SEC Files Emergency Action Against Miami Investment Adviser BKCoin and Principal Kevin Kang for Orchestrating $100 Million Crypto Fraud Scheme
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - March 6, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it filed an emergency action in which it successfully obtained an asset freeze, appointment of a receiver, and other emergency relief against Miami-based investment adviser BKCoin Management LLC and one of its principals, Kevin Kang, in connection with a crypto asset fraud scheme. From at least October 2018 through September 2022, BKCoin raised approximately $100 million from at...
2023-03-06 11:49 AM EST
SEC Charges Silver Edge Financial and Equity Acquisition Company with Unregistered Broker-Dealer Activity Relating to Pre-IPO Funds
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - March 3, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Silver Edge Financial LLC, Equity Acquisition Company Ltd. (EAC), the owners of both companies, and sales staff of Silver Edge Financial with unregistered broker-dealer activity relating to their sales of interests in shares of various pre-IPO companies. The SEC’s Orders find that, since January 2019, Silver Edge, its owner Daniel J. Mackle, Sr., and six salespeople sold interests in two...
2023-03-03 10:06 AM EST
SEC Charges Global Transportation Company Greenbrier and Former CEO for Failing to Disclose Perks and Payments
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - March 2, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against Oregon-based freight transportation supply company, The Greenbrier Companies Inc., and its founder and former CEO and Chairman, William A. Furman, for failing to disclose perks provided to Furman and other Greenbrier executives and compensation Furman received from Greenbrier’s charters of Furman’s private plane for travel by company executives, including Furman....
2023-03-02 9:18 AM EST
SEC Charges Ontrak Chairman Terren Peizer with Insider Trading
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - March 1, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Terren S. Peizer, Executive Chairman of the Santa Monica, California-based healthcare treatment company Ontrak Inc., with insider trading for selling more than $20 million of Ontrak stock between May and August 2021 while in possession of material nonpublic negative information related to the company’s largest customer. According to the SEC’s complaint, prior to May 2021, when Peizer...
2023-03-01 1:40 PM EST
Fee Rate Advisory #3 for Fiscal Year 2023
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - March 1, 2023) - Pursuant to Section 31(j)(2) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Commission has determined that a mid-year adjustment to the Section 31 fee rate for fiscal year 2023 is not required. These adjustments do not directly affect the amount of funding available to the SEC. The Section 31 fee rate for fiscal 2023 will remain at the current rate of $8.00 per million, as previously announced on January 23, 2023. This rate will remain in...
2023-03-01 12:02 PM EST
SEC Charges Nishad Singh with Defrauding Investors in Crypto Asset Trading Platform FTX
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - February 28, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Nishad Singh, the former Co-Lead Engineer of FTX Trading Ltd. (FTX), for his role in a multiyear scheme to defraud equity investors in FTX, the crypto trading platform started by Singh along with Samuel Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang. Investigations into other securities law violations and into other entities and persons relating to the alleged misconduct are ongoing. According to the...
2023-02-28 1:53 PM EST
SEC Investor Advisory Committee to Discuss the Growth of Private Markets, Oversight of Investment Advisers, and Open-End Fund Liquidity Risk Management at March 2nd Meeting
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - February 24, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee will hold a virtual public meeting on March 2 at 10:00 a.m. ET. The meeting will be webcast on the SEC website. The committee will host three panels to discuss: Growth of Private Markets relative to the Public Markets: Drivers and Implications; Oversight of Investment Advisers: Can Regulators Keep Up with Growth in the Industry; and Open-End Fund Liquidity Risk...
2023-02-24 1:05 PM EST
SEC Charges Cousins for Insider Trading in Kodak Stock Ahead of Company's Planned Govt. Partnership to Assist in Response to COVID-19
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - February 23, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Andrew Stiles for insider trading in the stocks of Eastman Kodak Company and Novavax, Inc. based on nonpublic information related to both companies’ planned government partnerships to assist in the fight against COVID-19 at the height of the pandemic. The SEC also charged Andrew Stiles’ cousin, Gray Stiles, of Richmond, Virginia, for insider trading in Kodak stock that netted the two...
2023-02-23 2:42 PM EST
SEC Charges Ozy Media and its CEO Carlos Watson with Widespread Scheme to Defraud Investors
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - February 23, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged media and entertainment company Ozy Media Inc., its CEO Carlos R. Watson, Jr., its former COO Samir Rao, and its former Chief of Staff Suzee Han with defrauding investors of approximately $50 million through repeated misrepresentations concerning the company’s basic financial condition, business relationships, and fundraising efforts. Rao and Han have agreed to resolve the charges...
