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SEC Charges Joseph Hilton of Pacific Northwestern Energy with Fraud

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“Repeat violator” Joseph Hilton, formerly known as Joseph Yurkin, made numerous misrepresentations to investors while selling limited partnership units in two oil drilling projects earlier this year through his firm Pacific Northwestern Energy LLC, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) complaint unsealed last week in federal court in West Palm Beach, Fla. The SEC obtained an emergency court order to freeze the assets of Mr. Hilton.

According to SEC allegations, Joseph Hilton made numerous misrepresentations to investors while selling limited partnership units in two oil drilling projects earlier this year through his firm Pacific Northwestern Energy LLC. Hilton falsely told potential investors that Pacific acquired its wells from Exxon Mobil Corp., and he overstated Pacific’s experience in the oil and gas industry and the historical accomplishments of its drillers.

Hilton raised approximately $789,000 from investors. The SEC’s action froze the assets of Hilton, Pacific, and the two limited partnerships – Rock Castle Drilling Fund LP and Rock Castle Drilling Fund II LP. Hilton’s securities offerings were not registered with the SEC as required under the federal securities laws.

The SEC’s complaint also includes allegations against Hilton, Pacific, and another company controlled by Hilton called New Horizon Publishing Inc. Through Pacific and New Horizon, Hilton additionally sold $2.5 million worth of investments in oil drilling projects sponsored by United States Energy Corp. while deceiving investors about his identity, the anticipated returns on the investments, the amount of oil being produced by U.S. Energy’s wells, and the existence of natural gas wells. Hilton also operated a boiler room of sales representatives paid on a commission basis.

According to the SEC’s complaint, Hilton changed his name from Joseph Yurkin late last year following a final judgment for fraud in a previous SEC enforcement action against him for securities offerings he made through another company he worked for – Homeland Communications Corp.

“By changing his name, Hilton thought he could evade further SEC scrutiny and keep the investing public from finding the truth in his background,” said Eric I. Bustillo, Director of the SEC’s Miami Regional Office. “The SEC is committed to pursuing repeat offenders and ensuring the open and transparent sale of securities to investors.”

The SEC’s complaint charges Hilton, Pacific, Rock Castle I and Rock Castle II with violations of Sections 5(a) and (c) and 17(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5(b). The complaint also charges Hilton with violations of Securities Act Section 17(a)(1), (2), and (3) and Exchange Act Sections 15(a), 10(b) and Rule 10b-5(a), (b) and (c). Pacific and New Horizon are charged with Exchange Act Section 15(a) violations in connection with their historical U.S. Energy related conduct. The SEC is seeking disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus prejudgment interest, financial penalties, and permanent injunctions against Hilton and his entities.

Fort Lauderdale Securities Litigation and Arbitration Attorney

Contact Fort Lauderdale securities litigation and arbitration attorney Howard N. Kahn, Esq. if you or someone you know has a securities or broker dispute. He is an experienced securities litigation and arbitration attorney, and is available to assist individual investors, brokers, and brokerage firms involved in securities matters. You can reach him at 954-321-0176 or online.

Investor Fraud Summit: Miami, October 12, 2012

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A Southeastern Regional Investor Fraud Summit will be held at Miami Dade College on Friday, October 12, 2012. Recent investment fraud prosecutions, fraud trends, fraud prevention, and testimony from investment fraud victims will be featured topics.

The Miami Investor Fraud Summit, one of several scheduled across the country, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with participation by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation.

The FBI reports an unprecedented rise in investment fraud schemes, involving thousands of victims and staggering losses. Since 2011, the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and 85 U.S. Attorneys’ offices have reported that approximately 800 defendants have been charged, tried, pleaded or sentenced in approximately 500 federal prosecutions involving investor fraud. The total reported amount cheated from victims for this time period tops more than $20 billion. This staggering number includes cases where the total amount victims lost range from tens of thousands of dollars to hundreds of millions, and, in some cases, billions in hard-earned savings.

