Author Archives: FLSecurities
SEC Charges Investment Advisor with Multi-Million Dollar Fraudulent Offering
The SEC has charged a New Jersey investment adviser and 3 firms she ran with operating a multi-million dollar offering fraud, including the sale of fraudulent promissory notes to clients. Investment advisor Sandra Venetis told clients the notes were guaranteed by the FDIC and would earn interest of 6-11 percent annually and would be… Read More »
Madoff Judge Asks Gibraltar to Turn Over $73.1 Million
The judge overseeing the liquidation of Bernard Madoff’s investment firm recently asked the Supreme Court of Gibraltar to transfer $73.1 million for use as compensation for Madoff’s ponzi scheme victims. In the August 23 letter to Chief Justice Anthony Dudley of the Supreme Court of Gibraltar, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland wrote that the… Read More »
Shapiro to Enter Plea Agreement
On September 15, Nevin Shapiro will appear in court to enter into a plea agreement as to the charges of money laundering and securities fraud against him. Shapiro is alleged to have defrauded sixty investors across three states, including Florida, into investing $900 million in Capital Investments USA, Inc. The company purportedly operated in… Read More »
FINRA Orders Raymond James to Pay $925,000 to Couple
Raymond James & Associates, Inc., and one of the brokerage’s advisers must pay $925,000 in damages to a Texas couple that purchased auction rate securities in 2008, a securities industry regulatory panel has ruled. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority panel awarded the damages to Rex and Sherese Glendenning, a Texas couple that originally sought… Read More »
SEC Freezes Assets of Spanish Traders for Insider Trading
The SEC charged two residents of Madrid, Spain with insider trading and obtained an emergency injunction freezing their assets. The action resulted from the traders making $1.1 million in illegal profits by trading in advance of last week’s public announcement of a multi-billion dollar cash tender offer by BHP Billiton Plc to acquire Potash… Read More »
Hialeah Jeweler Accused of $40 Million Ponzi Scheme
Jeweler Luis Felipe Perez was recently charged with perpetrating a $40 million Ponzi scheme and $12 million bank fraud. Perez operated the scheme by convincing investors to invest in his jewelry store, along with his pawn shops in New York, and the investors would be rewarded with high rates of return. Perez promised a… Read More »
Securities Regulators Issue Report on Best Practices to Protect Senior-Citizen Investors
The SEC, FINRA, and North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) today have issued a 2010 Addendum to their report of best practices for financial services firms to improve their policies and procedures for serving senior-citizen investors. The 2010 Addendum focuses on the following categories of practices: • Communication with seniors; • Training brokers on… Read More »
Citigroup Charged with Misleading Investors About Subprime Mortgages
The SEC has charged Citigroup Inc. with misleading investors about the company’s exposure in subprime mortgages. Citigroup repeatedly made misleading statements in conference calls relating to earnings and public filings. Citigroup represented that subprime exposure in its investment banking unit was $13 billion or less, when in fact it was more than $50 billion…. Read More »
National Retirement Partners Ordered by Arbitration Panel to Pay $2 Million
National Retirement Partners Inc. (NRP) has been ordered to pay a $2 million arbitration award to two former brokers who NRP terminated after it bought their practices. Jeffrey Brain Bafs and Wade Alan Walker left Merrill Lynch in 2008 to become affiliated with NRP. The advisers had 150 to 200 retirement plan clients at… Read More »
Diamond Convicted on 18 Counts in Federal Court
Last Wednesday, following an eight-day federal court trial in Tampa, Beau Diamond was convicted on 18 counts, including wire fraud, mail fraud, and illegal monetary transactions. His sentencing is now scheduled for October 7th, but his attorney intends to appeal the verdict. Diamond perpetrated a Ponzi scheme where he convinced upward of 200 investors… Read More »