SEC Charges Three So-Called Market Makers and Nine Individuals in Crackdown on Manipulation of Crypto Assets Offered and Sold as Securities
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - October 9, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges against three companies purporting to be market makers and nine individuals for engaging in schemes to manipulate the markets for various crypto assets being offered and sold as securities to retail investors. As alleged, the schemes were intended to induce investor victims to purchase the crypto assets by creating the false appearance of an active trading market for...
2024-10-09 4:15 PM EDT
SEC Charges "Magic Mushroom" Company and Two Individuals with Multimillion Dollar Pump-and-Dump Scheme
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - October 9, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Minerco Inc. (former over-the-counter ticker: MINE), Bobby Shumake Japhia, and Julius Makiri Jenge, for their roles in an alleged pump-and-dump scheme that defrauded investors out of approximately $8 million while generating millions of dollars in ill-gotten proceeds from sales of Minerco stock. According to the SEC’s complaint, in the fall of 2019, Shumake, who was formerly known as...
2024-10-09 3:29 PM EDT
SEC Monitoring Impact of Hurricane Milton on Capital Markets
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - October 9, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission is closely monitoring the impact of Hurricane Milton on investors and capital markets. The SEC also continues to monitor the prior impact of Hurricane Helene. 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...
2024-10-09 10:06 AM EDT
SEC Encourages Investors to Choose Their Information Sources Wisely During World Investor Week
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - October 7, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced it will encourage investors to choose their information sources wisely during World Investor Week (WIW) 2024, which takes place Oct. 7-13. Whether investors are researching an investment professional or deciding which investments help them meet their financial goals, it’s important for them to get their information from unbiased and trusted sources. This marks the eighth year of WIW,...
2024-10-07 10:20 AM EDT
SEC Announces Departure of Enforcement Director Gurbir S. Grewal
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - October 2, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Gurbir S. Grewal, Director of the Division of Enforcement, will depart the agency, effective Oct. 11, 2024. Upon Mr. Grewal’s departure, Sanjay Wadhwa, the Division’s Deputy Director, will serve as Acting Director, and Sam Waldon, the Division’s Chief Counsel, will serve as Acting Deputy Director. “We have been incredibly fortunate that such an accomplished public servant, Gurbir...
2024-10-02 2:48 PM EDT
SEC Charges Independent Director and Ex-CEO of Church & Dwight With Concealing Close Friendship with Company Executive
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against James R. Craigie, a former CEO, Chairman, and board member of Church & Dwight Co. Inc., for violating proxy disclosure rules by standing for election as an independent director without informing the board of his close personal friendship with a high-ranking Church & Dwight executive thereby causing Church & Dwight’s proxy statements to contain materially...
2024-09-30 5:47 PM EDT
TD Securities Charged in Spoofing Scheme
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against registered broker-dealer TD Securities (USA) LLC for manipulating the U.S. Treasury cash securities market through an illicit trading strategy known as spoofing. The bank was also charged for failing to supervise the then-head of its U.S. Treasuries trading desk, who allegedly made hundreds of illegal trades over a 13-month period. According to the SEC's order,...
2024-09-30 4:19 PM EDT
SEC Charges Three Individuals in the New York Metropolitan Area for Perpetrating a $120 Million Pre-IPO Fraud Scheme
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged three individuals with fraud for selling unregistered membership interests in LLCs that purported to invest in shares of pre-IPO companies, first on behalf of StraightPath Venture Partners LLC, the subject of the Commission’s emergency action in May 2022, and, later, on behalf of Legend Venture Partners LLC, the subject of the Commission’s emergency action in June 2023. Both...
2024-09-30 3:40 PM EDT
Advisory Firm Marathon Asset Management Charged with Policies Failures Regarding Potential Receipt of Confidential Information from Ad Hoc Creditors' Committees
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against registered investment adviser Marathon Asset Management LP for failing to establish, maintain, and enforce written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent the misuse of material nonpublic information relating to its participation on ad hoc creditors’ committees. According to the SEC’s order, one of Marathon Asset Management’s core strategies...
2024-09-30 2:27 PM EDT
SEC Charges Olayinka Oyebola and His Accounting Firm With Aiding and Abetting Massive Fraud
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 30, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Olayinka Oyebola and his Public Company Accounting Oversight Board-registered accounting firm, Olayinka Oyebola & Co. (Chartered Accountants), with aiding and abetting a massive securities fraud perpetrated by Mmobuosi Odogwu Banye, also known as Dozy Mmobuosi, and three related U.S. companies that Mmobuosi controlled (the Tingo entities). The SEC recently obtained a $250 million...
