Keith E. Cassidy Named Director of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs Office

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Keith E. Cassidy has been named Director of the agency’s Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs.  Mr. Cassidy succeeds Tim Henseler, who was named Office Chief in the Division of Corporation Finance’s Office of Enforcement Liaison.

Mr. Cassidy has served as Deputy Director of the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs since 2011.  He advises the Chair, Commissioners, and SEC staff on legislative matters, provides technical assistance on securities-related legislation to congressional committees and staff, and assists in preparing SEC testimony for congressional hearings.

“Keith is a committed public servant and dedicated member of our military. His tremendous kn... Read More

SEC Charges Operator of Ponzi Scheme That Claimed to Offer “Bridge Loans” to Jamaican Businesses

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a former Boston resident with operating a $10 million Ponzi scheme that claimed to generate profits from “bridge loans” to businesses in Jamaica.

The SEC complaint charges former Boston resident Mark A. Jones, who now lives in Miami and has a second home in Jamaica.  Jones was arrested Sunday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts filed related criminal charges against him on Monday.

According to the SEC complaint filed in federal court in Boston:

• Jones began soliciting investors starting around 2007 and said their money would be pooled and used for “bridge loans” to Jamaican businesses awaiting funds from approved commercial bank loans.  J... Read More

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 for the offerings to be underwritten by a broker-dealer where all three worked as registered representatives.  The order found that Central States CEO Jo... Read More

SEC 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 expected profitability,” said Andrew M. Calamari, Director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office.  “We also alle... Read More

AIG 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 selecting share classes that would generate more revenue for them.

“Investment advisers must be vigilant about conflicts of interest when sel... Read More

SEC 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 conduct inspections of auditors and broker-dealers, works to develop its permanent broker-dealer audit inspection program, and advances numerou... Read More

SEC: 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 to purchase real estate and notes, Nase improperly titled most of the properties in his name or his wife’s name or their f... Read More

SEC Charges Oregon-Based Investment Group and Executives With Defrauding Investors

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged an Oregon-based investment group and three top executives with hiding the rapidly deteriorating financial condition of its enterprise while raising more than $350 million from investors.  Aequitas Management LLC and four affiliates allegedly defrauded more than 1,500 investors nationwide into believing they were making health care, education, and transportation-related investments when their money was really being used in a last-ditch effort to save the firm.  Some money from new investors was allegedly used to pay earlier investors

The SEC’s complaint, filed today in federal district court in Oregon, alleges that CEO Robert J. Jesenik and executive vice president Brian A. Oliver were well aware of Aequitas’s ca... Read More

SEC Charges Company and Executives for Faulty Evaluations of Internal Controls

The Securities and Exchange Commission has settled charges against Texas-based oil company Magnum Hunter Resources Corporation and several individuals, including a company consultant, for deficient evaluation of the company’s internal controls over financial reporting, and failures to maintain internal control over financial reporting between Dec. 31, 2011 and Sept. 30, 2013. 

Internal control over financial reporting (ICFR) refers to a company’s process for providing reasonable assurance to the public regarding the reliability of its financial reporting.  SEC rules require company management to evaluate and annually report on the effectiveness of ICFR, including disclosing any identified material weaknesses that creates a reasonable possibility that the company w... Read More

Anthony Kelly Named Co-Chief of Asset Management Unit

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Anthony S. Kelly has been named Co-Chief of the Enforcement Division’s Asset Management Unit, which focuses on misconduct by investment advisers, investment companies, and private funds.  He joins Marshall Sprung as Co-Chief of the unit and succeeds Julie Riewe, who left the agency last month.

Mr. Kelly has investigated or supervised enforcement cases that addressed a wide range of misconduct across the asset management industry.  Mr. Kelly supervised the SEC’s first cases under its authority to bring anti-retaliation enforcement actions, which included charges against a hedge fund adviser, and Read More

SEC to Hold National Compliance Outreach Seminar for Investment Companies and Investment Advisers

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the opening of registration for its compliance outreach program’s national seminar for investment companies and investment advisers.  The event is intended to help Chief Compliance Officers (CCOs) and other senior personnel at investment companies and investment advisory firms to enhance their compliance programs for the protection of investors.

The SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE), Division of Investment Management, and the Asset Management Unit of the Division of Enforcement jointly sponsor the compliance outreach program.  The national seminar will be held on April 19 at the SEC’s Washington, D.C., headquarters fro... Read More

SEC: Tech Company Misled Investors About Key Product

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that a developer of technologies for touchscreen devices has agreed to pay $750,000 to settle charges that it misled investors about the production status and sales agreements for a key product.

Two former company executives face related charges in an SEC complaint filed today in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.  The SEC entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the company’s former chairman of the board, who has agreed to cooperate and be barred from serving as an officer and director for five years.

The SEC alleges that Uni-Pixel Inc. began publicly touting sales of a touchscreen sensor product supposedly in speedy high-volume commercial production when in fa... Read More