Fraud

Washington, D.C., March 12, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based software manufacturer Quest Software, Inc. and three current or former officers for stock option backdating.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., March 11, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Northern California residents Anthony Vassallo and Kenneth Kenitzer for orchestrating a multi-million dollar investment fraud. Vassallo agreed to a court order freezing his assets. The SEC is seeking an emergency court order to also freeze the assets of Vassallo's company, Equity Investment Management and Trading, Inc. (EIMT).    » read more »

March 11, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – A securities attorney pleaded guilty today to defrauding investors in stock manipulation schemes involving 19 different publicly traded companies, Acting Assistant Attorney General Rita M. Glavin of the Criminal Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente for the Eastern District of Virginia announced today.

David B. Stocker, 49, of Phoenix pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., for his participation in a stock manipulation conspiracy known as a "pump-and-dump" scheme. Stocker is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 6, 2009, by U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady. The maximum penalties for the conspiracy charge are five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., March 9, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a money manager with offices in New York and Rhode Island for falsely creating a billion-dollar client in order to gain credibility and attract legitimate investors.

In its complaint, the SEC charged Leila Jenkins and her firm, Locke Capital Management Inc., with making up the supposedly massive client and then repeatedly lying about its existence to land real clients. The SEC alleges that Jenkins lied to the SEC staff about the existence of the invented client and furnished the SEC staff with bogus documents in 2008, including fake account statements that she created.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., March 5, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Los Angeles resident Bruce Friedman and two of his companies with securities fraud, and obtained an emergency court order to freeze their assets and halt an alleged ongoing investment scheme involving purported real estate and mortgage lending ventures.    » read more »

March 5, 2009 -- The FBI continues to receive reports of individuals victimized while attempting to purchase vehicles via the Internet. Victims find attractively priced vehicles advertised at different Internet classified ad sites. Most of the scams include some type of third-party vehicle protection program to ensure a safe transaction. After receiving convincing e-mails from the phony vehicle protection program, the victims are directed to send either the full payment, or a percentage of the payment, to the third-party agent via a wire payment service. No vehicles are delivered to the victims.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., March 4, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today brought enforcement actions against 14 specialist firms for unlawful proprietary trading on several regional and options exchanges. The firms agreed to settle the SEC's charges by collectively paying nearly $70 million in disgorgement and penalties.

The SEC charged the specialist firms for violating their fundamental obligation to serve public customer orders over their own proprietary interests by "trading ahead" of customer orders, or "interpositioning" the firms' proprietary accounts between customer orders.    » read more »

March 4, 2009 -- WASHINGTON — A Middlesex, N.J., industrial pipes, valves and fittings supply company and its co-owner pleaded guilty today to participating in a fraud conspiracy at two U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-designated Superfund sites in New Jersey, the Department of Justice announced today. The sites are Federal Creosote, located in Manville, N.J., and Diamond Alkali, located in Newark, N.J.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., March 2, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Oregon-based Sunwest Management Inc. with securities fraud and is seeking an emergency court order freezing its assets. The SEC alleges that Sunwest, which operates hundreds of retirement homes across the United States, lied to investors about its operations and concealed the risks of the investments, exposing investors to massive losses when the economic downturn triggered Sunwest's collapse.

According to the SEC's complaint, Sunwest raised at least $300 million from more than 1,300 investors nationwide by promising a steady income stream and touting its success in running the properties.    » read more »

Feb. 25, 2009 -- NEW YORK - Lev L. Dassin, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Joseph M. Demarest, Jr., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the FBI’s New York Field Division, announced today that Paul Greenwood, 61, of North Salem, N.Y., and Stephen Walsh, 64, of Sands Point, N.Y., were arrested this morning on conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud charges.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., Feb. 25, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Mark Bloom and his firm North Hills Management LLC with securities fraud, and obtained an emergency court order to freeze their assets and halt an alleged investment scheme involving the marketing of a "fund of funds" investment vehicle.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., Feb. 25, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today took emergency action and obtained an asset freeze against two New York residents and their three affiliated entities, who orchestrated a brazen investment fraud involving the misappropriation of as much as $554 million in investor assets.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., Feb. 25, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a Pearl River, N.Y., investment management firm and its principal for operating a large-scale scheme that defrauded hundreds of investors of millions of dollars by providing them with misleading marketing materials that significantly overstated investment returns and by misrepresenting the value of the assets under management.    » read more »

Washington, D.C., Feb. 17, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Robert Allen Stanford and three of his companies for orchestrating a fraudulent, multi-billion dollar investment scheme centering on an $8 billion CD program.

Stanford's companies include Antiguan-based Stanford International Bank (SIB), Houston-based broker-dealer and investment adviser Stanford Group Company (SGC), and investment adviser Stanford Capital Management. The SEC also charged SIB chief financial officer James Davis as well as Laura Pendergest-Holt, chief investment officer of Stanford Financial Group (SFG), in the enforcement action.    » read more »

February 10, 2009 -- WASHINGTON - A 24-count indictment charging five individuals with various crimes arising from an alleged scheme to defraud investors through the manipulation of the publicly traded stocks of three companies was unsealed today in Tulsa, Okla., announced Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Rita M. Glavin and U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma David E. O’Meilia.

The indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in Tulsa on Jan. 15, 2009, alleges the scheme reaped the defendants in excess of $41 million.    » read more »