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Former Broker, Robert K. Smith, Under Investigation

Robert Keith Smith, formerly a broker with Berthel Fisher, has been accused by more than ten of his clients throughout his career of overconcentrating their accounts in private placement securities, including equipment leasing programs, oil and gas investments, and non-traded real estate investment trusts. Smith started his career in 2000 with American General Securities and was registered with the firm until May 2006. Subsequently, he was associated with ProEquities until June 2010 and with Berthel, Fisher & Company Financial Services until June 2014. Numerous complaints against the same broker regarding the same or similar charges of misconduct is unusual in the brokerage industry. The majority of brokers go their whole careers without having a complaint against them. The number of brokers who have more than two customer complaints against them is remarkably low. Accordingly, having over ten customer complaints against Smith, all of which regard private placement securities, is highly irregular. The kinds of products Smith sold to investors on [...]

By |August 4th, 2015|Broker Check, FINRA, Press Releases & News|
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SEC Gives Award To Whistleblower

Whistleblower Gets Award In the SEC’s first retaliation case, a whistleblower will be awarded 30 percent of the amount collected by the SEC during the charge. The SEC recently established a whistleblower program that encourages whistleblowers to report key information to help the SEC enforce actions.  Through the whistleblower program, the SEC awards whistleblowers between 10 percent and 30 percent of amounts collected in a successful case. Due to the efforts of a whistleblower, the SEC was able to successfully enforce actions with sanctions in In the Matter of Paradigm Capital Management, Inc. and Candace King Weir, File No. 3-15930 (June 16, 2014). However, the whistleblower in Paradigm suffered retaliation and other hardships as a result of reporting high-quality, original information to the SEC.  Other hardships included a demotion to a position that included investigating the very conduct the whistleblower reported.  Paradigm also changed the whistleblower’s job functions, specifically by removing supervisory responsibilities.  The SEC awarded the whistleblower the maximum [...]

By |July 20th, 2015|Press Releases & News, SEC|
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SEC Warns Investors About False Broker Claims

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy cautions investors to research the credentials of financial professionals before trusting that person with investment money.  This precautionary investigation will serve as a safeguard against people who may lie about their backgrounds in an effort to gain more professional trust from investors with their finances. This public warning reads, “Do not trust someone with your investment money just because he or she claim to have impressive credentials or experience, or manages to create a ‘buzz of success.’”  It was issued after the SEC brought several recent cases involving people falsifying their backgrounds to be viewed as more credible. Julie Riewe, Co-Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Asset Management Unit, stated, “Advisers looking to raise funds cannot lie about their backgrounds to lull investors into a false sense of security about their purported expertise or the profitability of a potential investment.” Financial professional Michael G. Thomas of Pennsylvania advertised that he was named [...]

By |July 17th, 2015|Fraud, Legal Matters, Press Releases & News, SEC|
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Canadian Trader Charged for Short Selling U.S. Stocks

The SEC filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco alleging that Andrew Evans, a Canadian trader at his firm, Maritime Asset Management, illegally shorted U.S. stocks from December 2010 until May 2012.  Evans will pay more than $1 million in settlement charges. Evans allegedly sold a U.S. company's stocks at a high market price with the knowledge that the company was planning a follow-on offering at a lower cost in the near future.  Evans then purchased stocks at the lower price to cover his short sales.  He made an illegal profit of $582,175 with no market risk that is typically involved in legal sales. The complaint claims that Evans violated an anti-manipulation provision, Rule 105, of the federal securities laws.  This provision forbids short selling an equity security during a restricted period for the purpose of buying the same security through the follow-on offering for a profit. Jina Choi, Regional Director of the SEC, stated, “Rule 105 [...]

By |July 17th, 2015|Fraud, Press Releases & News, SEC|
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