SEC Charges Brothers Jonathan and Tanner Adam with $60 Million Ponzi Scheme
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - August 26, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it obtained emergency asset freezes against Jonathan Adam, a resident of Angleton, Texas, and his brother, Tanner Adam, a resident of Miami, Florida, and against their respective entities, GCZ Global LLC and Triten Financial Group LLC, to halt an alleged $60 million Ponzi scheme impacting more than 80 investors across the country. The SEC’s complaint alleges that, from January...
2024-08-26 5:45 PM EDT
SEC Charges Sound Point Capital Management for Insider Trading Policy Failures
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - August 26, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against New York-based registered investment adviser Sound Point Capital Management LP for failing to establish, maintain, and enforce written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent the misuse of material nonpublic information (MNPI) concerning its trading of collateralized loan obligations (CLOs). To settle the SEC’s charges, Sound Point agreed to pay...
2024-08-26 3:16 PM EDT
SEC Charges Abra with Unregistered Offers and Sales of Crypto Asset Securities
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - August 26, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed settled charges against Plutus Lending LLC, which does business as Abra, for failing to register the offers and sales of its retail crypto asset lending product, Abra Earn. The SEC also charged Abra with operating as an unregistered investment company. According to the SEC’s complaint, in or around July 2020, Abra began to offer and sell Abra Earn in the United States. Abra Earn allowed...
2024-08-26 2:13 PM EDT
SEC Issues $24 Million Awards to Two Whistleblowers
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - August 26, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced awards of more than $24 million to two whistleblowers whose information and assistance led to an SEC enforcement action and an action brought by another agency. The first whistleblower will receive an award of $4 million, while the second whistleblower will receive an award of $20 million. While the first whistleblower reported first, prompting the opening of the investigation, the...
2024-08-26 11:58 AM EDT
SEC Issues Awards Totaling $98 Million to Two Whistleblowers
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - August 23, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced awards of more than $98 million to two whistleblowers whose information and assistance led to an SEC enforcement action and an action brought by another agency. The first whistleblower’s tip prompted the opening of the investigations, and thereafter provided critical additional information and ongoing assistance. As a result, this whistleblower will receive an award of $82 million....
2024-08-23 12:55 PM EDT
SEC Adopts Rule to Update Definition of Qualifying Venture Capital Funds
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - August 21, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today adopted a rule that updates the dollar threshold for a fund to qualify as a “qualifying venture capital fund” for purposes of the Investment Company Act of 1940. The rule updates the dollar threshold to $12 million in aggregate capital contributions and uncalled committed capital, up from the original threshold of $10 million. Qualifying venture capital funds are excluded from the Act’s...
2024-08-21 7:27 PM EDT
SEC Charges Transfer Agent Equiniti Trust Co. with Failing to Protect Client Funds Against Cyber Intrusions
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - August 20, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against New York-based registered transfer agent Equiniti Trust Company LLC, formerly known as American Stock Transfer & Trust Company LLC, for failing to assure that client securities and funds were protected against theft or misuse. Those failures led to the loss of more than $6.6 million of client funds as a result of two separate cyber intrusions in 2022 and 2023....
2024-08-20 2:12 PM EDT
SEC Approves New and Updated PCAOB Audit Standards and an Amendment to the PCAOB's Contributory Liability Rule
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - August 20, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it has approved two Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) proposals updating audit standards regarding general responsibilities of the auditor and use of technology-assisted analysis in conducting an audit. The SEC also approved a proposal amending a PCAOB ethics rule governing the liability of an associated person when they directly and substantially contribute to...
2024-08-20 1:12 PM EDT
SEC Charges Carl Icahn and Icahn Enterprises L.P. for Failing to Disclose Pledges of Company's Securities as Collateral for Billions in Personal Loans
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - August 19, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against Carl C. Icahn and his publicly traded company, Icahn Enterprises L.P. (IEP), for failing to disclose information relating to Icahn’s pledges of IEP securities as collateral to secure personal margin loans worth billions of dollars under agreements with various lenders. IEP and Icahn agreed to pay $1.5 million and $500,000 in civil penalties, respectively, to settle the...
2024-08-19 9:07 AM EDT
Twenty-Six Firms to Pay More Than $390 Million Combined to Settle SEC's Charges for Widespread Recordkeeping Failures
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - August 14, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against 26 broker-dealers, investment advisers, and dually-registered broker-dealers and investment advisers for widespread and longstanding 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...