Fraud avoidance is a goal of the seminars, which are designed to protect investors from losses due to fraud. In addition to the SEC, FINRA and the Department of Justice, participating agencies include the FBI, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Bankruptcy Trustees, AARP and the Better Business Bureau.

Miami Investor Fraud Summit Time and Location

Miami Dade College
Chapman Conference Center
245 N.E. Fourth Street, Bldg. 3, Room 3210
Miami, FL 33132

9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. EDT
Friday, October 12, 2012
Admission is FREE to the Public
Register by phone at 305-416-6211

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Wifredo Ferrer will host the summit that will feature Attorney General Eric Holder. They will be joined by U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida Robert O’Neill, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida Pamela Marsh, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama Joyce Vance, Director of the SEC’s Miami Regional Office Eric Bustillo and other agency representatives.

Fort Lauderdale Securities Litigation and Arbitration Attorney

Contact Fort Lauderdale securities litigation and arbitration attorney Howard N. Kahn, Esq. if you or someone you know has a securities or broker dispute. He is an experienced securities litigation and arbitration attorney, and is available to assist individual investors, brokers, and brokerage firms involved in securities matters. You can reach him at 954-321-0176 or online.

Investor Alert on Stock Trading Halts & Suspensions

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“When Trading Stops: What You Need to Know About Halts, Suspensions and Other Interruptions” is the title of a new investor alert published by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

While trading in most stocks takes place without interruption, FINRA’s new Alert explains how, when and why interruptions in trading occur, and discusses both what brokers are required to do and what investors should do in these situations.

When a company is listed on a U.S. stock exchange, it agrees to notify the listing exchange about any corporate developments that could affect trading activity in its stock—before announcing them to the public. Stock exchanges have the authority to halt trading based on their evaluation of a given announcement. These regulatory halts tend to be relatively short and are designed to allow prompt and full dissemination of the news to the marketplace at large. While the halt is in effect, brokers are prohibited from publishing quotations or indications of interest, or trading the stock.

In contrast to trading halts, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is authorized under federal law to suspend trading in any stock for a period of up to 10 business days when it believes that the investing public may be at risk. Many factors influence the SEC’s decision, including a company’s failure to keep up the required filing of periodic reports and whether market manipulation may be taking place.

For the most part, companies subject to trading suspensions have been quoted in the over-the-counter (OTC) market. When a trading suspension ends, a broker that wants to resume quoting the stock immediately must first obtain current information about the company from a reliable source, file a form with that information and obtain approval from FINRA.

“In sharp contrast to trading halts, the trading suspensions the SEC imposes usually aim to help stop fraud. Investors should exercise real caution before purchasing a stock after a trading suspension has ended,” said Gerri Walsh, FINRA’s Vice President for Investor Education.

When Trading Stops also discusses single stock trading pauses, currently triggered when the price moves up or down by specified percentages in a rolling, five-minute period, as well as marketwide circuit breakers that may be activated by specified percentages declines in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Click on the link to read the full investor alert, “When Trading Stops: What You Need to Know About Halts, Suspensions and Other Interruptions.”

Fort Lauderdale Securities Litigation and Arbitration Attorney

Contact Fort Lauderdale securities litigation and arbitration attorney Howard N. Kahn, Esq. if you or someone you know has a securities or broker dispute. He is an experienced securities litigation and arbitration attorney, and is available to assist individual investors, brokers, and brokerage firms involved in securities matters. You can reach him at 954-321-0176 or online.

Facebook IPO Arbitration Claims Expected

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Investors who bought shares in Facebook’s IPO at or near the offering price of $38.00 are now looking at losses as the stock trades in the $20.00 range.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal titled “Facebook’s Next Fight: Suits, and More Suits,” over 50 lawsuits have been filed against Facebook by angry investors. Many more shareholders are expected to file arbitration claims against the brokers and securities firms from whom they bought the Facebook stock.

