SEC Charges Two Sigma for Failing to Address Known Vulnerabilities in its Investment Models
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - January 16, 2025) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against New York-based investment advisers Two Sigma Investments LP and Two Sigma Advisers LP (collectively, Two Sigma) for breaching their fiduciary duties by failing to reasonably address known vulnerabilities in their investment models and for related compliance and supervisory failures, as well as for separately violating the Commission’s whistleblower protection...
2025-01-16 4:59 PM EST
SEC Announces Departure of Director of International Affairs YJ Fischer
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - January 16, 2025) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that YJ Fischer, the Director of the Office of International Affairs (OIA) since August 2021, will leave her role on Jan. 20, 2025. “I want to thank YJ for her leadership of the Office of International Affairs,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler. “She has been a trusted advisor to and diplomat for this Commission in our relationships with regulators around the globe. I wish her very well...
2025-01-16 3:39 PM EST
SEC Announces Departure of General Counsel Megan Barbero
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - January 16, 2025) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Megan Barbero, who has served as General Counsel since February 2023, will leave the agency on Jan. 20, 2025. Ms. Barbero joined the SEC in July 2021 as Principal Deputy General Counsel. “I thank Megan for her many years of public service, most recently as the SEC’s General Counsel,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler. “Her measured advice and judgment have been critical to the...
2025-01-16 3:22 PM EST
SEC Charges Four Individuals for Long-Running Scheme to Unlawfully Trade in Advance of Numerous Follow-On Offerings
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - January 15, 2025) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed fraud charges against John Lowe, Randy Grewal, Richard Ringel, and David Cooper arising from their longstanding fraudulent scheme to trade in advance of the public announcement of the timing or price, or both, of numerous follow-on offerings of NASDAQ-listed issuers. According to the SEC’s complaint, the defendants engaged in the following arrangement: Cooper, a registered representative...
2025-01-15 5:08 PM EST
SEC Announces Departure of Chief Economist Jessica Wachter
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - January 15, 2025) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Jessica A. Wachter, the Chief Economist and Director of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA), will depart the agency on January 17. “I thank Jessica for her leadership of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis, her judgement, and her thoughtful economic analysis,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler. “As Chief Economist, she ably led a division that has a seat at the...
2025-01-15 10:46 AM EST
SEC Monitoring Impact of California Wildfires on Capital Markets
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - January 15, 2025) - The Securities and Exchange Commission is closely monitoring the impact of the California wildfires on investors and capital markets. The SEC divisions and offices that oversee companies, accountants, investment advisers, mutual funds, brokerage firms, transfer agents, and other regulated entities and investment professionals will continue to closely track developments. They will evaluate the possibility of granting relief from filing...
2025-01-15 9:48 AM EST
SEC Announces Chief Accountant Paul Munter to Retire From Federal Service This Month
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - January 14, 2025) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Chief Accountant Paul Munter plans to retire from federal service effective Jan. 24, 2025. Mr. Munter joined the agency in 2019, was named Acting Chief Accountant in 2021, and was appointed Chief Accountant in January 2023. “I thank Paul for his leadership of the Office of the Chief Accountant, his counsel, and his clear accounting advice,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler. “As Chief...
2025-01-14 2:32 PM EST
SEC Charges Advisory Firm Navy Capital With Misrepresenting Its Anti-Money Laundering Procedures to Investors
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - January 14, 2025) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Connecticut-based investment adviser Navy Capital Green Management, LLC with making misrepresentations related to its anti-money laundering (AML) procedures and for compliance failures. Navy Capital agreed to settle the SEC’s charges and pay a $150,000 civil penalty. The SEC’s order finds that, from at least October 2018 until January 2022, Navy Capital stated in offering and other...
2025-01-14 11:58 AM EST
Three Investment Adviser Representatives Settle SEC Charges for Acting as Unregistered Brokers
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - January 14, 2025) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against investment adviser representatives Tamir Shabat, Danny Z. Spiegel, and Joseph J. Orlando, Jr. for acting as unregistered brokers in selling membership interests in LLCs that purported to invest in shares of pre-IPO companies. The SEC also announced settled charges against VCP Financial LLC stemming from its use of impermissible liability disclaimers in a...
2025-01-14 10:38 AM EST
Twelve Firms to Pay More Than $63 Million Combined to Settle SEC's Charges for Recordkeeping Failures
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - January 13, 2025) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against nine investment advisers and three broker-dealers for failures by the firms and their personnel to maintain and preserve electronic communications, in violation of recordkeeping provisions of the federal securities laws. The firms admitted the facts set forth in their respective SEC orders, acknowledged that their conduct violated recordkeeping provisions of the...
