SEC Charges 12 Municipal Advisors With Recordkeeping Violations
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 17, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against 12 municipal advisors for failures by the firms and their personnel to maintain and preserve certain electronic communications. The firms agreed to pay combined civil penalties of more than $1.3 million to settle the SEC’s charges. The firms admitted the facts set forth in their respective SEC orders, acknowledged that their conduct violated recordkeeping provisions...
2024-09-17 9:18 AM EDT
SEC Charges Former Chairman and CEO of Tech Co. Kubient With Fraud and Lying to Auditors
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 16, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed charges against Paul D. Roberts, the former Chair, CEO, and president of Kubient Inc.; Joshua A. Weiss, the company’s former chief financial officer; and Grainne M. Coen, the company’s former audit committee chair, for their roles in a scheme in which Kubient overstated and misrepresented its revenue in connection with two public stock offerings. According to the SEC’s complaint...
2024-09-16 4:54 PM EDT
SEC Charges Former Financial Consultant for Providing Father and Friends Inside Information Regarding Firm's Client
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 13, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Federico Nannini, his father, and two of his friends for insider trading in advance of the pending acquisition of Infrastructure and Energy Alternatives, Inc. (IEA) by MasTec Inc., a client of the financial consulting firm where Nannini worked as an associate. According to the SEC’s complaint, on June 7, 2022, Federico Nannini, of Coral Gables, Florida, was entrusted with material...
2024-09-13 3:37 PM EDT
SEC Charges Zymergen Inc. With Misleading IPO Investors About Company's Market Potential and Sales Prospects
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 13, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against Zymergen Inc., an Emeryville, California-based biotechnology company, for misleading IPO investors about its overall market potential, revenue prospects, and customer pipeline for its only commercially available product, an electronics film named Hyaline. Zymergen raised approximately $530 million through its IPO in April 2021 and filed for bankruptcy in...
2024-09-13 1:04 PM EDT
SEC Charges Three Former Executives of Pharmacy Startup Medly Health Inc. with Defrauding Investors
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 12, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged now-defunct digital pharmacy startup Medly Health Inc’s. co-founder and former CEO, Marg Patel, former CFO, Robert Horowitz, and former Head of Rx Operations, Chintankumar Bhatt, with defrauding investors in connection with capital raising efforts that netted the company over $170 million. According to the SEC’s complaint, from at least February 2021 through August 2022, Patel and...
2024-09-12 3:33 PM EDT
SEC Files Settled Charges Against Three StraightPath Sales Agents for Unregistered Broker Activity
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 12, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against three sales agents from StraightPath Venture Partners—Anthony Guarino, Robert Seropian, and Frank Vecchio—for unregistered broker activity, including selling membership interests in LLCs that purported to invest in shares of pre-IPO companies. Vecchio also settled the SEC’s previously announced fraud charges against him. According to the SEC's orders against...
2024-09-12 2:15 PM EDT
SEC Investor Advisory Committee to Discuss Investment Advice and Key Topics from Securities Litigation at Sept. 19 Meeting
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 12, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee will hold a public meeting on Sept. 19, 2024, at 10 a.m. ET at the SEC Headquarters in Washington, D.C. The meeting will also be webcast on the SEC website. The committee will host two panels: Investment Advice: A History and Update on Who is Required to Serve in Your Best Interest; and Key Topics from Securities Litigation: Shareholder Proposals and “Tracing” in...
2024-09-12 12:23 PM EDT
eToro Reaches Settlement with SEC and Will Cease Trading Activity in Nearly All Crypto Assets
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 12, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that eToro USA LLC has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle charges that it operated an unregistered broker and unregistered clearing agency in connection with its trading platform that facilitated buying and selling certain crypto assets as securities. eToro has agreed to cease and desist from violating the applicable federal securities laws and will make only a limited set of...
2024-09-12 9:12 AM EDT
SEC Charges John Deere With FCPA Violations for Subsidiary's Role in Thai Bribery Scheme
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 10, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Deere & Company, which does business as John Deere, agreed to pay nearly $10 million to resolve SEC charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) arising out of bribes paid by its wholly owned subsidiary, Wirtgen Thailand. The company is an Illinois-based global manufacturer of agricultural machinery and heavy equipment. The SEC’s order finds that, from at...
2024-09-10 4:52 PM EDT
SEC Announces Six New Investor Advisory Committee Members
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 10, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced six new members to fill vacancies on its Investor Advisory Committee. The new members, who will serve four-year terms, join 17 current committee members. The committee, established under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, advises the Commission on regulatory priorities and initiatives to protect investors and promote the integrity of the U.S. securities...
