Executives Charged With Inflating Performance of Real Estate Investment Trust
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged two former accounting executives with overstating the financial performance of a large publicly-traded real estate investment trust (REIT) then known as American Realty Capital Properties (ARCP) by purposely inflating a key metric used by analysts and investors to assess the company. According to the SEC’s complaint, then-chief financial officer Brian S. Block and then-chief accounting officer Lisa P. McAlister devised a scheme to manipulate the calculation of ARCP’s adjusted funds from operations (AFFO), a non-GAAP measure used when the company provided earnings guidance. After warnings from internal accounting staff that an incorrect method…
Read MoreSEC Names Sarah G. ten Siethoff Deputy Associate Director in the Division of Investment Management’s Rulemaking Office
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Sarah G. ten Siethoff has been named Deputy Associate Director in the Division of Investment Management’s Rulemaking Office. As Deputy Associate Director, Ms. ten Siethoff will develop recommendations for rulemaking and other policy initiatives under the Investment Company and Investment Advisers Acts of 1940. Ms. ten Siethoff also will oversee management of key rulemaking projects related to funds and investment advisers. Ms. ten Siethoff has been a member of the Division of Investment Management since 2008, serving as Assistant Director, Senior Special Counsel and Senior Counsel in the Division’s Rulemaking Office. Prior…
Read MoreSEC Charges CEO and Paid Promoter With Fraudulently Promoting Stock of Las Vegas Health Products Company
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged the CEO of a sexual health products retailer and a paid promoter with orchestrating fraudulent promotional campaigns to tout the company’s stock. The SEC alleges that Scott S. Fraser, who also was a major shareholder in Las Vegas-based Empowered Products Inc., separately ran a newsletter publishing business and hired Nathan Yeung to secretly help him promote Empowered Products through online newsletter articles purportedly authored by independent writers. But Fraser and Yeung actually authored, authorized, and distributed the rosy articles about Empowered Products themselves, working under such pseudonyms as “Charlie Buck” and then…
Read MoreSEC Charges Alabama Attorney and His Companies in Purported Waste-To-Energy Ventures
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Alabama attorney Donald Watkins and companies he controls with defrauding professional athletes and other investors out of millions of dollars, much of which he spent on his girlfriend and to cover personal expenses like alimony, past due taxes and credit card bills. The Commission’s complaint, filed in federal district court in Atlanta, alleges that Watkins and his companies, Watkins Pencor LLC and Masada Resource Group LLC falsely told investors that their funds would be used to support waste-to-energy ventures. The complaint further alleges that the defendants falsely claimed that Waste Management…
Read MoreSEC Proposes Amendments to Require Hyperlinks to Exhibits in Filings
The Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed rule and form amendments that would require registrants to include a hyperlink to exhibits in their filings. “The proposed changes should make it significantly easier to locate documents attached to company filings,” said SEC Chair Mary Jo White. “This enhanced capability will benefit both investors and companies.” The proposed amendments would require registrants that file registration statements and periodic and current reports that are subject to the exhibit requirements under Item 601 of Regulation S-K, or that file on Forms F-10 or 20-F, to include a hyperlink to each exhibit listed in the exhibit…
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