Facebook reported the following legal outlook in its 10Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2012:

“Beginning on May 22, 2012, multiple putative class actions, derivative actions, and individual actions were filed in state and federal courts in the United States and in other jurisdictions against us, our directors, and/or certain of our officers alleging violation of securities laws or breach of fiduciary duties in connection with our IPO and seeking unspecified damages. We believe these lawsuits are without merit, and we are vigorously defending these lawsuits. In addition, following our IPO, the events surrounding our IPO became the subject of government inquiries, and we have received requests for information in connection with certain of those inquiries.”

Options typically available to investors with a securities-related dispute include discussions with the brokerage firm involved, arbitration through the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), or mediation.

Fort Lauderdale Securities Litigation and Arbitration Attorney

Contact Fort Lauderdale securities litigation and arbitration attorney Howard N. Kahn, Esq. if you or someone you know has a securities or broker dispute. He is an experienced securities litigation and arbitration attorney, and is available to assist individual investors, brokers, and brokerage firms involved in securities matters. You can reach him at 954-321-0176 or online.

Former Systemax Director, Miami, Charged in Compensation Scheme

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Gilbert Fiorentino, a former director of Systemax Inc. (“Systemax”), a Port Washington, N.Y.-based consumer electronics retailer, is the subject of a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) civil action for fraud and associated proposed settlement.

The Commission’s Complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleges that Gilbert Fiorentino, who in addition to serving on the board was the former chief executive of Systemax’s Technology Products Group in Miami, obtained over $400,000 in extra compensation directly from firms that conducted business with Systemax.

Fiorentino also stole several hundred thousand dollars worth of company merchandise that was used to market Systemax’s products online and in mail order catalogs.  Because Fiorentino was one of Systemax’s highest-paid executives, the federal securities laws required the company to disclose all compensation he received each fiscal year as well as his perks and other personal benefits.  Since Fiorentino failed to disclose his extra compensation and perks to Systemax or its auditors, the amounts were not reported to shareholders correctly.

Systemax placed Fiorentino on administrative leave in April 2011.  After the SEC began investigating the conduct, Fiorentino agreed to resign from all of his positions with Systemax, surrender stock and stock options valued at approximately $9.1 million, and repay his 2010 annual bonus of $480,000.

According to the SEC’s complaint, the misconduct occurred from January 2006 to December 2010.  Systemax sells personal computers and other consumer electronics through its websites, retail stores, and direct mail catalogs.  Fiorentino arranged the extra compensation as he dealt directly with external service providers, manufacturer representatives, and other entities that conducted business with Systemax.  For example, he demanded and received $5,000 to $10,000 monthly from an entity that supplied materials to Systemax’s subsidiaries for use in retail and mail order operations.

The SEC further alleges that through his executive position at Systemax, Fiorentino had access to company merchandise used to market Systemax products in mail order catalogs and online.  Fiorentino routinely misappropriated some of this merchandise and failed to disclose it to Systemax and its auditors.

According to the SEC’s complaint, as a result of Fiorentino’s actions, the information that Systemax filed with the SEC and provided to investors materially understated his compensation and omitted his personal financial interest in certain related-party transactions.  Fiorentino reviewed and signed each Systemax Form 10-K from fiscal year 2006 to 2010 while knowing that it failed to make the required disclosures.  Fiorentino also routinely signed management representation letters to Systemax’s independent auditors stating that he did not know of any fraud or suspected fraud involving Systemax’s management.

Fiorentino has consented to the entry of an injunctive order without admitting or denying the allegations in the Commission’s complaint.

Fort Lauderdale Securities Litigation and Arbitration Attorney

Contact Fort Lauderdale securities litigation and arbitration attorney Howard N. Kahn, Esq. if you or someone you know has a securities or broker dispute. He is an experienced securities litigation and arbitration attorney, and is available to assist individual investors, brokers, and brokerage firms involved in securities matters. You can reach him at 954-321-0176 or online.

“Buckets of Money” Radio Host Misled Investors, Says SEC

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Investment adviser Ray Lucia, Sr. conducted misleading investment seminars promoting his “Buckets of Money” strategy, according to SEC charges.

