The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it has obtained an asset freeze and other emergency relief to halt a series of microcap market manipulation schemes that defrauded retail investors.
Staff Reports
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Yinghang “James” Yang, a senior index manager at a globally recognized index provider, and his friend Yuanbiao Chen, a manager at a sushi restaurant, with perpetrating an insider-trading scheme that generated more than $900,000 in illegal profits.
The SEC’s complaint alleges that over a two-year period, Milton J. Dosal, Jr. raised nearly $100,000 from approximately 41 investors under the guise that he would day-trade stocks on their behalf. According to the complaint, Dosal, a car enthusiast, met a number of investors through car club events.
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Park View School, Inc., a state-funded, nonprofit charter school operator based in Prescott Valley, Ariz., and its former President, Debra Kay Slagle, with misleading investors in an April 2016 municipal bond offering.
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges Friday against five Atlanta-based individuals, including film producer Ryan Felton, rapper and actor Clifford Harris, Jr., known as T.I. or Tip, and three others who each promoted one of Felton’s two allegedly unregistered and fraudulent initial coin offerings (ICOs).
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that the court-appointed receiver has begun the final $1 billion distribution to investors in connection with the SEC’s action against defendants Paul Greenwood, Steven Walsh, and their affiliated WG Trading entities.
Payroll ‘Holiday’ Begins, But Not Everyone Is Celebrating
No one involved with the program — from the IRS to Arizona business organizations to Washington think tanks — could say how many businesses will actually participate in the voluntary program, and how many workers might be affected.
New joint research from the Money Management Institute and Aon, a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions, finds that the most successful financial advisors, those defined as managing more than $500 million in assets, are taking advantage of the digital tools.
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged former Georgia state legislator and former member of the Georgia Board of Regents Clarence Dean Alford with defrauding at least 100 investors in his now-bankrupt energy development company, Allied Energy Services.
Advisors say they sell equity positions to generate cash (44%) and allocate more heavily to dividend paying stocks (45%) to bridge the shortfall in retirement income brought about by low interest rates. Many also indicated they have invested client assets in riskier fixed income instruments in a search for yield.
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Houston-based VALIC Financial Advisors Inc. in a pair of actions for failing to disclose to teachers and other investors practices that generated millions of dollars in fees and other financial benefits for VFA.
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Trustify Inc., an online marketplace purportedly designed to connect customers to a network of private investigators, and its founder and CEO Daniel Boice with fraudulently offering and selling over $18.5 million of securities to more than 90 corporate and individual investors.
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged a Mountain View, Calif.-based technology start-up and its chief executive officer with defrauding investors by making false and misleading statements about the company’s finances and sources of revenue.
The SEC’s complaint alleges that Michael Barry Carter, a financial advisor in the McLean, Va. office of a large financial institution, falsified internal documents in order to effect dozens of unauthorized wire transfers totaling millions of dollars.
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged David Hu, the co-founder and chief investment officer of International Investment Group, a former registered investment adviser, with fraud for his role in a $60 million Ponzi-like scheme.
The trajectory of the economic recovery remains uncertain, but based on the depth of the contraction and a multi-staged recovery, LPL Financial Research strategists’ 2020 base-case forecast calls for a 3 to 5 percent contraction in gross domestic product.
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged California-based Abra and a related firm in the Philippines for offering and selling security-based swaps to retail investors without registration and for failing to transact those swaps on a registered national exchange.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Securities and Exchange Commission acted properly in developing Regulation Best Interest and that the rule was not arbitrary and capricious. The court’s decision on Friday means that Reg BI, which establishes a new advice standard for brokers, can take effect as planned on Tuesday.
The Volcker Rule was part of the overhaul of banking regulation approved in the Dodd-Frank Act passed by Congress in 2010 in an effort to curtail excesses that had led to the 2008 financial crisis. However, President Donald Trump had campaigned in 2016 on rolling back what he saw as over-regulation of the banks.
A Los Angeles-based private equity firm and registered investment adviser, has agreed to pay $1 million dollars to settle charges that it failed to implement and enforce policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent the misuse of material nonpublic information.
Everything You Wanted To Know About The COVID-19 Stimulus Bill
The Senate passed an unparalleled $2.2 trillion economic rescue package steering aid to businesses, workers and health care systems engulfed by the coronavirus pandemic. The unanimous vote Wednesday came despite misgivings on both sides.
Federal Officials Reach Deal On $2 Trillion Aid Package
The White House and Senate leaders of both parties have struck an agreement on a sweeping $2 trillion measure to aid workers, businesses and a health care system strained by the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak. Top White House aide Eric Ueland announced the agreement in a Capitol hallway shortly after midnight.
Morgan Stanley Acquires E-Trade In Blockbuster $13B Deal
Morgan Stanley will acquire E-Trade’s $360 billion in assets and 5.2 million customers as part of the merger, which Morgan Stanley can then turn around and use to start making loans. E-Trade has a popular online platform that helps businesses manage their employee stock plans, which will be merged into Morgan Stanley’s existing platform as well.
Millennial Money: Recession Jitters And Your Client’s Finances
Even just talk of a possible recession can trigger anxiety for anyone who associates it with the major economic downturn of a dozen years ago. Recessions — and their severity — are out of your control, your own financial situation doesn’t have to be.
Will The China Coronavirus Strike Investments?
One of the potential disruptors of the generally positive economic news surfaced in the form of a viral outbreak in China last week. Known as the coronavirus, as of this morning, there were nearly 2,800 cases in mainland China (mostly in the Wuhan area) and 80 deaths, for a mortality rate of about 3 percent.
Seven Ways a CRM Can Enhance Your Practice
Having a CRM will help keep your business running smoother and more successfully, all while saving you and your clients time and money. The author explains all the ways a good CRM makes the advisor’s life a lot easier to manage and be successful.
Earnings Are All About 2020: Analysis
Fourth-quarter earnings season kicked off last week with 24 S&P 500 Index companies reporting fourth quarter results. The market’s reception to the first batch of results was mostly positive, particularly for several of the big banks.
IRI Retirement Report: Clock Is Ticking For Millennials
A survey by the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) finds that millennials’ expectations are not well aligned with the retirement planning steps they have taken thus far. Although nearly eight in ten millennials say that they have saved some money for retirement, nearly half – 46 percent – have saved less than $10,000.
10 Reasons Financial Advisors Choose To Go Independent
Advisors want to have the freedom and flexibility to provide the best possible client experience as true fiduciaries and differentiate themselves in order to compete for more wallet share. With overall wealth increasing in the U.S., there will be continued demand for the services that independent advisors deliver.
