SEC Charges Investment Manager F-Squared and Former CEO With Making False Performance Claims
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that investment management firm F-Squared Investments has agreed to pay $35 million and admit wrongdoing to settle charges that it defrauded investors through false performance advertising about its flagship product. The SEC separately charged the firm’s co-founder and former CEO Howard Present with making false and misleading statements to investors as the public face of F-Squared. According to the SEC’s order instituting a settled administrative proceeding against Massachusetts-based F-Squared, which is the largest marketer of index products using exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the firm began receiving signals from a third-party data provider in September…
Read MoreSEC Proposes Amendments to Implement JOBS Act Mandate for Exchange Act Registration Requirements
As mandated by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act), the Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the issuance of proposed amendments to revise the rules related to the thresholds for registration, termination of registration, and suspension of reporting under Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act. The Commission voted yesterday on a proposal that would implement the mandate of the JOBS Act by: Amending Exchange Act Rules 12g-1 through 4 and 12h-3 which govern the procedures relating to registration, termination of registration under Section 12(g), and suspension of reporting obligations under Section 15(d) to reflect the new thresholds established…
Read MoreSEC Charges Staten Island-Based Firm With Operating Boiler Room Scheme Targeting Seniors
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a Staten Island, N.Y.-based firm, its former president, and two sales representatives involved in a fraudulent boiler room scheme targeting seniors to invest in speculative start-up companies. The SEC alleges that Dwayne Malloy, Chris Damon, and Theirry Ruffin treated vulnerable older investors as their personal ATM machines. They cold-called names from a list they maintained at Premier Links Inc. and used high-pressure sales tactics to convince seniors to invest in companies purportedly on the brink of conducting initial public offerings (IPOs). They never disclosed to the investors that only a small fraction of…
Read MoreSEC Names Deputy Directors in the Division of Trading and Markets
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Gary Barnett and Gary Goldsholle have been named as deputy directors in the Division of Trading and Markets. “I am pleased to announce these additions to our staff,” said Stephen Luparello, Director of the Division of Trading and Markets. “Each brings a wealth of experience that will help us execute our broad and important policy agenda.” Mr. Barnett and Mr. Goldsholle succeed former deputy directors James Burns and John Ramsay who left the agency earlier this year. Mr. Barnett will have responsibility for the Office of Broker-Dealer Finances and the Office of…
Read MoreSEC Charges Avon With FCPA Violations
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged global beauty products company Avon Products Inc. with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by failing to put controls in place to detect and prevent payments and gifts to Chinese government officials from employees and consultants at a subsidiary. Avon entities agreed to pay a total of $135 million to settle the SEC’s charges and a parallel case announced today by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. The SEC alleges that Avon’s subsidiary in China made $8 million worth of payments…
Read More