Securities fraud

March 12, 2010 -- A securities attorney was sentenced today to 33 months in prison for defrauding investors in stock manipulation schemes involving 19 publicly traded companies, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride for the Eastern District of Virginia announced today.

David B. Stocker, of Phoenix, pleaded guilty on March 11, 2009, in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., for his participation in a stock manipulation conspiracy known as a "pump-and-dump" scheme. Along with the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady today ordered Stocker to pay jointly and severally $6,360,191 in restitution and to forfeit $2,175,993 in a money judgment as well as other property and assets.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., March 4, 2010 -- The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a self-proclaimed psychic who fraudulently raised $6 million after telling investors he could predict stock market highs and lows.

The SEC's charges were filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Sean David Morton, who bills himself as "America's Prophet," as well as three corporate entities that Morton co-owns with his wife Melissa Morton under the umbrella of the Delphi Associates Investment Group.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2010 -- The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged General Re Corporation for its involvement in separate schemes by American International Group (AIG) and Prudential Financial, Inc. to manipulate and falsify their reported financial results.

Gen Re agreed to pay $12.2 million to settle the SEC’s charges. In addition, in a non-prosecution agreement announced today by the Department of Justice in connection with a related criminal investigation of Gen Re’s transactions with AIG, Gen Re agreed to pay $19.5 million to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Consumer Fraud Fund.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., Jan. 11, 2010 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it has charged Beverly Hills, Calif.-based NewPoint Financial Services, Inc. and its co-owners and controller for conducting an unregistered offering fraud aimed at Iranian-Americans in the Los Angeles area. The SEC obtained an emergency court order to freeze their assets and preserve remaining funds that were collected from investors.    » read more »

January 6, 2010 -- Nora R. Dannehy, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that FRANCESCO RUSCIANO, 28, of Stamford, waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty today before Senior United States District Judge Ellen Bree Burns in New Haven to one count of wire fraud.

According to court documents and statements made in court, from approximately March 2007 to April 2009, RUSCIANO operated a private investment fund, the Ponta Negra Fund I, LLC at his residence in Stamford. In approximately January 2009, RUSCIANO started the Ponta Negra Offshore Fund, LTD.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., Nov. 30, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a Dallas and New Orleans-based hurricane restoration company and several executives for lying about non-existent business deals in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and fraudulently inflating the company's stock price before the company's CEO sold millions of dollars in company shares.    » read more »

November 23, 2009 -- WASHINGTON -- Four individuals were sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Marianne O. Battani in federal court in Detroit for their roles in a wide-ranging international stock fraud scheme involving the illegal use of bulk commercial e-mails, or “spamming,” announced Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Terrence Berg.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., Nov. 10, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged the former chief financial officer of a New York-based hedge fund with securities fraud for arranging secret sales of securities from his personal trading account to the hedge fund accounts at inflated prices to generate his own illicit profits.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., Sept. 1, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the distribution of more than $35 million in Fair Funds to more than 98,000 investors in Cardinal Health, Inc. who were harmed by a fraudulent revenue and earnings management scheme.

The SEC's enforcement action against Cardinal Health in July 2007 alleged that the company presented a false picture of its operating results to the financial community and the investing public — one that matched its publicly disseminated earnings guidance and analysts' expectations rather than its true economic performance. Cardinal Health settled the SEC's charges and paid $35 million in penalties and disgorgement that were placed into the Fair Fund being distributed.    » read more »

August 27, 2009 -- WASHINGTON—James M. Davis, 60, the former chief financial officer of Houston-based Stanford Financial Group (SFG), pleaded guilty today to fraud and obstruction charges related to a $7 billion scheme to defraud investors, Lanny A. Breuer, Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division, and Tim Johnson, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, announced.

Davis was charged in a criminal information, filed on June 18, 2009, with conspiracy to commit mail, wire and securities fraud; mail fraud; and conspiracy to obstruct a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation. The criminal information also seeks forfeiture of up to $1 billion in fraud proceeds.    » read more »

Boston-Based Firm and Affiliate to Pay $40 Million to Settle SEC Charges

Washington, D.C., June 8, 2008 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Boston-based Evergreen Investment Management Company LLC and an affiliate with securities law violations for overstating the value of a mutual fund that invested primarily in mortgage-backed securities, and then only selectively telling shareholders about the fund’s valuation problems.

Evergreen agreed to pay more than $40 million to settle the SEC’s charges without admitting or denying the findings in the SEC’s order. This enforcement action is the result of the joint efforts of the SEC and the Massachusetts Securities Division, which also brought related charges against the Evergreen entities today.    » read more »

Former CEO Angelo Mozilo Additionally Charged With Insider Trading

Washington, D.C., June 4, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged former Countrywide Financial CEO Angelo Mozilo and two other former executives with securities fraud for deliberately misleading investors about the significant credit risks being taken in efforts to build and maintain the company's market share.

Mozilo was additionally charged with insider trading for selling his Countrywide stock based on non-public information for nearly $140 million in profits.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., June 3, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced finalized settlements with Bank of America, RBC Capital Markets, and Deutsche Bank to resolve SEC charges that the firms misled investors regarding the liquidity risks associated with auction rate securities (ARS) that they underwrote, marketed, or sold.

The SEC's Division of Enforcement previously announced preliminary settlements with Bank of America and RBC on Oct. 8, 2008. Today's finalized settlements with those two firms as well as Deutsche Bank provide nearly $6.7 billion to approximately 9,600 customers who invested in ARS before the market for those securities froze in February 2008.    » read more »

May 20, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – Today, President Obama will sign the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act and the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act into law.

"These landmark pieces of legislation will protect hardworking Americans, crack down on those who seek to take advantage of them, and ensure that the problems that led us into this crisis never happen again," said President Obama.    » read more »

May 20, 2009 -- Flanked by several Congressional colleagues and a crowd of onlookers, U.S. Senator Ted Kaufman (D-DE) stood beside President Barack Obama May 20 as he signed the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act (FERA), legislation to strengthen tools and increase resources available to federal prosecutors to combat financial fraud. Sen. Kaufman introduced FERA - bipartisan legislation that passed Congress this week - in February with Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA).    » read more »