OCIE Director Andrew Bowden to Leave SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Andrew Bowden, Director of the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE), will leave the agency at the end of April to return to the private sector. Mr. Bowden joined the SEC in November 2011, serving as OCIE’s National Associate for the Investment Adviser/Investment Company examination program. He was named Deputy Director of OCIE in September 2012 and became the Director of OCIE in June 2013. “Drew has served as a thoughtful, creative, and dedicated advocate for investors, OCIE, and the Commission,” said SEC Chair Mary Jo White. “Under his leadership, OCIE…
Read MoreSEC Obtains Asset Freeze in Ponzi Scheme Involving Loans to Professional Athletes
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges against a former professional football player and others, alleging they operated a Ponzi scheme that raised more than $31 million from investors who were promised profits from loans to professional athletes. The SEC’s complaint was unsealed late yesterday. It was filed under seal in federal court in Boston on April 1, and the court entered an asset freeze and other preliminary relief that same day against the defendants. According to the SEC’s complaint, former professional football player William ("Will") D. Allen and his business partner Susan C. Daub claimed to make…
Read MoreSEC Charges Firms and Individuals for Defrauding Investors in Cellular Licensing Scheme
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged 12 companies and six individuals with defrauding investors in a scheme involving applications to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for cellular spectrum licenses. According to the SEC’s complaint filed in federal district court in Arizona, David Alcorn and Kent Maerki orchestrated the offering fraud through Janus Spectrum LLC, a Glendale, Ariz.-based company they founded and managed. Janus Spectrum held itself out as a service provider that prepares cellular spectrum license applications on behalf of third parties. The complaint alleges that although Alcorn and Maerki had third parties offer and sell securities based on…
Read MoreSEC Charges Friends With Insider Trading on Acquisition of Cooper Tire
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged two longtime friends who illegally profited from insider trading on news of a proposed acquisition of Cooper Tire and Rubber Company by Apollo Tyres Ltd. In a complaint filed in U.S. district court in Connecticut, the SEC filed fraud charges against Amit Kanodia, of Brookline, Massachusetts, an entrepreneur and private equity investor, and Iftikar Ahmed, of Greenwich, Connecticut, a general partner at a venture capital firm. The SEC named Rakitfi Holdings LLC, a company owned by Ahmed, and Lincoln Charitable Foundation, a supposed charity operated by Kanodia, as relief defendants. The SEC is…
Read MoreSEC Charges North Carolina Executive With Fraud
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged the owner and chief executive of a North Carolina business with defrauding a publicly-traded telecommunications company and its shareholders during and after its acquisition of his business. The executive, Timothy Scronce, agreed to settle the charges against him without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings. Scronce consented to the SEC’s order requiring him to return his allegedly ill-gotten gains with interest, pay a civil penalty, and be barred for 10 years from serving as a public company officer or director. Bloomingdale, Ill.-based PCTEL Inc. acquired assets of TelWorx Communications LLC and three related…
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