Mr. Lucia claimed his wealth management strategy had been empirically “backtested” over actual bear market periods. Backtesting is the process of evaluating a strategy, theory, or model by applying it to historical data and calculating how it would have performed had it actually been used in a prior time period.

Lucia, who lives in the San Diego area, and his company formerly named Raymond J. Lucia Companies Inc. (RJL) allegedly presented a lengthy slideshow at the seminars indicating that extensive backtesting proved that the Buckets of Money strategy would provide inflation-adjusted income to retirees while protecting and even increasing their retirement savings. However despite the claims they made publicly, Lucia and RJL performed scant, if any, actual backtesting of the Buckets of Money strategy.

“Lucia and RJL left their seminar attendees with a false sense of comfort about the Buckets of Money strategy,” said Michele Wein Layne, Regional Director of the SEC’s Los Angeles Regional Office. “The so-called backtests weren’t really backtests, and the strategy wasn’t proven as they claimed.”

According to the SEC’s order instituting administrative proceedings against Lucia and RJL, they held the seminars highlighting their Buckets of Money strategy in an effort to obtain advisory clients who would be charged fees in return for their advisory services. They promoted the seminars on Lucia’s radio show and on Lucia’s personal and company websites.

A backtest must utilize actual data from the time period in order to get an accurate result, as explained in the SEC’s order. Lucia and RJL have admitted during the SEC’s investigation that the only testing they actually performed were some calculations that Lucia made in the late 1990s – copies of which no longer exist – and two two-page spreadsheets.

The two cursory spreadsheets that Lucia claims were backtests used a hypothetical 3 percent inflation rate even though this was lower than actual historical rates, according to the SEC’s order. Lucia admittedly knew that using the lower hypothetical inflation rate would make the results look more favorable for the Buckets of Money strategy. These alleged backtests also failed to account for the negative effect that the deduction of advisory fees would have had on the backtesting of their investment strategy, and their “backtesting” did not even allocate in the manner called for by Lucia’s Buckets of Money strategy. The slideshow presentation that Lucia and RJL used during the seminars failed to disclose the flaws in their alleged backtests and was materially misleading.

Lucia and RJL also failed to maintain adequate records of the backtesting as they were required to do under an SEC rule, according to the SEC’s order. The pair of two-page spreadsheets was the only documentation of their backtesting calculations, and those spreadsheets failed to duplicate their advertised investment strategy.

The SEC’s order finds that RJL violated Sections 206(1), 206(2) and 206(4) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and Rule 206(4)-1(a)(5) thereunder. The order finds that Lucia willfully aided and abetted and caused RJL’s violations of Sections 206(1), 206(2) and 206(4) of the Advisers Act and Rule 206(4)-1(a)(5) thereunder. The SEC’s Division of Enforcement is seeking financial penalties and other remedial action in the proceedings.

Fort Lauderdale Securities Litigation Attorney and FINRA Arbitrator

Contact Fort Lauderdale securities litigation attorney Howard N. Kahn, Esq. if you or someone you know has a securities or broker dispute. In addition to being an experienced securities litigation attorney, Mr. Kahn also serves as a FINRA arbitrator for individual investors, brokers, and brokerage firms. You can reach him at 954-321-0176 or online.

Commodities Online LLC, South FL Execs Charged in Fraud

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A $27.5 million investment fraud resulted in SEC charges against attorney Michael R. Casey, Commodities Online LLC founder and former president James C. Howard III, and the company’s vice president Louis N. Gallo III.

The South Florida investment scheme led investors to believe they were purchasing securities consisting of “pre-sold” commodities contracts with a pre-determined profit. However, the supposed profits actually distributed to investors were largely taken from other investors’ funds.

The SEC halted the scheme last year when it obtained an asset freeze and a court-appointed receiver over the companies involved: Commodities Online LLC and Commodities Online Management LLC. The SEC’s follow-up charges are against the founder and former president of the company, James C. Howard III, as well as the company’s vice president Louis N. Gallo III and outside counsel Michael R. Casey, who later became the president.

