The Securities and Exchange Commission has voted to approve a national market system (NMS) plan to create a single, comprehensive database known as the consolidated audit trail (CAT) that will enable regulators to more efficiently and thoroughly track all trading activity in the U.S. equity and options markets. With the approval and ultimate implementation of…
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SEC Chair Mary Jo White, after nearly four years as the agency’s head, has announced that she intends to leave at the end of the Obama Administration. Under Chair White’s leadership, the Commission strengthened protections for investors and the markets through transformative rulemakings that addressed major issues highlighted by the financial crisis. The Commission also…
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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has announced an award of more than $20 million to a whistleblower who promptly came forward with valuable information that enabled the SEC to move quickly and initiate an enforcement action against wrongdoers before they could squander the money. The $20 million award is the third-highest since the SEC’s whistleblower…
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The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that an Israeli-based firm EZTD Inc. parent company of CySEC regulated WGM Services Ltd doing business as EZTrader must pay more than $1.7 million for misleading investors into trading binary options over the internet, and the agency warned that other firms may be out there actively trying to…
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged a former movie producer and self-proclaimed private equity executive with defrauding investors in hedge funds and using the money he stole to support his extravagant lifestyle. According to the SEC’s complaint, David R. Bergstein of Hidden Hills, California, stole millions from investors in 2011 and 2012 and…
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged the co-founder of a Minnesota-based energy company with manipulating its stock price and concealing his control of the company to attain lucrative financial payouts. The company’s other co-founder agreed to pay nearly $8 million to settle separate charges against him. Three others also are charged in the case.…
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged a Los-Angeles based investment advisory firm and its owner with fraudulently overbilling clients and stealing assets from their trusts to pay such personal expenses as his home mortgage, overseas trips, and leases on two Mercedes-Benz vehicles. The SEC’s complaint alleges that Marc D. Broidy and his firm Broidy…
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged a Tennessee-based lawyer who served on the executive committee of the board of directors at Nashville-based Pinnacle Financial Partners with insider trading based on nonpublic information he learned about an impending merger. The SEC alleges that James C. Cope obtained more than $56,000 in ill-gotten gains by purchasing…
Read moreThe Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that Melissa Hodgman has been named Associate Director in the SEC’s Enforcement Division. Ms. Hodgman succeeds Stephen L. Cohen, who left the SEC in June. Ms. Hodgman began working in the Enforcement Division in 2008 as a staff attorney. She joined the Market Abuse Unit in 2010…
Read moreThe Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that a hedge fund advisory firm and a senior research analyst have agreed to settle charges related to their failures to detect insider trading by one of their employees. The SEC’s order finds that San Francisco-based Artis Capital Management failed to maintain adequate policies and procedures to prevent…
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