SEC Removes References to Credit Ratings in Money Market Fund Rule and Form
The Securities and Exchange Commission adopted amendments to remove credit rating references in the principal rule that governs money market funds and the form that money market funds use to report information to the Commission each month about their portfolio holdings. The Commission also adopted amendments that would subject additional securities to issuer diversification provisions in the money market fund rule. “Reducing reliance on credit ratings to determine which securities money market funds can hold is an important part of our efforts related to these funds,” said SEC Chair Mary Jo White. “These amendments also remove credit ratings from one…
Read MoreSEC Charges Medical Diagnostics Company Chairman and Two Others Behind Scheme to Manipulate Company Stock
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged the executive chairman of a Massachusetts-based medical diagnostics company and two others with conducting a pump-and-dump scheme that was ultimately thwarted when the SEC suspended trading in the company’s securities before the secretly controlled shares could be dumped on unsuspecting investors. The SEC alleges that Edward Withrow III became chairman of the new board of directors at Endeavor Power Corp. in late 2012 after a penny stock company he controlled merged with another controlled by Marco Babini, a Canadian citizen. Withrow and Babini schemed with Samuel Brown, a stock promoter in Idaho, to…
Read MoreSEC Obtains $30 Million From Traders Who Profited on Hacked News Releases
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Ukrainian-based Jaspen Capital Partners Limited and CEO Andriy Supranonok have agreed to pay $30 million to settle allegations they profited from trading on non-public corporate information hacked from newswire services. The SEC announced charges in August against 34 defendants who allegedly took part in a scheme in which two of the defendants surreptitiously hacked into newswire services and transmitted the stolen data to a web of international traders, including Jaspen and Supranonok. By getting an early look at the information before its public release, the traders allegedly generated more than $100 million…
Read MoreSEC Charges Five Arizona Residents With Stealing Millions From Investors to Fund Travel and Entertainment Sprees
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged five Arizona residents with stealing millions of dollars from investors to make car payments, buy clothes, and fund travel and entertainment at luxury resorts, casinos, and strip clubs. The SEC alleges that Jason Mogler, James Hinkeldey, Casimer Polanchek, Brian Buckley, and James Stevens misappropriated roughly 97 percent of the $18 million they raised from 225 investors who were told the funds would be used to acquire and develop beachfront property in Mexico as well as to operate recycling facilities and purchase foreclosed residential properties for resale. They repeatedly lied about the purported progress…
Read MoreSEC Announces Fraud Charges in Cross-Border Scheme to Secretly Control and Manipulate Stock of Chinese Companies After Reverse Mergers
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges against a Wall Street CEO and his company, family members, and business associates accused of secretly obtaining control and manipulating the stock of Chinese companies they were purportedly guiding through the process of raising capital and becoming publicly-traded in the United States. The SEC alleges that Benjamin Wey and New York Global Group (NYGG) typically structured reverse mergers between clients and publicly-traded shell companies in such a way that he and other family members secretly obtained ownership interests of more than five percent of the newly listed companies. To avoid detection…
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