2024-09-30 11:09 AM EDT
SEC Monitoring Impact of Hurricane Helene on Capital Markets
Washington D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 27, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission is closely monitoring the impact of Hurricane Helene 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 deadlines...
2024-09-27 4:44 PM EDT
SEC Adopts Improvements to EDGAR System to Enhance Security, Filer Access, and Account Management
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 27, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today adopted rule and form amendments intended to enhance the security of its Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval (EDGAR) system and improve filers’ access and account management capabilities. “The public and the SEC long have benefited from the EDGAR electronic filing system,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler. “Today’s amendments are an important next step for EDGAR account access...
2024-09-27 3:46 PM EDT
SEC Charges Entities Operating Crypto Asset Trading Platform Mango Markets for Unregistered Offers and Sales of the Platform's "MNGO" Governance Tokens
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 27, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed settled charges against Mango DAO and Blockworks Foundation for engaging in the unregistered offer and sale of crypto assets called “MNGO” tokens. The SEC also settled charges against Blockworks Foundation and Mango Labs LLC for engaging in unregistered broker activity in connection with various crypto assets being offered and sold as securities on the Mango Markets platform. The SEC’s...
2024-09-27 2:47 PM EDT
SEC Charges U.K. Citizen in Hacking and Trading Scheme Involving Five U.S. Public Companies
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 27, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against U.K. citizen Robert B. Westbrook for hacking into the computer systems of five U.S. public companies to obtain material nonpublic information about their corporate earnings and using that information to make approximately $3.75 million in illicit profits by trading in advance of the companies’ public earnings announcements. The SEC’s complaint, filed on September...
2024-09-27 1:38 PM EDT
Richard R. Best Named Senior Advisor to the Director of the Division of Examinations
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 27, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Richard R. Best, the Director of the Division of Examinations, will transition to an advisory role as Senior Advisor to the Director of the Division of Examinations once he returns from medical leave. Keith E. Cassidy will continue serving as the Division’s Acting Director, a role he began in July. “The Division of Examinations serves a critical role in helping firms to comply...
2024-09-27 1:06 PM EDT
SEC Charges Cassava Sciences, Two Former Executives for Misleading Claims About Alzheimer's Clinical Trial
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 26, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced Cassava Sciences, Inc., its founder and former CEO, Remi Barbier, and its former Senior Vice President of Neuroscience, Dr. Lindsay Burns, will pay more than $40 million to settle charges related to misleading statements made in September 2020 about the results of a Phase 2 clinical trial for the company’s purported therapeutic for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. In a related...
2024-09-26 6:14 PM EDT
SEC Charges Advisory Firm GQG Partners With Violating Whistleblower Protection Rule
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 26, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against Florida-based GQG Partners LLC, a registered investment adviser, for entering into agreements with candidates for employment and a former employee that made it more difficult for them to report potential securities law violations to the SEC. According to the SEC’s order, from November 2020 through September 2023, GQG entered into non-disclosure agreements...
2024-09-26 4:50 PM EDT
SEC Charges DraftKings with Selectively Disclosing Nonpublic Information Via CEO's Social Media Accounts
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 26, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged DraftKings Inc. with selectively disclosing material, nonpublic information to investors who followed or otherwise viewed the company CEO’s social media accounts without disclosing that same information to all investors, in violation of Regulation Fair Disclosure (FD). DraftKings agreed to pay a $200,000 civil penalty to settle the SEC’s charges. The order finds that, on July 27,...
2024-09-26 4:37 PM EDT
SEC Levies More Than $3.8 Million in Penalties in Sweep of Late Beneficial Ownership and Insider Transaction Reports
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 25, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against 23 entities and individuals for failures to timely report information about their holdings and transactions in public company stock. Two public companies were also charged for contributing to filing failures by their officers and directors and failing to report their insiders’ filing delinquencies as required. The charges announced today stem from SEC...
2024-09-25 4:22 PM EDT
SEC Charges Merrill Lynch and Harvest Volatility Management for Ignoring Client Instructions
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 25, 2024) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against Harvest Volatility Management LLC and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. for exceeding clients’ designated investment limits over a two-year period beginning in March 2016, which resulted in clients paying higher fees, being subjected to increased market exposure, and incurring investment losses. As part of the separate settlements, Harvest and Merrill have...
2024-09-25 9:23 AM EDT