SEC Charges Canadian Man With Conducting Fraudulent Trading Scheme
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a man living in Ontario, Canada, with orchestrating a lucrative market manipulation scheme that relied on “layering” in which a trader places orders solely to trick others into buying or selling U.S. publicly traded stocks at artificially inflated or depressed prices. In a complaint filed in federal court in Newark, N.J., the SEC alleges that since at least January 2013, Aleksandr Milrud recruited online traders chiefly based in China and Korea and shared in the profits the traders made from manipulative trading in U.S. securities markets. Milrud provided the traders with access to…
Read MoreSEC Announces 2015 Examination Priorities
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced its Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations’ (OCIE) priorities for 2015 which focus on three areas: protecting retail investors, especially those saving for or in retirement; assessing market-wide risks; and using data analytics to identify signs of potential illegal activity. “Our examination program collects information for the Commission on a range of important trends, issues, and risks,” said SEC Chair Mary Jo White. “OCIE helps us to maintain a strong presence with SEC registrants and to make a positive impact for the benefit of investors and our markets.” “We share our annual examination…
Read MoreSEC Charges Direct Edge Exchanges With Failing to Properly Describe Order Types
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that two exchanges formerly owned by Direct Edge Holdings and since acquired by BATS Global Markets have agreed to pay a $14 million penalty to settle charges that their rules failed to accurately describe the order types being used on the exchanges. The penalty is the SEC’s largest against a national securities exchange, and the case is the SEC’s first principally focusing on stock exchange order types. An SEC investigation found that while operating under rules that described a single “price sliding” process for handling buy or sell orders, the EDGA Exchange and…
Read MoreSEC Names Walter Jospin as Regional Director of Atlanta Office
The Securities and Exchange Commission today named Walter E. Jospin as Regional Director of its Atlanta office, where he will oversee enforcement and examinations in a region covering five states. Mr. Jospin joins the SEC from the law firm of Paul Hastings LLP, where he is a partner in the Atlanta office with a practice focusing on securities enforcement, internal investigations, corporate transactions, and corporate governance. Mr. Jospin previously worked in the SEC Enforcement Division from 1980 to 1983 in the Atlanta office, where he handled investigations and litigations involving accounting and financial fraud, disclosure violations, insider trading, and other…
Read MoreSEC Announces Program to Facilitate Analysis of Corporate Financial Data
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the launch of a pilot program to facilitate investor analysis and comparisons of public company financial statement data. Under the new program, data that companies provide in structured formats will be combined and organized into structured data sets and posted for bulk downloads on the SEC’s website for use by investors and academics. The data sets initially will contain financial statement data from eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) exhibits as filed with the SEC. They will be expanded in 2015 to include data in footnotes to the financial statements. The SEC requires U.S.…
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