“This trio teamed up to employ all the hallmarks of an investment scheme,” said Eric I. Bustillo, Director of the SEC’s Miami Regional Office. “Howard met with prospective investors at a luxury hotel to emanate a false sense of wealth and security, Gallo oversaw an in-house boiler room that drummed up investor interest, and Casey was the company’s purported legal counsel who acted anything but lawyerly.”

In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida today announced criminal charges against Howard, Gallo, and Casey.

According to the SEC’s complaint filed in federal court in Miami, Commodities Online offered investors the chance to participate in its purportedly profitable brokering of physical commodities via pre-sold contracts – for example, the purchase and sale of large amounts of seafood or iron ore. Investors were sold participation units in unregistered private placement offerings, each supposedly tied to a commodities transaction in which Commodities Online had already secured a buyer and a seller of the commodity. These participation units would purportedly generate predetermined profits for investors.

The SEC alleges that in reality, Commodities Online performed only a limited percentage of the commodities transactions that were promised to investors. The majority of “profits” allocated or distributed to investors were not profits from completed commodities transactions, but instead taken from the funds of other investors.

Meanwhile, Howard and Gallo were dissipating millions of dollars in investor funds to largely sham companies. Through these companies, Howard and Gallo stole investor funds for their own use. For example, Howard met with prospective investors at a luxury hotel in Fort Lauderdale and offered Commodities Online membership interests. He told investors that the funds raised from the offering would be used for the company’s start-up costs such as salaries, marketing, and advertising.

However, within weeks of receiving $2 million in investor funds for the purchase of the membership units, Howard siphoned $1.45 million to another entity he controlled. Furthermore, Howard failed to disclose to prospective investors that he’s a convicted felon.

According to the SEC’s complaint, Howard stepped down as the company’s president in 2010 after he was arrested for an unrelated investment fraud. He was replaced by Casey, who misled investors about Howard’s continuing control over Commodities Online while also misrepresenting the profitability, structure, and existence of the purported commodities contracts to investors. Casey also failed to tell at least one investor that the funds raised from the purchase of membership interests had previously been misappropriated by Howard.

The SEC alleges that Gallo ran an in-house “boiler room” of telephone sales agents and a network of approximately 20 regional and international sales offices. He failed to disclose to investors that he previously pled guilty to federal bank fraud and other felonies and was serving a term of supervised release while employed at Commodities Online. Gallo also misled investors about Howard’s role at Commodities Online.

The SEC’s complaint charges Howard, Gallo and Casey with violations of Sections 5(a), 5(c) and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5. They’re also charged with aiding and abetting violations by Commodities Online and Commodities Online Management of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5. Howard is further charged with a violation of Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act as a control person of Commodities Online, and the complaint alleges he is therefore jointly and severally liable for Commodities Online’s violations of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rules 10b-5. The SEC is seeking disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus prejudgment interest, financial penalties, and permanent injunctions against Howard, Gallo, and Casey. The SEC’s complaint also names several relief defendants for the purposes of recovering investor money steered to those entities in the scheme: Sutton Capital LLC, J&W Trading LLC, American Financial Solutions LLC, and Minjo Corporation.

Fort Lauderdale Securities Litigation Attorney and FINRA Arbitrator

Contact Fort Lauderdale securities litigation attorney Howard N. Kahn, Esq. if you or someone you know has a securities or broker dispute. In addition to being an experienced securities litigation attorney, Mr. Kahn also serves as a FINRA arbitrator for individual investors, brokers, and brokerage firms. You can reach him at 954-321-0176 or online.

Miami Brokers Defrauded Brazilian Public Pension Funds, Says SEC

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Two former LatAm Investments brokers overcharged customers $36 million by using hidden markup fees on structured notes transactions, according to SEC fraud charges.

Fabrizio Neves allegedly conducted the scheme while working at LatAm Investments LLC, a broker-dealer that is no longer in business. He was assisted by Jose Luna, says the SEC. The pair defrauded two Brazilian public pension funds and a Colombian institutional investor that purchased from LatAm the structured notes issued by major commercial banks.