2025-01-13 5:08 PM EST
Two Robinhood Broker-Dealers to Pay $45 Million in Combined Penalties for Violating More Than 10 Separate Securities Law Provisions
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - January 13, 2025) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that broker-dealers Robinhood Securities LLC and Robinhood Financial LLC (collectively, Robinhood) have agreed to pay $45 million in combined civil penalties to settle a range of SEC charges arising from their brokerage operations. “It is essential to the Commission’s broader efforts to protect investors and promote the integrity and fairness of our markets that broker-dealers...
2025-01-13 4:30 PM EST
SEC Charges Former Public Company Officer and His Sister-In-Law with Insider Trading
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - January 13, 2025) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Alfred V. Tobia, Jr., the former president and chief investment officer (CIO) of one public company and a member of the board of another, and his sister-in-law, Elizabeth Lee, with insider trading that resulted in more than $428,000 in illegal profits. The defendants have agreed to pay more than $1.36 million to settle the charges. According to the SEC’s complaint, Tobia allegedly...
2025-01-13 2:54 PM EST
SEC Charges BMO Capital Markets with Failing to Supervise Agency Bond Desk
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - January 13, 2025) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged registered broker-dealer BMO Capital Markets Corp. with failing to supervise employees who, from December 2020 until May 2023, sold mortgage-backed bonds using offering sheets and bond metrics that were misleading and did not accurately describe the characteristics of the collateral backing the bonds. To settle the charges, BMO agreed to pay more than $40 million in disgorgement,...
2025-01-13 9:10 AM EST
Alternative Trading Systems Operator Liquidnet Charged with Violations of Market Access Rule and for Failing to Protect Confidential Subscriber Trading Information
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - January 10, 2025) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against broker-dealer Liquidnet Inc., an operator of multiple alternative trading systems (ATSs), for failing to have necessary controls and procedures regarding market access, for failing to protect confidential subscriber trading information, and for related disclosure failures. Liquidnet agreed to pay a $5 million civil penalty to resolve the SEC's charges. As an...
2025-01-10 1:22 PM EST
Vince McMahon, Former CEO of WWE, Charged for Failure to Disclose to WWE Two Settlement Agreements He Executed on Behalf of WWE
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - January 10, 2025) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against Vince McMahon, the former Executive Chairman and CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., for signing two settlement agreements, one in 2019 and one in 2022, on behalf of himself and WWE without disclosing the agreements to WWE’s Board of Directors, legal department, accountants, financial reporting personnel, or auditor. Doing so circumvented WWE’s system...
2025-01-10 9:19 AM EST
Tai Mo Shan to Pay $123 Million for Negligently Misleading Investors About Stability of Terra USD
Washington D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 20, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Tai Mo Shan Limited with misleading investors about the stability of Terra USD (UST), a purported “algorithmic stablecoin” issued by Terraform Labs PTE Ltd. (Terraform), when UST dropped from its purportedly fixed exchange rate of 1 UST to $1, known as a peg. The Commission further charged Tai Mo Shan with offering and selling securities in unregistered transactions by acting as a...
2024-12-20 6:07 PM EST
SEC Adopts Rule Amendments to the Broker-Dealer Customer Protection Rule
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 20, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today adopted amendments to Rule 15c3-3 (the customer protection rule) to require certain broker-dealers to increase the frequency with which they perform computations of the net cash they owe to customers and other broker-dealers (known as PAB account holders) from weekly to daily. The Commission also adopted amendments to Rule 15c3-3 and Rule 15c3-1 (the broker-dealer net capital rule) to permit...
2024-12-20 4:23 PM EST
SEC Files Settled Charges Against Multiple Entities for Failing to Timely File Forms D in Connection With Securities Offerings
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 20, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against two private companies and one registered investment adviser for failing to timely file Forms D for several unregistered securities offerings in violation of Rule 503 of Regulation D. The parties charged are: GRID 202 LLC, a registered investment adviser which does business as Re-Envision Wealth; Pipe Technologies Inc., a privately held financial technology company;...
2024-12-20 11:15 AM EST
SEC Charges Silver Point Capital with Policy Failures Regarding Receipt of Material Nonpublic Information About Bonds Issued by Puerto Rico
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 20, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged registered investment adviser Silver Point Capital L.P. with failing to establish, implement, and enforce written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent the misuse of material nonpublic information (MNPI) relating to its participation on creditors’ committees. According to the SEC’s complaint, one of Silver Point’s core strategies was to invest in distressed companies....
2024-12-20 10:40 AM EST
Wells Fargo and LPL Financial Charged for Submitting Deficient Trading Data to SEC
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 20, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against Wells Fargo Clearing Services LLC and LPL Financial LLC for failing to provide complete and accurate securities trading information, known as blue sheet data, to the SEC. Wells Fargo and LPL each agreed to pay a $900,000 civil penalty to resolve the SEC's charges. According to the SEC’s orders, over a period of several years, Wells Fargo and LPL each made...
2024-12-20 9:23 AM EST