Former Oppenheimer Employees Settle Charges Involving Unregistered Sales of Penny Stocks
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that three former employees of Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. have agreed to settle charges stemming from the unregistered sales of billions of shares of penny stocks on behalf of a customer. The actions involve a portion of the conduct announced in January in a settled enforcement action against Oppenheimer in which the broker-dealer admitted wrongdoing and paid $20 million to the SEC and the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Today’s actions were instituted against Scott A. Eisler, a former registered representative at Oppenheimer’s branch in Boca Raton, Fla., his former branch manager…
Read MoreSEC Charges Three Penny Stock Promoters Behind Pump-and-Dump Schemes
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a trio of alleged microcap stock scammers with defrauding investors by disseminating promotional e-mails exhorting readers to immediately buy purportedly hot stocks so they could secretly sell their own holdings at a substantial profit. The SEC alleges that the three men, who live in Israel, obtained shares in several penny stock companies and pumped the prices as high as 1,800 percent before dumping the shares for at least $2.8 million in illicit proceeds. In one extravagantly positive promotional e-mail about a particular stock, they stated that a $5,000 investment could be worth more…
Read MoreMichele Anderson Named Associate Director in the Division of Corporation Finance
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today the promotion of Michele Anderson to the position of Associate Director in the agency's Division of Corporation Finance. She begins her new role later this month. Ms. Anderson has served as Chief of the division’s Office of Mergers and Acquisitions since 2008. She began her career at the SEC in 1998 as an attorney-advisor in the division and from 2004 to 2008, she was Legal Branch Chief in the division’s Office of Telecommunications. In her new role as Associate Director, Ms. Anderson will oversee the work of the division’s Office of Mergers and…
Read MoreSEC Pays More Than $3 Million to Whistleblower
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced a whistleblower award of more than $3 million to a company insider whose information helped the SEC crack a complex fraud. The multi-million dollar payout is the third highest award to date under the SEC’s whistleblower program. The whistleblower’s specific and detailed information comprehensively laid out the fraudulent scheme which otherwise would have been very difficult for investigators to detect. The whistleblower’s initial tip also led to related actions that increased the whistleblower’s award. “Insiders may hold the key to helping our investigators unlock intricate fraudulent schemes,” said Andrew Ceresney, Director of the…
Read MoreSEC Charges Pennsylvania Attorney with Insider Trading in Advance of Merger Announcement
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a Pennsylvania attorney with insider trading in the stock of Harleysville Group, Inc. in advance of the 2011 announcement of a $760 million merger of Harleysville and Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. According to the SEC’s complaint, Herbert K. Sudfeld illegally traded on the news that sent Harleysville’s stock price up 87 percent when the merger of the two insurance companies was announced in September 2011. At the time, Sudfeld was a real estate partner at a law firm that advised Harleysville on the merger. Sudfeld was not involved in the merger and learned…
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