SEC Charges Nationwide Life Insurance Company With Pricing Violations
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Nationwide Life Insurance Company with routinely violating pricing rules in its daily processing of purchase and redemption orders for variable insurance contracts and underlying mutual funds. Nationwide agreed to settle the charges and pay an $8 million penalty. Pricing rules for mutual fund shares require an investment company to compute the value of its shares at least once daily at a specific time set by its board of directors and disclosed to investors. According to the SEC’s order instituting a settled administrative proceeding, Nationwide’s prospectuses stated that mutual fund orders received before 4…
Read MoreSEC Names Wesley R. Bricker as Deputy Chief Accountant
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the appointment of Wesley R. Bricker as a Deputy Chief Accountant overseeing the accounting group in the agency’s Office of the Chief Accountant. Mr. Bricker has more than 15 years of experience in public accounting. He joins the SEC from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, where he is a partner responsible for clients in the banking, capital markets, financial technology, and investment management sectors. He served as a professional accounting fellow in Office of the Chief Accountant from 2009 to 2011, returning to PwC in 2011. The accounting group advises the Commission on accounting and auditing…
Read MoreDeputy Chief Accountant Dan Murdock to Leave SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Daniel Murdock, a deputy chief accountant overseeing the accounting group in the agency’s Office of the Chief Accountant, is leaving at the end of May to return to the private sector. Mr. Murdock started at the SEC in October 2013. The office advises the Commission on accounting and auditing matters and works closely with private sector accounting bodies such as the Financial Accounting Standards Board. Public companies, auditors, and other divisions and offices within the SEC regularly consult with the accounting group on the application of accounting standards and financial disclosure requirements.…
Read MoreSEC Announces Fraud Charges Against ITT Educational Services
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges against ITT Educational Services Inc., its chief executive officer Kevin Modany, and its chief financial officer Daniel Fitzpatrick. The SEC alleges that the national operator of for-profit colleges and the two executives fraudulently concealed from ITT’s investors the poor performance and looming financial impact of two student loan programs that ITT financially guaranteed. ITT formed both of these student loan programs, known as the “PEAKS” and “CUSO” programs, to provide off-balance sheet loans for ITT’s students following the collapse of the private student loan market. To induce others to finance these…
Read MoreSEC Sues Retirement Planners for Making False Claims to Investors
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a self-described retirement planning firm and its principals with falsely telling customers that interests in life settlements they offered and sold were “guaranteed,” “safe as CDs,” and “federally insured.” The SEC also alleges that they used a bogus “net worth calculator” that improperly qualified some prospective investors for purchases by including income that investors hadn’t received, such as future pension and Social Security benefits. The SEC charges were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas against Novers Financial and its principals Christopher A. Novinger and Brady J. Speers,…
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