FGC BOLSA - FGC FINANCIAL MARKETS INFO

    sec.gov Brent Borland, et al. (Release No. LR-24147; May 18, 2018) Litigation Release No. 24147 / May 18, 2018 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Brent Borland, et al., Civil Action No. 18-cv-4352 (S.D.N.Y., filed May 16, 2018) On May 16, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Brent Borland and two of his companies with misappropriating close to $6 million in investor funds intended to finance an international airport in Belize. The SEC's complaint alleges that between 2014 and 2017, Brent Borland sold more than $21 million of promissory notes to dozens of investors, promising that the funds would be used as bridge financing for development of an international airport in Placencia, Belize and that the investments would be protected by pledges of real estate as collateral. Borland marketed and sold the notes through two companies, Borlan

SEC Files Charges in International Manipulation Scheme Litigation Release No. 24141 / May 15, 2018 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Francisco Abellan Villena, Guillermo Ciupiak, James B. Panther, Jr., and Faiyaz Dean , No. 18-civ-04309 (SDNY filed May 15, 2018)   SEC Files Charges in International Manipulation Scheme The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged four individuals for their roles in a fraudulent scheme that generated nearly $34 million from unlawful stock sales and caused significant harm to retail investors. According to the SEC's complaint, the defendants manipulated the market for and illegally sold the stock of microcap issuer Biozoom Inc.  As part of the alleged scheme, the defendants hid their ownership and sales of Biozoom shares by using offshore bank accounts, sham legal documents, a network of nominees, anonymizing techniques, and other deceptive practices.  The defendants also all

    sec.gov Keith Houlihan (Release No. LR-24137; May 9, 2018) Litigation Release No. 24137 / May 9, 2018 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Keith Houlihan, No. 9:18-cv-80585 (S.D. Fla. filed May 4, 2018) A former microcap company president charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with defrauding over 700 investors nationwide who were pressured to invest has agreed to lifetime officer-and-director and penny stock bars. The SEC's complaint alleges that from 2009 until 2015, Keith Houlihan of Boca Raton, Florida, while president of publicly-traded Sanomedics, Inc., hired and worked with an unregistered broker and his boiler room operation to illegally sell shares of Sanomedics by cold-calling the investing public using high-pressure sales tactics. In 2009 and 2010, Houlihan falsely told investors that for a limited time he was able to offer them

  sec.gov Paul W. Smith (Release No. LR-24133; May 4, 2018) Litigation Release No. 24133 / May 4, 2018 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Paul W. Smith, No. 17-CV-5480 (E.D. Pa. filed Dec. 7, 2017) United States v. Paul W. Smith, No. 17-CR-626 (E.D. Pa. filed Dec. 7, 2017) A registered representative in Pennsylvania whom the Securities and Exchange Commission charged with operating a long-running offering and investment advisory fraud has been sentenced in a parallel criminal case to 63 months imprisonment, followed by one year of supervised release, and ordered to pay $886,214.37 in restitution. According to the SEC's complaint, filed in December 2017, Paul W. Smith raised approximately $2.35 million from approximately 30 investors by representing that he would invest their money in publicly traded securities through The Haverford Group. However, Smith made very few securities investments and instead largely used in

  U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 23643 / September 12, 2016 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Tycoon Energy, Inc., et al., No. 4:16-cv-00693 (E.D. Tex. filed September 9, 2016) SEC Charges Texas Companies with Running a $5.6 Million Oil and Gas Scheme

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

  U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 23448 / January 20, 2016 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Nicholas Toms , Civil Action No. 8:16-cv-80096 Lit. Release No. 23448 / January 20, 2016

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 23229 / April 6, 2015 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Gary J. Burtka , Civil Action No. Civil Action No. 14-cv-14278 (Cohn) (E.D. MI) Securities and Exchange Commission v. Eric C. Waidelich , Civil Action No. Civil Action No. 14-cv-14279 (Cohn) (E.D. MI) SEC Obtains Final Judgments Against Gary Burtka and Eric Waidelich The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that on January 28, 2015, the Honorable Avern Cohn of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan entered final judgments settling fraud charges brought by the Commission in related suits against defendants Gary J. Burtka and Eric C. Waidelich, the mayor and city administrator of Allen Park, Michigan.  Both judgments bar the defendants from participating in any municipal bond offerings and enjoin them from future violations of certain antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws.  The judgment against Burtka

