SEC Charges California Resident with Multimillion Dollar Ponzi Scheme Targeting Tongan American Community
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 19, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Richmond, California resident Tilila Walker Sumchai with raising approximately $11.8 million from more than 1,000 investors through a fraudulent securities offering targeting members of the Tongan American community across the United States. According to the SEC’s complaint, from approximately January 2021 through October 2021, Sumchai convinced retail investors to acquire shares of...
2023-09-19 2:33 PM EDT
SEC Charges New York Firm Concord Management and Owner with Acting as Unregistered Investment Advisers to Billionaire Former Russian Official
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 19, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against Concord Management LLC of Tarrytown, New York, and its owner and principal, Michael Matlin, for operating as unregistered investment advisers to their only client—a wealthy former Russian official widely regarded as having political connections to the Russian Federation. According to the SEC’s complaint, Matlin founded Concord in 1999 to provide investment advice...
2023-09-19 11:53 AM EDT
SEC Investor Advisory Committee to Discuss Exempt Offerings and Accredited Investors at September 21 Meeting
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 19, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee will hold a public, in-person, meeting on September 21 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 to discuss: Exempt Offerings under Regulation D Rule 506 Accredited Investors The committee will also discuss potential recommendations on Human Capital Management...
2023-09-19 10:05 AM EDT
SEC Charges CBRE, Inc. with Violating Whistleblower Protection Rule
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 19, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against CBRE, Inc. (CBRE), a Dallas-based commercial real estate services and investment firm and subsidiary of publicly traded CBRE Group, Inc., for using an employee release that violated the SEC’s whistleblower protection rule. According to the SEC’s order, between 2011 and 2022, as a condition of receiving separation pay, CBRE required its employees to sign a...
2023-09-19 9:09 AM EDT
SEC Issues New Strategic Plan for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 18, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it has posted to sec.gov the agency’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2023-2026 that builds on and advances the SEC’s DEIA commitment and previous successes. “At the SEC, we work every day to protect investors and facilitate capital formation across the spectrum of communities that make America strong, including...
2023-09-18 3:05 PM EDT
SEC Charges Lyft with Failure to Disclose Board Member's Financial Interest in Private Shareholder's Pre-IPO Stock Transaction
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 18, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Lyft Inc. for failing to disclose a company board director’s role in a shareholder’s sale of approximately $424 million worth of private shares of Lyft’s stock prior to the company’s initial public offering (IPO). According to the SEC’s order, prior to Lyft’s IPO in March 2019, a Lyft board director arranged for a shareholder to sell its shares to a special purpose vehicle (“SPV”)...
2023-09-18 9:18 AM EDT
SEC Updates List of Firms Using Inaccurate Information to Solicit Investors
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 15, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it updated its list of unregistered entities that use misleading information to solicit primarily non-U.S. investors, adding 29 soliciting entities, three impersonators of genuine firms, and one bogus regulator. The SEC’s list of soliciting entities that have been the subject of investor complaints, known as the Public Alert: Unregistered Soliciting Entities (PAUSE) list,...
2023-09-15 11:33 AM EDT
SEC Charges Connecticut Advisory Firm GlennCap and its Owner with Cherry-Picking
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 14, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled fraud charges against GlennCap LLC, a Connecticut-based investment advisory firm, and its owner, Jonathan Vincent Glenn, for allocating profitable securities trades to favored accounts, including GlennCap’s own accounts and client accounts that paid GlennCap a higher percentage of positive returns in fees, while allocating a disproportionate amount of unprofitable trades to...
2023-09-14 4:56 PM EDT
SEC Proposes Improvements to EDGAR Filer Access and Account Management
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 13, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed rule and form amendments to improve filer access to and management of accounts on the SEC’s EDGAR system. The proposed amendments would require EDGAR filers to authorize identified individuals who would be responsible for managing filers’ EDGAR accounts. In addition, individuals acting on behalf of filers on EDGAR would need individual account credentials to access those EDGAR...
2023-09-13 4:46 PM EDT
SEC Charges Creator of Stoner Cats Web Series for Unregistered Offering of NFTs
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 13, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Stoner Cats 2 LLC (SC2) with conducting an unregistered offering of crypto asset securities in the form of purported non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that raised approximately $8 million from investors to finance an animated web series called Stoner Cats. According to the SEC order, on July 27, 2021, SC2 offered and sold to investors more than 10,000 NFTs for approximately $800 each,...
