Municipal Advisor Charged for Failing to Disclose Conflict
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Kansas-based Central States Capital Markets, its CEO, and two employees for breaching their fiduciary duty by failing to disclose a conflict of interest to a municipal client. The case is the SEC’s first to enforce the fiduciary duty for municipal advisors created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, which requires these advisors to put their municipal clients’ interests ahead of their own. According to the SEC’s order, while Central States served as a municipal advisor to a client on municipal bond offerings in 2011, two of its employees, in consultation with the CEO, arranged…
Read MoreSEC Charges Microcap Company CEO for Touting Bogus “Clean Energy” Contracts With Foreign Governments
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a microcap company CEO for falsely claiming to have a lucrative relationship with the United Nations and billions of dollars in clean energy contracts with foreign governments. The SEC alleges that RVPlus Inc. CEO Cary Lee Peterson made bogus claims in the company’s public filings and in statements to private investors, and that he and RVPlus participated in an unlawful distribution of RVPlus’s stock. The SEC temporarily suspended trading in RVPlus securities in July 2013, citing “material deficiencies” in the company’s financial statements. “We allege that Peterson inflated RVPlus’s finances and…
Read MoreAIG Affiliates Charged With Mutual Fund Shares Conflicts
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against three AIG affiliates for steering mutual fund clients toward more expensive share classes so the firms could collect more fees. The firms agreed to pay more than $9.5 million to settle the SEC’s charges. An SEC investigation found that the firms placed clients in share classes that charged fees for marketing and distribution despite the clients being eligible to buy shares in fund classes without those additional charges. As a result, the firms collected approximately $2 million in extra fees. The firms failed to disclose their conflict of interest in…
Read MoreSEC Approves 2016 PCAOB Budget and Accounting Support Fee
The Securities and Exchange Commission today approved the 2016 budget of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and the related annual accounting support fee. The PCAOB budget totals $257.7 million and will be funded primarily by the collection of an accounting support fee totaling $253.3 million and from the under-spending in 2015 that will be available to fund the 2016 budget. “The PCAOB’s work to oversee auditors of public companies and SEC registered broker-dealers is critical to investor protection and our markets,” said SEC Chair Mary Jo White. “The PCAOB has another busy year ahead as it continues to…
Read MoreSEC: California Businessman Attempted Cover Up of Stolen Investor Funds
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges against a California businessman accused of stealing investor assets and then trying to cover it up once the SEC caught onto his scheme. The SEC alleges that Daniel R. Nase raised money from investors through an unregistered offering of common stock in his Bakersfield, California-based company, BIC Real Estate Development Corp., and used the funds for personal expenses. According to the SEC’s complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California: Nase told investors that BIC would invest in real estate and promissory notes. With money he used…
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