Deutsche Bank Subsidiary to Pay $4 Million for Untimely Filing Certain Suspicious Activity Reports
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 20, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged registered broker-dealer Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank AG, for failing to file certain Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) in a timely manner. Deutsche Bank Securities has agreed to pay a $4 million civil penalty to settle the SEC’s charges. Broker-dealers are required by the Bank Secrecy Act and regulations promulgated by the U.S Department of the...
2024-12-20 9:23 AM EST
SEC Charges Utility Company Entergy Corp. with Internal Accounting Controls Violations
Washington D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 20, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Entergy Corporation, a Louisiana-based utility company, agreed to pay a $12 million civil penalty to settle charges that it failed to maintain internal accounting controls to ensure that its surplus materials and supplies were accurately recorded in its books and financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). According to the SEC’s...
2024-12-20 8:59 AM EST
Global Aerospace Company AAR and Former Executive of its Subsidiary Settle Charges for Bribing Nepalese and South African Officials
Washington D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 19, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Illinois-based AAR CORP., a global provider of aviation services and products, agreed to resolve Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) charges in connection with two bribery schemes. AAR agreed to pay approximately $30 million to settle the SEC’s charges. Deepak Sharma, a former executive of a wholly owned AAR subsidiary, also settled SEC charges related to the same bribery...
2024-12-19 5:44 PM EST
SEC Approves 2025 PCAOB Budget and Accounting Support Fee
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 18, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission voted today to approve the 2025 budget of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and the related annual accounting support fee. The 2025 PCAOB budget totals $399.7 million. The accounting support fee totals $374.9 million, of which $346.1 million will be assessed on public company issuers and $28.8 million will be assessed on registered broker-dealers. “Well-functioning financial...
2024-12-18 12:07 PM EST
SEC Charges Express, Inc. with Failing to Disclose Nearly $1 Million in Perks Provided to Former CEO
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 17, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against Ohio-based Express, Inc., a multi-brand American fashion retailer, for failing to disclose executive compensation it paid to its now former CEO. According to the SEC’s order, in definitive proxy statements for fiscal years 2019, 2020, and 2021, Express failed to disclose $979,269 worth of perks and personal benefits provided to its CEO, including certain...
2024-12-17 9:19 AM EST
SEC Modernizes the Submission of Certain Forms, Filings, and Materials Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 16, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today adopted amendments to require the electronic filing, submission, or posting of certain forms, filings, and other submissions that national securities exchanges, national securities associations, clearing agencies, broker-dealers, security-based swap dealers, and major security-based swap participants make with the Commission. "Today’s amendments build on more than 20 years of Commission...
2024-12-16 6:00 PM EST
Becton Dickinson to Pay $175 Million for Misleading Investors About Alaris Infusion Pump
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 16, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against Becton, Dickinson and Company, a New Jersey-based medical device manufacturer known as BD, for repeatedly misleading investors about risks associated with its continued sales of its Alaris infusion pump and for overstating its income by failing to record the costs of fixing multiple software flaws with the pump. BD agreed to pay a $175 million civil penalty....
2024-12-16 4:38 PM EST
SEC Announces Departure of Corporation Finance Division Director Erik Gerding
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 13, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Erik Gerding, Director of the Division of Corporation Finance, will depart the agency effective Dec. 31, 2024. Upon Mr. Gerding’s departure, Cicely LaMothe will serve as Acting Director. “I want to thank Erik for his leadership of the Division of Corporation Finance,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler. “During his time of service, we’ve adopted important reforms regarding corporate...
2024-12-13 11:26 AM EST
SEC Charges Cantor Fitzgerald Over Misleading SPAC Disclosures
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 12, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged global financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P. with causing two special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) that it controlled to make misleading statements to investors ahead of their initial public offerings (IPOs). Cantor Fitzgerald has agreed to pay a $6.75 million civil penalty to settle the SEC’s charges. A SPAC is an entity with no underlying business operations that...
2024-12-12 5:45 PM EST
SEC Charges Former Representative of Advisory Firm SeaCrest with Cherry-Picking
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 12, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Eric Cobb of South Carolina with engaging in a fraudulent scheme where he allocated profitable securities trades to favored accounts and unprofitable trades to disfavored clients, a practice known as cherry-picking, while he was a representative of investment adviser SeaCrest Wealth Management, Inc. The SEC also announced settled charges against SeaCrest in connection with the scheme....