2023-02-23 12:41 PM EST
SEC Charges African Gold Acquisition Corp. with Internal Controls, Reporting, and Recordkeeping Failures
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - February 22, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against African Gold Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), for internal controls, reporting, and recordkeeping violations. These failures enabled African Gold’s former chief financial officer to misappropriate approximately $1.2 million from the company’s operating bank account. As a result, African Gold made materially...
2023-02-22 11:41 AM EST
SEC Charges The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Its Investment Management Company for Disclosure Failures and Misstated Filings
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - February 21, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against Ensign Peak Advisers Inc., a non-profit entity operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to manage the Church’s investments, for failing to file forms that would have disclosed the Church’s equity investments, and for instead filing forms for shell companies that obscured the Church’s portfolio and misstated Ensign Peak’s control over the Church’s...
2023-02-21 10:29 AM EST
SEC Charges NBA Hall of Famer Paul Pierce for Unlawfully Touting and Making Misleading Statements About Crypto Security
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - February 17, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against former NBA player Paul Pierce for touting EMAX tokens, crypto asset securities offered and sold by EthereumMax, on social media without disclosing the payment he received for the promotion and for making false and misleading promotional statements about the same crypto asset. Pierce agreed to settle the charges and pay $1.409 million in penalties, disgorgement, and...
2023-02-17 11:37 AM EST
SEC Charges Final Participant in Multi-Million Dollar Scheme to Spread and Trade on False Rumors about Public Companies
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - February 16, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Milan Vinod Patel, of Cumming, Georgia, for spreading more than 100 false rumors about public companies to generate more than $1 million in illicit trading profits. The SEC previously charged Barton Ross, Mark Melnick, Anthony Salandra, and Charles Parrino for their roles in this scheme. According to the SEC’s complaint, Patel received rumors that he knew to be false from Ross,...
2023-02-16 6:10 PM EST
SEC Charges Terraform and CEO Do Kwon with Defrauding Investors in Crypto Schemes
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - February 16, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Singapore-based Terraform Labs PTE Ltd and Do Hyeong Kwon with orchestrating a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud involving an algorithmic stablecoin and other crypto asset securities. According to the SEC’s complaint, from April 2018 until the scheme’s collapse in May 2022, Terraform and Kwon raised billions of dollars from investors by offering and selling an...
2023-02-16 5:09 PM EST
SEC Charges Options Clearing Corporation with Rule Failures
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - February 16, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) will undertake remedial efforts and pay $17 million in penalties to settle charges that it failed to comply with its SEC-approved Stress Testing and Clearing Fund Methodology rule during certain times between October 2019 and May 2021. According to the SEC’s order, Chicago-based OCC’s failure to implement and comply with its own rule was...
2023-02-16 5:01 PM EST
SEC Proposes Enhanced Safeguarding Rule for Registered Investment Advisers
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed rule changes to enhance protections of customer assets managed by registered investment advisers. If adopted, the changes would amend and redesignate rule 206(4)-2, the Commission’s custody rule, under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and amend certain related recordkeeping and reporting obligations. “I support this proposal because, in using important authorities Congress granted...
2023-02-15 12:38 PM EST
SEC Finalizes Rules to Reduce Risks in Clearance and Settlement
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today adopted rule changes to shorten the standard settlement cycle for most broker-dealer transactions in securities from two business days after the trade date (T+2) to one (T+1). The final rule is designed to benefit investors and reduce the credit, market, and liquidity risks in securities transactions faced by market participants. “I support this rulemaking because it will reduce latency,...
2023-02-15 11:06 AM EST
SEC Proposes Revision to Privacy Act Rule
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed a rule that would revise the Commission’s regulations under the Privacy Act. The Privacy Act is the principal law governing the handling of personal information in the federal government. The current rules provide procedures for making Privacy Act requests, including requests for access to and amendment of records pertaining to the individual making the request. The revisions will...
2023-02-14 3:09 PM EST
Cicely LaMothe Named Deputy Director, Disclosure Operations, for The Division of Corporation Finance
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Cicely LaMothe was named Deputy Director, Disclosure Operations, for the Division of Corporation Finance, effective Feb. 12, 2023. Ms. LaMothe served as the Acting Deputy Director for Disclosure Operations since August 2022. “Cicely has held a range of leadership roles within the Division of Corporation Finance, and I am pleased that she will continue her work as Deputy...
2023-02-14 2:08 PM EST
SEC Charges Former CEO of Slync in $67 Million Offering Fraud
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - February 14, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Christopher S. Kirchner, the co-founder and former CEO of Slync, Inc., a privately-held Texas-based software company, with fraudulently offering and selling more than $67 million of securities to multiple investors, more than $28 million of which he misappropriated for personal benefit. The SEC’s complaint alleges that, between approximately January 2020 and January 2022, Kirchner...
2023-02-14 1:38 PM EST