2024-08-14 4:45 PM EDT
SEC Charges Russell Todd Burkhalter and His Atlanta-Based Firm With $300 Million Ponzi Scheme and Obtains Emergency Relief
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - August 14, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it obtained a preliminary injunction, asset freeze, and other emergency relief against Atlanta-based Drive Planning LLC and its founder and CEO, Russell Todd Burkhalter, to halt a $300 million real estate Ponzi scheme impacting more than 2,000 investors. Additionally, a receiver was appointed over Drive Planning. The SEC alleges the defendants misappropriated millions of dollars...
2024-08-14 3:42 PM EDT
SEC Charges Russell Todd Burkhalter and his Atlanta-Based Firm with $300 Million Ponzi Scheme and Obtains Emergency Relief
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - August 14, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it obtained a preliminary injunction, asset freeze, and other emergency relief against Atlanta-based Drive Planning LLC and its founder and CEO, Russell Todd Burkhalter, to halt a $300 million real estate Ponzi scheme impacting more than 2,000 investors. Additionally, a receiver was appointed over Drive Planning. The SEC alleges the defendants misappropriated millions of dollars...
2024-08-14 9:30 AM EDT
SEC Charges OTC Link LLC with Failing to File Suspicious Activity Reports
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - August 12, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against OTC Link LLC, a New York-based broker-dealer, for failing to file numerous reports of suspicious financial transactions, known as Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs), for a period of more than three years. OTC Link agreed to pay $1.19 million to settle the charges. To help detect potential securities law and money-laundering violations, broker-dealers like OTC Link are...
2024-08-12 4:34 PM EDT
SEC Charges NovaTech and its Principals and Promoters with $650 Million Crypto Fraud
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - August 12, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against Cynthia and Eddy Petion, along with their company, NovaTech Ltd., for operating a fraudulent scheme that raised more than $650 million in crypto assets from more than 200,000 investors worldwide, including many in the Haitian-American community. The SEC also charged Martin Zizi, Dapilinu Dunbar, James Corbett, Corrie Sampson, John Garofano, and Marsha Hadley for their...
2024-08-12 12:24 PM EDT
SEC Charges Ideanomics and Three Senior Executives with Accounting and Disclosure Fraud
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - August 9, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled fraud charges against Ideanomics, Inc., formerly known as Seven Stars Cloud Group, Inc., and its former Chairman and CEO, Zheng (Bruno) Wu, for misleading the public about the company’s financial performance between 2017 and 2019. The SEC also announced settled charges against Ideanomics’ current CEO, Alfred Poor, and former CFO, Federico Tovar, for their roles in the scheme....
2024-08-09 5:20 PM EDT
SEC Proposes Joint Data Standards Under the Financial Data Transparency Act of 2022
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - August 2, 2024) - Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed joint data standards under the Financial Data Transparency Act of 2022 that would establish technical standards for data submitted to certain financial regulatory agencies. Eight additional agencies have proposed or are expected to propose the joint standards: the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection...
2024-08-02 1:02 PM EDT
SEC Charges Founder of Social Media Company "IRL" with $170 Million Fraud
Washington D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - July 31, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Abraham Shafi, the founder and former CEO of Get Together Inc., a privately held social media startup known as “IRL,” with defrauding investors by making false and misleading statements about the company’s growth and concealing his and his fiancée’s extensive use of company credit cards to pay for personal expenses. According to the SEC’s complaint, Shafi, who resides in Pepeekeo, Hawaii,...
2024-07-31 5:37 PM EDT
SEC Charges Nader Al-Naji with Fraud and Unregistered Offering of Crypto Asset Securities
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - July 30, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Nader Al-Naji with perpetrating a multi-million-dollar fraudulent crypto asset scheme involving a social media platform called BitClout and its native token of the same name (herein, “BTCLT”). According to the SEC’s complaint, starting in November 2020, Al-Naji raised more than $257 million from unregistered offers and sales of BTCLT, while falsely telling investors that proceeds would...
2024-07-30 11:20 AM EDT
SEC Awards Whistleblower More Than $37 Million
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - July 26, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced an award of more than $37 million to a whistleblower whose information and assistance led to a successful SEC enforcement action. The whistleblower persisted in reporting the misconduct internally, which led the employer to conduct its own investigation and eventually report the results to the Commission. This self-report caused the Commission to open an investigation. Further, without...
2024-07-26 2:01 PM EDT
SEC Charges Andrew Left and Citron Capital for $20 Million Fraud Scheme
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - July 26, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against activist short seller Andrew Left and his firm, Citron Capital LLC, for engaging in a $20 million multi-year scheme to defraud followers by publishing false and misleading statements regarding his supposed stock trading recommendations. The SEC’s complaint alleges that Left, who resides in Boca Raton, Fl., used his Citron Research website and related social media...
2024-07-26 8:18 AM EDT