Blank Check Company Manufacturer Charged With Fraud
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges against a Florida man who was part of a scheme to register and sell stock in blank check companies masked as promising startups to illicitly profit off the investing public. The SEC's order finds that Sheldon R. Rose created more than a dozen blank check companies, which have no operations and no value other than their registered status to sell stock. Rose installed friends and family as figurehead company officers and shareholders so he could secretly control the companies and their securities. Registration statements and other corporate filings made it…
Read MoreSEC Charges Hedge Fund Manager Leon Cooperman With Insider Trading
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged hedge fund manager Leon G. Cooperman and his firm Omega Advisors with insider trading based on material nonpublic information he learned in confidence from a corporate executive. The SEC alleges that Cooperman generated substantial illicit profits by purchasing securities in Atlas Pipeline Partners (APL) in advance of the sale of its natural gas processing facility in Elk City, Oklahoma. Cooperman allegedly used his status as one of APL’s largest shareholders to gain access to the executive and obtain confidential details about the sale of this substantial company asset. Cooperman and Omega Advisors allegedly…
Read MoreSEC Issues $4 Million Whistleblower Award
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced an award of more than $4 million to a whistleblower whose original information alerted the agency to a fraud. The SEC’s whistleblower program has awarded more than $111 million to 34 whistleblowers since its inception in 2011. “Our program continues to incentivize whistleblowers to come forward with solid information that helps us bring violators to justice before more wrongdoing can occur,” said Jane Norberg, Acting Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower. By law, the SEC protects the confidentiality of whistleblowers and does not disclose information that might directly or indirectly reveal…
Read MoreErnst & Young, Former Partners Charged With Violating Auditor Independence Rules
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that public accounting firm Ernst & Young has agreed to pay $9.3 million to settle charges that two of the firm’s audit partners got too close to their clients on a personal level and violated rules that ensure firms maintain their objectivity and impartiality during audits. SEC investigations found that the senior partner on an engagement team for the audit of a New York-based public company maintained an improperly close friendship with its chief financial officer, and a different partner serving on an engagement team for the audit of another public company was…
Read MoreMarijuana-Related Company Charged with Scheming Investors
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges in a scheme involving illegal stock sales and false financial filings of a company that makes containers for growing marijuana. An SEC investigation found that William J. Sears orchestrated the scheme along with his brother-in-law Scott M. Dittman, who was the CEO and sole officer at Fusion Pharm Inc. while Sears concealed his control from behind the scenes. Sears and Dittman hired Cliffe R. Bodden to help them create fraudulent corporate documents that enabled Fusion Pharm to issue common stock to three other companies controlled by Sears, who then illegally sold…
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