Andrew Caspersen Pleads Guilty To $40M Fraud

Andrew Caspersen, an ex-Wall Street executive and descendant of a wealthy family, pleaded guilty this week to federal charges that he defrauded friends, family, and a hedge fund billionaire's foundation out of almost $40 million. He pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud, each of which carries a maximum penalty of twenty years imprisonment. Caspersen's decline is nearly unfathomable. He is an Ivy-League educated financier whose attorney claimed that a "compulsive gambling addiction and mental illness" forced him to orchestrate and run a Ponzi-like scheme. “The people I harmed were people I cared for the most,” Caspersen said, reading from a statement. His voice wavered as he stumbled over the last words, “I could not be more sorry or ashamed for my crimes.” The plea was expected. His attorney stated that Caspersen would not fight the charges. It is yet to be seen whether Federal Judge Jed S. Rakoff will [...]

Adviser To Plead Guilty To $21M Ponzi Scheme

Patrick E. Churchville, an investment adviser from Rhode Island, is expected to plead guilty to criminal charges for running a $21 million Ponzi scheme, according to a statement made by the U.S. Attorney's Office. In addition, Churchville used $2.5 million of his clients' cash to buy a house, and he failed to pay over $820,000 in personal federal income taxes,  the statement alleges. Churchville is the owner and president of ClearPath Wealth Management. According to the statement, he will plead guilty to five counts of wire fraud and one count of tax fraud. Churchville is also the subject of a civil lawsuit brought by the SEC in May 2015. The U.S. Attorney's Office alleges that from 2008 to 2011, Churchville invested about $18 million of client funds in JER Receivables, despite the fact that he learned in June 2010 that ClearPath had been defrauded by the company. Rather than alerting his clientele of the situation, he paid [...]

FDA Official And Hedge Fund Managers Charged In Securities Scheme

According to federal prosecutors, two hedge fund managers--Sanjay Valvani and Christopher Plaford-- conspired with a former U.S. Food and Drug Administration official--George Johnston, who had access to insider information on the fate of generic drug candidates--to profit by committing securities fraud. While employed as Visium Asset Management hedge fund managers, Valvani and Plaford executed stock trades based on insider information from Johnston about generic drug applications, said the prosecution. Prosecutors also allege Plaford and Stefan Lumiere conspired to inflate the value of a fixed-income fund they were managing for Visium. “As alleged, Valvani, Johnston, and Plaford conspired to extract highly confidential and tightly guarded information about pending applications for general drug approvals from the FDA, and traded on such information, reaping millions of dollars in illegal profits," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. "Lumiere and Plaford also allegedly conspired to mismark securities held by their fund, lying to their investors and unjustly enriching themselves in the process.” Valvani [...]

FL Broker Charged With $131M Scam

Pranav Patel, a stockbroker from Tamarac, Florida, has been charged in an alleged $131 million stock manipulation scam after investigations by a task force set up for President Barack Obama’s war on financial crimes, according to federal officials. Patel and eight others engaged in the multi-state scam “through a dizzying round of unauthorized trades” to pump up the share price of a company with no business operations, federal prosecutor Robert L. Capers said. The case involves the NASDAQ-traded stocks of ForceField Energy Inc., which claimed to be a world-wide distributor LED lighting products. The nine co-conspirators were from four states across the US and were charged with securities fraud, conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and making a false statement to law enforcement officials. The charges followed actions by the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force that “was established to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes,” Capers’ office said. The nine, who included Naveed [...]