2024-09-10 11:02 AM EDT
SEC Charges Keurig with Making Inaccurate Statements Regarding Recyclability of K-Cup Beverage Pod
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 10, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. with making inaccurate statements regarding the recyclability of its K-Cup single use beverage pods. To settle the SEC’s charges, Keurig agreed to pay a $1.5 million civil penalty. According to the SEC’s order, in annual reports for fiscal years 2019 and 2020, Keurig stated that its testing with recycling facilities “validate[d] that [K-Cup pods] can be...
2024-09-10 9:15 AM EDT
SEC Charges Nine Investment Advisers in Ongoing Sweep into Marketing Rule Violations
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 9, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against nine registered investment advisers for violating the Marketing Rule by disseminating advertisements that included untrue or unsubstantiated statements of material fact or testimonials, endorsements, or third-party ratings that lacked required disclosures. All nine firms have agreed to settle the SEC’s charges and to pay $1,240,000 in combined civil...
2024-09-09 3:10 PM EDT
SEC Publishes Small Business Educational Resources About Income Statements and Balance Sheets
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 9, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation this week released new educational resources for small business owners that explore the anatomy of income statements and balance sheets. "Understanding a business’s financial statements is critical for investors and business owners alike," said the office’s Director, Stacey Bowers. “These new resources aim to provide accessible tools to...
2024-09-09 12:30 PM EDT
SEC Approves a New PCAOB Quality Control Standard
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 9, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today approved the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s (PCAOB) new quality control (QC) standard and related amendments to its standards, rules, and forms. QC 1000, A Firm’s System of Quality Control, establishes an integrated, risk-based quality control standard that will require all registered public accounting firms to identify specific risks to their practice and design a quality...
2024-09-09 12:08 PM EDT
SEC Charges Seven Public Companies with Violations of Whistleblower Protection Rule
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 9, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against seven public companies for using employment, separation, and other agreements that violated rules prohibiting actions to impede whistleblowers from reporting potential misconduct to the SEC. To settle the SEC’s charges, the companies agreed to pay more than $3 million combined in civil penalties. Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc., agreed to pay a $1,386,000...
2024-09-09 9:10 AM EDT
SEC Charges Broker-Dealer Nationwide Planning and Two Affiliated Investment Advisers with Violating Whistleblower Protection Rule
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 4, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against three affiliated registrants, Commission-registered broker-dealer Nationwide Planning Associates, Inc. and investment adviser NPA Asset Management, LLC, and state-registered investment adviser Blue Point Strategic Wealth Management, LLC, for impeding brokerage customers and advisory clients from reporting securities law violations to the SEC. The firms agreed...
2024-09-04 4:34 PM EDT
SEC Charges Six Credit Rating Agencies with Significant Recordkeeping Failures
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 3, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against six nationally recognized statistical rating organizations, or NRSROs, for significant failures by the firms and their personnel to maintain and preserve electronic communications. The firms admitted the facts set forth in their respective SEC orders; acknowledged that their conduct violated recordkeeping provisions of the federal securities laws; agreed to pay...
2024-09-03 4:41 PM EDT
SEC Charges Advisory Firm ClearPath with Custody Rule and Liability Disclaimer Violations
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 3, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against ClearPath Capital Partners LLC for failing to comply with requirements related to the safekeeping of client assets and for its use of impermissible liability disclaimers in its advisory and private fund agreements. According to the SEC’s order, ClearPath failed to timely distribute annual audited financial statements to investors in certain private funds that...
2024-09-03 3:38 PM EDT
SEC Charges Creative Legal Fundings CEO Maria Dickerson with Operating Multimillion Dollar Ponzi Scheme that Targeted Filipino-American Community
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 3, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Maria Dulce Pino Dickerson and her companies Creative Legal Fundings in CA and The Ubiquity Group LLC with raising approximately $7 million from more than 130 investors through a fraudulent securities offering targeting members of the Filipino-American community across the United States. According to the SEC’s complaint, from approximately March 2021 through May 2023, Sacramento,...
2024-09-03 1:57 PM EDT
SEC Charges Crypto-Focused Advisory Firm Galois Capital for Custody Failures
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 3, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against Florida-based Galois Capital Management LLC, a former registered investment adviser for a private fund that primarily invested in crypto assets, for failing to comply with requirements related to the safeguarding of client assets, including crypto assets being offered and sold as securities. The Commission also found that Galois misled fund investors about...
2024-09-03 12:04 PM EDT