SEC Charges 6 Firms for Short Selling Violations in Advance Stock Offerings
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced enforcement actions against six firms, including more than $2.5 million in monetary sanctions and, in the case of one previously sanctioned firm, an order barring the firm from participating in stock offerings for a period of one year as part of its ongoing enforcement initiative focused on violations of Rule 105 of Regulation M. Intended to preserve the independent pricing mechanisms of the securities markets and prevent stock price manipulation, Rule 105 prohibits firms from participating in public stock offerings after selling short those same stocks. Through its Rule 105 Initiative, which was…
Read MoreUBS to Pay $19.5 Million Settlement Involving Notes Linked to Currency Index
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that UBS AG has agreed to pay $19.5 million to settle charges that it made false or misleading statements and omissions in offering materials provided to U.S. investors in structured notes linked to a proprietary foreign exchange trading strategy. The case is the agency’s first involving misstatements and omissions by an issuer of structured notes, a complex financial product that typically consists of a debt security with a derivative tied to the performance of other securities, commodities, currencies, or proprietary indices. The return on the structured note is linked to the performance of…
Read MoreWolverine Affiliates Charged With Failing to Maintain Policies to Prevent Misuse of Material Nonpublic Information
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Wolverine Trading LLC and Wolverine Asset Management LLC with failing to maintain and enforce policies and procedures to prevent the misuse of material nonpublic information. The Chicago-based affiliates will pay more than $1 million to settle the SEC’s charges. Each agreed to pay penalties of $375,000, and Wolverine Asset Management will pay disgorgement of $364,145.80, plus prejudgment interest of $39,158.47. According to the SEC’s order instituting administrative proceedings: From February to March 2012, Wolverine Trading, a broker-dealer, and Wolverine Asset Management, an investment adviser, repeatedly shared information in violation of their firms’ policies…
Read MoreSEC Charges Firm and Owner With Manipulative Trading
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a New York-based proprietary trading firm and one of its co-founders with engaging in a manipulative trading strategy known as “spoofing.” An SEC investigation found that Briargate Trading LLP and co-founder Eric Oscher orchestrated a scheme in which they placed sham orders — spoofs — to create the false appearance of interest in stocks and manipulate their prices. After entering spoof orders, Oscher placed bona fide orders on the opposite side of the market for the same stocks and took advantage of the artificially inflated or depressed prices. Immediately after the bona fide…
Read MoreBlackstone Charged With Disclosure Failures
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that three private equity fund advisers within The Blackstone Group have agreed to pay nearly $39 million to settle charges that they failed to fully inform investors about benefits that the advisers obtained from accelerated monitoring fees and discounts on legal fees. Nearly $29 million of the settlement will be distributed to affected fund investors. An SEC investigation found that Blackstone Management Partners, Blackstone Management Partners III, and Blackstone Management Partners IV failed to adequately disclose the acceleration of monitoring fees paid by fund-owned portfolio companies prior to the companies’ sale or initial…
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