SEC

Washington, D.C., March 19, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged New York's former Deputy Comptroller and a top political advisor for extracting millions of dollars in kickbacks from investment management firms seeking to manage the assets of New York's largest pension fund.

The SEC's complaint alleges that Henry "Hank" Morris, the top political advisor and chief fundraiser for former New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi, and David Loglisci, former Deputy Comptroller and Chief Investment Officer of the New York State Common Retirement Fund, orchestrated a fraudulent scheme from 2003 through late 2006 that corrupted the integrity of the New York State Common Retirement Fund in order to enrich Morris as well as others with close ties to Morris and Loglisci.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., March 18, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged the auditors of Bernard Madoff's broker-dealer firm with committing securities fraud by representing that they had conducted legitimate audits, when in fact they had not.

In its complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan, the SEC alleges that from 1991 through 2008, certified public accountant David G. Friehling and his firm, Friehling & Horowitz, CPAs, P.C. (F&H), purported to audit financial statements and disclosures of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (BMIS). The SEC previously charged Madoff and BMIS with committing securities fraud through a multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme perpetrated on advisory and brokerage customers of his firm.    » read more »

Reaches Definitive Agreements with Private Preferred Shareholders

March 19, 2009 -- NEW YORK – Citi announced today it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in connection with its proposed offer to issue its common stock in exchange for publicly held convertible and non-convertible preferred and trust preferred securities. Citi anticipates launching the public exchange offer in early April, subject to completion of the required SEC review process.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., March 13, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today took further action to help increase the transparency of credit default swaps by approving conditional exemptions that will allow the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME) to operate as a central counterparty for clearing them.

These conditional exemptions, based on a request by the CME and Citadel Investment Group LLC, provide the SEC with regulatory oversight of the central counterparty, and should enhance the quality of the credit default swap market and the Commission's ability to protect investors.    » read more »

March 11, 2009 -- Washington D.C. -- NEIL M. BAROFSKY, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), announced today, in coordination with the Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB-OIG), the formation of a broad, multi-agency task force designed to deter, detect and investigate instances of fraud in the soon-to-be-launched Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) program.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., March 12, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based software manufacturer Quest Software, Inc. and three current or former officers for stock option backdating.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., March 11, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Northern California residents Anthony Vassallo and Kenneth Kenitzer for orchestrating a multi-million dollar investment fraud. Vassallo agreed to a court order freezing his assets. The SEC is seeking an emergency court order to also freeze the assets of Vassallo's company, Equity Investment Management and Trading, Inc. (EIMT).    » read more »

Washington, D.C., March 9, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a money manager with offices in New York and Rhode Island for falsely creating a billion-dollar client in order to gain credibility and attract legitimate investors.

In its complaint, the SEC charged Leila Jenkins and her firm, Locke Capital Management Inc., with making up the supposedly massive client and then repeatedly lying about its existence to land real clients. The SEC alleges that Jenkins lied to the SEC staff about the existence of the invented client and furnished the SEC staff with bogus documents in 2008, including fake account statements that she created.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., March 5, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Los Angeles resident Bruce Friedman and two of his companies with securities fraud, and obtained an emergency court order to freeze their assets and halt an alleged ongoing investment scheme involving purported real estate and mortgage lending ventures.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., March 4, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today brought enforcement actions against 14 specialist firms for unlawful proprietary trading on several regional and options exchanges. The firms agreed to settle the SEC's charges by collectively paying nearly $70 million in disgorgement and penalties.

The SEC charged the specialist firms for violating their fundamental obligation to serve public customer orders over their own proprietary interests by "trading ahead" of customer orders, or "interpositioning" the firms' proprietary accounts between customer orders.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., March 2, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Oregon-based Sunwest Management Inc. with securities fraud and is seeking an emergency court order freezing its assets. The SEC alleges that Sunwest, which operates hundreds of retirement homes across the United States, lied to investors about its operations and concealed the risks of the investments, exposing investors to massive losses when the economic downturn triggered Sunwest's collapse.

According to the SEC's complaint, Sunwest raised at least $300 million from more than 1,300 investors nationwide by promising a steady income stream and touting its success in running the properties.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., Feb. 26, 2009 — The following is a statement from SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro regarding the President's FY 2010 budget request for the SEC, which represents a 13 percent increase over its FY 2008 budget:

"The President's requested budget increase for the SEC would enable us to increase our staff and use new technology to pursue risk-based approaches that would better detect fraud and ensure stronger oversight of the nation's securities markets. We appreciate these additional resources that would help strengthen and reinvigorate the SEC and rededicate our commitment to the protection of investors."

Source: SEC

Washington, D.C., Feb. 25, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Mark Bloom and his firm North Hills Management LLC with securities fraud, and obtained an emergency court order to freeze their assets and halt an alleged investment scheme involving the marketing of a "fund of funds" investment vehicle.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., Feb. 25, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today took emergency action and obtained an asset freeze against two New York residents and their three affiliated entities, who orchestrated a brazen investment fraud involving the misappropriation of as much as $554 million in investor assets.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., Feb. 25, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a Pearl River, N.Y., investment management firm and its principal for operating a large-scale scheme that defrauded hundreds of investors of millions of dollars by providing them with misleading marketing materials that significantly overstated investment returns and by misrepresenting the value of the assets under management.    » read more »