SEC: Meyers Associates, L.P. Ignored Pump-And-Dump Scheme

The SEC announced administrative proceedings against John D. Telfer, who worked for Meyers Associates, L.P. as the firm's former anti-money laundering officer. The commission alleges that the firm failed to file Suspicious Activity Reports for $24.8 million worth of suspect transactions, which includes transactions in accounts controlled by Raymond H. Barton and William G. Goode who the SEC charged individually with operating a pump-and-dump scheme. In pump-and-dump schemes, people holdings stock try to inflate the price of that stock, many times via false or misleading statements or other announcements. After investors hurry to purchase the stock because on this misinformation, the operators of the scheme dump the stock. This causes the stock’s price to drop, and investors who bought the stock during the rush end up losing money. The SEC claims that Telfer and his firm should have been aware of the suspect circumstances underlying a number of transactions within client accounts. The commission further claims clients, such as Barton and Goode, [...]

FINRA January 2017 Disciplinary Actions

FINRA takes disciplinary actions against firms and individuals for violations of FINRA rules; federal securities laws, rules, and regulations; and the rules of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. Below are a number of penalties announced by the regulator in January 2017. If you have been a victim of any of the below behavior, you may have legal recourse. Please contact attorney Richard Frankowski today at 888-741-7503 for a free consultation. FINRA censured and fined VFG Securities, Inc. of Culver City, California $50,000, $10,000 of which is joint and several with Jason Bryce Vanclef. According to FINRA, the firm and Vanclef distributed and listed for sale online Vanclef's self-published book, which contained, false, exaggerated, unwarranted, or misleading statements, and omitted material facts or qualifications where the omissions caused the communication to be misleading. The findings also state they provided customers with misleading personalized recommendation spreadsheets. Advisors Clearing Network, Inc. of Pasadena, California was also censured and fined $50,000. FINRA found that it [...]

Promoter Pleads Guilty To Pump-And-Dump Scheme

Greg Mulholland, a penny-stock promoter, pleaded guilty to conspiring to manipulate stocks and laundering over $250 million in profits. Prosecutors are calling it one of the biggest pump-and-dump schemes of all time. A pump-and-dump scheme is the fraudulent practice of encouraging investors to buy shares in a company in order to inflate the price artificially and subsequently selling one's own shares while the price is high. Gregg R. Mulholland pleaded guilty in Brooklyn federal court to manipulating over 40 publicly traded companies, including Cynk Technology Corp., whose stock’s climb and subsequent collapse in 2014 briefly gave the social-network operator a $4 billion valuation even though it reported no assets, no revenue and just one employee. Mulholland faces up to 20 years in prison for the pump-and-dump scheme, according to the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's office. Prosecutors alleged Mulholland ran a broker-dealer called the Mulholland Group, which used shell companies in Belize and Nevis to conceal ownership in the stock of U.S. [...]

Broker Accused Of Pump-And-Dump Scheme

Guy Gentile of Putnam Valley, New York allegedly ran a $17 million pump-and-dump stock scheme. Gentile faces federal counts of securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud. He was indicted late last month, according to U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman. The SEC filed a civil suit against Gentile late last month, as well. Gentile's alleged scam actually involved two different schemes from April 2007 to June 2008, according to the SEC. Gentile is no longer a registered representative but was most recently registered with Stock USA Execution Services, Inc. in Carmel, New York. According to the U.S. Attorney's office, Gentile and two Canadian stock promoters, Itamar Cohen and Michael Taxon, artificially inflated the stock price of two publicly traded companies, Raven Gold Corporation and Kentucky USA Energy Inc. Gentile, Cohen, and Taxon, gained control over a large portion of Raven Gold's and Kentucky USA Energy's free trading shares, according to the SEC. The three allegedly then used manipulative trading [...]