2024-12-12 3:55 PM EST
SEC Office of the Investor Advocate Issues Report on Nationally Representative Survey of Investors and Continues Focus on Investment Fraud
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 12, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of the Investor Advocate today published its Report on Activities for the Fiscal Year 2024 to Congress, highlighting the work of the office during the fiscal year. The report includes: The office’s findings from a program of quarterly, longitudinal surveys of investors launched in fiscal year 2024. The Thoughtful Households Relating InVesting Experiences (THRIVE) Panel is a nationally...
2024-12-12 11:58 AM EST
SEC Charges Ken Peterman, Former Comtech CEO, with Insider Trading in Advance of Negative Earnings Announcement
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 11, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced insider trading charges against Ken Peterman, the former CEO, president, and Chair of the Board of Comtech Telecommunications Corp., in connection with his sale of Comtech shares on the basis of material non-public information about Comtech’s forthcoming negative quarterly earnings results. According to the SEC complaint, Peterman allegedly received a confidential presentation...
2024-12-11 4:30 PM EST
SEC Charges Three Individuals with Impersonating Financial Professionals in Fraud Scheme Targeting Retail Investors
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 11, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Chibuzo Augustine Onyeachonam, Stanley Chidubem Asiegbu, and Chukwuebuka Martin Nweke-Eze with fraud for impersonating legitimate securities brokers and investment advisers in an elaborate online scheme through which the defendants stole more than $2.9 million from at least 28 investors. As alleged in the SEC’s complaint, from at least 2019 to the present, the three defendants, who...
2024-12-11 10:32 AM EST
SEC Charges Morgan Stanley Smith Barney for Policy Deficiencies that Resulted in Failure to Prevent and Detect its Financial Advisors' Theft of Investor Funds
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 9, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (MSSB) with failing to reasonably supervise four investment adviser and registered representatives (hereafter, financial advisors) who stole millions of dollars of advisory clients’ and brokerage customers’ funds and for failing to adopt policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent and detect such theft. To settle the charges, MSSB agreed to...
2024-12-09 5:51 PM EST
SEC Charges Ian Bell with Defrauding Professional Athletes and Others in Fraudulent Day-Trading Scheme
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 9, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Denver resident Ian G. Bell with securities fraud for lying to investors and misappropriating their funds in connection with a fraudulent day-trading scheme. The SEC’s complaint alleges that, between July 2020 and March 2023, Bell raised more than $1.3 million from at least 29 investors, including professional athletes in Colorado, who are unidentified in the complaint. The SEC alleges...
2024-12-09 5:27 PM EST
SEC Announces Departure of Trading and Markets Division Director Haoxiang Zhu
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 9, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Haoxiang Zhu, Director of the Division of Trading and Markets, will depart the agency effective Dec. 10, 2024. Upon Mr. Zhu’s departure, David Saltiel, a Deputy Director who also heads the Division’s Office of Analytics and Research, will serve as Acting Director. “I want to thank Haoxiang for his leadership of the Division of Trading and Markets for the last several years,”...
2024-12-09 1:23 PM EST
SEC Investor Advisory Committee to Examine Mandatory Arbitration Clauses in Adviser Agreements and Alternative Assets and Retail Investors at December 10 Meeting
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 3, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee will hold a virtual public meeting on Dec. 10, 2024, at 10 a.m. ET. The meeting will be webcast on the SEC website. The committee will host two panels: Examining the Use of Mandatory Arbitration Clauses by registered Investment Advisers; and Mainstreaming of Alternative Assets to Retail Investors The committee also will discuss a potential recommendation regarding the...
2024-12-03 2:10 PM EST
SEC Charges Kiromic BioPharma and Two Former C-Suite Executives with Misleading Investors about Status of FDA Reviews
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - December 3, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed settled charges against Houston-based biotherapeutics company Kiromic BioPharma, Inc., its former CEO, Maurizio Chiriva-Internati, and its former chief financial officer, Tony Tontat, for failing to disclose material information about Kiromic’s two cancer fighting drug candidates before, during, and after a July 2021 follow-on public offering that raised $40 million. Kiromic and Tontat...
2024-12-03 9:19 AM EST
SEC Updates List of Firms Using Inaccurate Information to Solicit Investors
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - November 27, 2024) - 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 14 soliciting entities, two impersonators of genuine firms, and four bogus regulators. 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,...
2024-11-27 10:18 AM EST
SEC Charges Ken Leech, Former Co-Chief Investment Officer of Western Asset Management Co., with Fraud
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - November 25, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges against Stephen Kenneth (“Ken”) Leech, the former co-chief investment officer (CIO) of registered investment adviser Western Asset Management Company LLC or WAMCO, for engaging in a multi-year scheme to allocate favorable trades to certain portfolios, while allocating unfavorable trades to other portfolios, a practice known as cherry-picking. The SEC’s complaint...
2024-11-25 5:27 PM EST