Author Archives: FLSecurities
South Florida Senior Citizen Bilked in Investment Scam
Local police in Boca Raton, Florida are investigating an investment scam that cost an 86 year old woman $70,000 of her life’s savings. Edith Schneider apparently gave the money to a Jamaican man named David McAllister. Schneider’s niece called police to report the scam. Police are investigating the case and would not give further… Read More »
Nadel Ponzi Scheme Victims Sue Promoter and Florida Investment Newsletter
A New Jersey family is suing Donald Rowe and The Wall Street Digest newsletter, based out of Sarasota, Florida. The Formica family alleges Rowe accepted large fees from promoting Art Nadel’s hedge funds, along with several other investment funds. The family estimates their losses to exceed $6 million and their attorney also moved to… Read More »
FINRA Expels MICG for Fraud in Managing Hedge Fund
FINRA says that a brokerage firm it recently expelled committed securities fraud. MICG Investment Management LLC of Newport News, Virginia, committed fraud in the management of a proprietary hedge fund. FINRA is also suing the firm for misusing investors’ funds and causing false account statements to be issued to investors. FINRA had shut down… Read More »
SEC Charges Two Boca Raton Investors for Illegal Short Selling
The SEC has charged two Boca Raton, Florida residents for illegal short selling of securities in secondary offerings. These charges mark the initial enforcement claims that the SEC has brought pursuant to Rule 105 of Regulation M against defendants with no securities industry background. In separate orders issued by the SEC, the SEC charged… Read More »
South Florida Insurance Agent Charged With Scamming Seniors in alleged STOLI Scheme
On April 22, 2010, Florida authorities arrested insurance agent Steven M. Brasner, who worked with Infinity Financial Group LLC in Davie, Fla., on charges that he falsified information on elderly clients’ life insurance applications to sell the applications on the secondary market. Axa Equitable Life Insurance Co. initially notified Florida’s state regulators of the… Read More »
SEC Charges Prominent Miami Beach Businessman in $900 Million Ponzi Scheme
On April 21, 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed an action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, against a prominent Miami Beach-based businessman, Nevin K. Shapiro, alleging that he conducted a $900 million offering fraud and Ponzi scheme targeting more than 60 investors nationwide. The SEC claims that… Read More »
Court Rules That Schwab Yield-Plus Fund Failed to Secure Shareholder Consent
A federal court has held that Schwab’s mutual fund managers contradicted its policy of limiting money invested in a particular industry to 25 percent. This required shareholder consent under federal securities laws. The case is now set to go to trial. In the lawsuit, the investors’ nationwide damages approximate over $80 million. Schwab also… Read More »
SEC Sues Goldman Sachs for Investor Fraud
The SEC has charged Goldman Sachs & Co. (“Goldman”) and a Vice President, for misleading investors by misstating and omitting material facts about a derivative product tied to sub-prime mortgages. The SEC complaint alleges that Goldman structured and marketed a synthetic collateralized debt obligation (“CDO”) tied to sub-prime residential mortgage-backed securities (“RMBS”). Goldman failed… Read More »
Tom Petters gets 50 Year Sentence for $3.6 Billion Ponzi Scheme
The sentence is substantially lower than the 335 years sought by prosecutors. When Mr. Petters’ massive empire unraveled, the losses were $3.6 billion. Investors include pastors, missionaries, retirees and nursing home residents, among others. Several months ago, a jury convicted the prior owner of Polaroid on 20 counts of mail and wire fraud, money… Read More »
Morgan Keegan and Two Employees Charged With Securities Fraud for Overstating Value of Mortgage-Backed Securities
The SEC has charged Morgan Keegan with failure to use proper procedures to the securities in five managed funds and for its failure to correctly calculate the “net asset values” (NAVs) for the funds. Morgan Keegan sold shares in the funds to the public, including Florida investors, based on the inaccurate prices. The SEC… Read More »