To conceal the excessive markups that Neves charged customers, Neves directed Luna to alter the banks’ structured note term sheets in half of the transactions by either whiting out or electronically cutting and pasting the markup amounts over the actual price and trade information, and then sending the forged documents to customers. Neves and Luna further concealed the egregious markups in most transactions by first purchasing the notes into accounts in the name of nominee entities they controlled in the British Virgin Islands.

“Neves lined his pockets with millions of dollars by charging customers exorbitant, fraudulent markups,” said Eric I. Bustillo, Director of the SEC’s Miami Regional Office. “Neves and Luna thought they could hide their scheme and evade regulators by using offshore nominee companies and forged documents, but they thought wrong.”

The SEC also instituted an administrative proceeding against LatAm’s former president Angelica Aguilera, who was the direct supervisor over Neves and Luna. The SEC’s Enforcement Division alleges that Aguilera failed to reasonably supervise Neves and Luna and effectively follow or implement LatAm’s supervisory policies and procedures to ensure the fairness of markups and markdowns they charged to LatAm customers. As a result, Neves and Luna were able to carry out the fraudulent markup scheme undetected.

According to the SEC’s complaint against Neves and Luna filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Neves negotiated with several U.S. and European commercial banks to structure 12 notes on his customers’ behalf from 2006 to 2009. But instead of purchasing the notes for his customers’ accounts for prices around the banks’ issuance amounts – which totaled approximately $70 million – in most transactions Neves first traded the notes with one or more accounts in the name of offshore nominee entities that he and Luna controlled. Neves then sold the notes to his customers with undisclosed markups as high as 67 percent. Neves had no reasonable basis to mark up the prices that significantly.

The SEC alleges that as a result of the markup scheme, the Brazilian funds overpaid by approximately $24 million and the Colombian institutional investor overpaid by approximately $12 million due to the undisclosed, excessive fees. Neves enjoyed a financial boon from the scheme as LatAm paid him millions of dollars in inflated sales commissions for the structured note transactions that he made at inflated prices. Luna received hundreds of thousands of dollars in inflated salary and commissions from LatAm and tens of thousands of dollars in additional compensation from a company that Neves controlled.

The SEC’s complaint seeks disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, financial penalties, and injunctive relief against Neves to enjoin him from future violations of the federal securities laws.

Luna has agreed to the entry of a judgment ordering him to pay disgorgement of $923,704.85, prejudgment interest of $241,643.51, and a penalty amount to be determined. The judgment permanently enjoins him from violations of the anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws. Luna neither admitted nor denied the allegations in the SEC’s complaint. Luna also agreed to settle a related SEC administrative proceeding by agreeing to be barred from association with any broker, dealer, investment advisor, municipal securities dealer, municipal advisor, transfer agent, or credit rating agency.

Fort Lauderdale Securities Litigation Attorney and FINRA Arbitrator

Contact Fort Lauderdale securities litigation attorney Howard N. Kahn, Esq. if you or someone you know has a securities or broker dispute. In addition to being an experienced securities litigation attorney, Mr. Kahn also serves as a FINRA arbitrator for individual investors, brokers, and brokerage firms. You can reach him at 954-321-0176 or online.

Rodman & Renshaw Fined $315,000 by FINRA

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Research analysts solicited investment banking business and attempted to arrange a payment from a public company, according to FINRA charges against Rodman & Renshaw LLC. The firm was fined for supervisory and other violations related to the interaction between the firm’s research and investment banking functions.

Rodman’s former CCO, William A. Iommi Sr., was fined $15,000, suspended from acting in a principal capacity for 90 days and must requalify as a general securities principal. FINRA found the firm’s supervisory system was deficient.

FINRA sanctioned two research analysts involved; Lewis B. Fan was fined $10,000 and suspended for 30 business days for violating NASD Rule 2711 by participating in efforts to solicit investment banking business from two public companies, and Alka Singh was fined $10,000 and suspended for six months after FINRA found that she attempted to arrange a concealed fee from a public company for which she provided research coverage.

