a business partner with ponzi-schemer Art Nadel. The $1.1 million, however, falls well short of the nearly $4 million the receiver claimed was transferred to Carter and… Read More »