2023-09-13 10:13 AM EDT
SEC Small Business Advisory Committee to Discuss Funding for Early-Stage Companies and Alternative Funding for Small Businesses
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 13, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee today released the agenda for its meeting on Tuesday, September 19. The meeting will include a discussion of ways to invest in early-stage companies, as well as alternative funding options for small businesses. Members of the public can watch the live meeting via webcast on www.sec.gov. The Committee, which provides advice and recommendations...
2023-09-13 9:38 AM EDT
SEC Charges Virtu for False and Misleading Disclosures Relating to Information Barriers
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 12, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed charges against broker-dealer Virtu Americas LLC and its parent company, Virtu Financial Inc. (collectively, Virtu), for making materially false and misleading statements and omissions regarding information barriers to prevent the misuse of sensitive customer information. As alleged in the SEC's complaint, Virtu Americas and its affiliates operated two businesses that it purported to...
2023-09-12 5:10 PM EDT
SEC Charges Alternative Investment Platform YieldStreet for Misleading Investors
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 12, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced a settled action against New York-based YieldStreet Inc. and its registered investment adviser subsidiary, YieldStreet Management LLC (together, YieldStreet), for failing to disclose critical information to investors in a $14.5 million asset-backed securities offering. According to the SEC’s order, in September 2019, YieldStreet offered securities to finance a loan a YieldStreet...
2023-09-12 1:22 PM EDT
SEC Charges National Office Partner at Marcum for Causing Widespread Quality Control Deficiencies
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 12, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Alfonse Gregory Giugliano, CPA, the former National Assurance Services Leader at Marcum LLP, a public accounting firm, with failing to sufficiently address and remediate numerous deficiencies in Marcum’s quality control system. The SEC previously charged Marcum for these quality control deficiencies and other violations, many of which were in connection with Marcum’s audit work for...
2023-09-12 9:33 AM EDT
SEC Sweep into Marketing Rule Violations Results in Charges Against Nine Investment Advisers
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 11, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against nine registered investment advisers for advertising hypothetical performance to the general public on their websites without adopting and/or implementing policies and procedures required by the Marketing Rule. All nine firms have agreed to settle the SEC’s charges and to pay $850,000 in combined penalties. The firms are: Banorte Asset Management Inc. BTS Asset...
2023-09-11 4:33 PM EDT
SEC Charges Privately Held Monolith Resources for Using Separation Agreements that Violated Whistleblower Protection Rules
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 8, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against Monolith Resources LLC, a privately held energy and technology company headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska, for using employee separation agreements that violated the SEC’s whistleblower protection rules. According to the SEC’s order, from February 2020 until early March 2023, Monolith used separation agreements that required certain departing employees to...
2023-09-08 10:11 AM EDT
Linus Financial Agrees to Settle SEC Charges of Unregistered Offer and Sale of Securities
Washington D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 7, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against Linus Financial, Inc. for failing to register the offers and sales of its retail crypto lending product, the Linus Interest Accounts. The SEC determined not to impose civil penalties against Linus Financial because of the Nashville-based company’s cooperation and prompt remedial actions. According to the SEC’s order, in or around March 2020, Linus Financial...
2023-09-07 5:42 PM EDT
SEC Approves Funding Amendment to National Market System Plan Governing the Consolidated Audit Trail
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 6, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today approved an amendment to the National Market System Plan governing the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) (the “CAT NMS Plan”) to adopt a revised funding model, called the “Executed Share Model,” for the CAT and establish a fee schedule for CAT fees for the self-regulatory organizations that are participants to the CAT NMS Plan in accordance with the Executed Share Model. “Prior to CAT’s...
2023-09-06 11:56 AM EDT
SEC Charges Five Advisory Firms for Custody Rule Violations
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 5, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against five investment advisers for failing to comply with requirements related to the safekeeping of client assets. Three of the firms were also charged with failing to timely update SEC disclosures regarding audits of their private fund clients’ financial statements. All five advisory firms have agreed to settle the SEC’s charges and to pay more than $500,000 in combined...
2023-09-05 2:23 PM EDT
SEC Directs Equity Exchanges and FINRA to Improve Governance of Market Data Plans
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 1, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today issued an order directing the equity exchanges and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) (the participants) to file a new national market system plan (NMS plan) to replace the three existing national market system plans that govern the public dissemination of real-time, consolidated equity market data for national market system stocks. The order follows a May 6, 2020, Commission...
2023-09-01 11:23 AM EDT