Rodman, the New York-based broker-dealer subsidiary of Direct Markets Holdings Corp., provides investment banking services, including Private Investments in Public Entities (PIPEs) and registered direct offerings, to public and private companies. It also provides research, sales and trading services to institutional investors and therefore must have supervisory and compliance procedures to monitor potential conflicts of interest between research and investment banking, given concerns that research analysts could be pressured to tailor their coverage to the interests of a firm’s current or prospective investment banking clients.

FINRA found that from January 2008 to March 2012, Rodman failed to have an adequate supervisory system to monitor interactions between its investment banking and research functions. As a result, Rodman failed to prevent research analysts from soliciting investment banking business. In addition, the firm compensated a research analyst for his contribution to the firm’s investment banking business and failed to prevent Rodman’s CEO, a member of the firm’s Research Analyst Compensation Committee while simultaneously engaged in investment banking activities, from having influence or control over research analysts’ evaluations or compensation.

Brad Bennett, FINRA Executive Vice President and Chief of Enforcement, said, “The deficiencies in Rodman’s supervisory system created an environment in which the conflict of interest between research and investment banking was left unmanaged. FINRA will continue to ensure that firms have adequate supervisory systems tailored to the firm’s business and we will continue to sanction firms that demonstrate a weak culture of compliance and internal controls.”

In concluding this settlement, Rodman, Iommi, Fan and Singh neither admitted nor denied the charges, but consented to the entry of FINRA’s findings.

Fort Lauderdale Securities Litigation Attorney and FINRA Arbitrator

Contact Fort Lauderdale securities litigation attorney Howard N. Kahn, Esq. if you or someone you know has a securities or broker dispute. In addition to being an experienced securities litigation attorney, Mr. Kahn also serves as a FINRA arbitrator for individual investors, brokers, and brokerage firms. You can reach him at 954-321-0176 or online.

Ricardo Bonilla Rojas and Firm Shadai Yire Charged in Ponzi Scheme

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Florida and New York investors are among the 200 victims of a $7 million Ponzi scheme perpetrated by Ricardo Bonilla Rojas and his firm Shadai Yire, according to SEC allegations.

Rojas actively solicited investors through personal discussions with individuals both over the phone and in person, and he also marketed the investment opportunity in presentations to evangelical Christian groups and factory workers who were often inexperienced investors.

Rojas falsely assured investors that their principal contributions were “100% guaranteed” and promised returns up to 50 percent, telling them he’d be investing their money in commodities. But Rojas never actually invested any money in commodities and instead used new contributions to repay earlier investors in classic Ponzi scheme fashion. He stole $700,000 for himself.

In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico today announced criminal charges against Rojas.

“Rojas targeted novice investors who were often evangelical Christians, and he touted a long history of successful trading in commodities,” said Eric I. Bustillo, Director of the SEC’s Miami Regional Office. “In reality, he was fleecing the flock.”

According to the SEC’s complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, Rojas and Shadai Yire conducted the scheme from at least August 2005 to February 2009. Rojas, who resides in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, and his company Shadai Yire have never been registered with the SEC to offer securities.

The SEC alleges that Rojas hired some sales agents to help him solicit investors, and paid commissions based on a percentage of the investor funds they raised. Rojas and his sales agents pitched the investment opportunity to individuals as a risk-free way to earn high returns in a short period of time. Rojas also created phony account statements that were sent to investors to hide his misuse of investor money and lead them to believe their investments were growing.

Fort Lauderdale Securities Litigation Attorney and FINRA Arbitrator

Contact Fort Lauderdale securities litigation attorney Howard N. Kahn, Esq. if you or someone you know has a securities or broker dispute. In addition to being an experienced securities litigation attorney, Mr. Kahn also serves as a FINRA arbitrator for individual investors, brokers, and brokerage firms. You can reach him at 954-321-0176 or online.