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 23197 / February 13, 2015 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Mozzam "Mark" Malik and American Bridge Investment Group, LLC, d/b/a Wolf Hedge LLC , Civil Action No. 15-1025 (RJS) SEC Charges Hedge Fund Manager Mark Malik With Stealing Investor Funds The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed an emergency enforcement action to halt an ongoing fraud by Moazzam "Mark" Malik, a Pakistani citizen and New York City resident. The SEC charged Malik and his hedge fund with stealing money from his investors. The SEC alleges that Moazzam "Mark" Malik falsely claimed to be operating a hedge fund with approximately $100 million in assets under management, and he solicited investors with promises of consistently high returns. Although he raised $840,774 from investors, his fund never made real investments and never held more than $90,177 in assets as Malik continually withdrew the cash

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 23081 / September 10, 2014 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Heart Tronics, Inc., et al. , Civil Action No. SACV11-1962-JVS (C.D. Cal. filed Dec. 15, 2011) SEC Settles Fraud Charges Against Former Heart Tronics CEO and Former Registered Representative. The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that J. Rowland Perkins, II and Mark C. Nevdahl have settled charges arising out of their involvement with Heart Tronics, Inc., a microcap company formerly known as Signalife, Inc. that the SEC has alleged engaged in a series of frauds between 2006 and 2009.  As part of the settlement, Perkins will pay a penalty of $42,500 and is now barred for three years from serving as an officer or director of a public company or engaging in an offering of penny stock.   He also consented to the full injunctive relief sought by the SEC.  Nevdahl, in his settlement, will pay a civil penalty of $13,000 and was ordered t

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 23073 / August 26, 2014 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Oscar F. Villarreal , Civil Action No. 14-cv-01891 (N.D. Ohio) SEC Charges Former Cleveland-Area Investment Promoter with $18 Million Scheme The Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission") filed a civil injunctive action on August 26, 2014 against Oscar F. Villarreal, formerly of Gates Mills, Ohio. The Commission's complaint alleges that Villarreal defrauded 51 investors out of more than $18 million in three securities offerings since 2009. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, alleges that from March 2009 through December 2010, Villarreal conducted a fraudulent offering, known as Fund III, which raised $9.2 million from 46 investors. According to the complaint, Villarreal told investors that their money was to be used to make private equity investments in companies in the petroleum, st

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 23066 / August 13, 2014 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Sage Advisory Group, LLC and Benjamin Lee Grant , Civil Action No. 1: 10-cv-11665 (D. Mass. September 29, 2010) Jury Returns Verdict Against Massachusetts Investment Adviser in SEC Fraud Case The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that, on August 13, 2014, a federal court jury in Boston, Massachusetts, returned a verdict against registered investment adviser Sage Advisory Group, LLC, and its principal, Benjamin Lee Grant, both of Boston, MA, in a fraud case filed by the SEC. In its complaint, filed on September 29, 2010, the Commission alleged that starting on or about October 4, 2005, Grant engaged in a scheme to induce his former brokerage customers to transfer their assets to Sage, his new advisory firm. The Commission's complaint further alleged that prior to October 2005, Grant was a registered representative of broker-dealer

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 23064 / August 11, 2014 Securities and Exchange Commission v. BIH Corporation, et al. , Civil Action No. 2:10-CV-577-FTM-29DNF (M.D. FL) Jury Finds Orchestrator of Microcap Stock Pump-And-Dump Scheme Liable in SEC Enforcement Case A federal court jury in Fort Myers, Fla., returned a unanimous verdict on August 8 finding Edward W. Hayter of Brooklyn, N.Y., liable for five counts of violating the federal securities laws in connection with a scheme to pump up the stock of a microcap corporation purportedly headquartered in Fort Myers in which Hayter profited by approximately $500,000. Hayter was the lone remaining defendant in the SEC's enforcement case filed in 2010. Evidence at the trial showed that among other things, press releases that Hayter and BIH issued in 2008 and 2009 falsely claimed BIH was purchasing a restaurant services corporation that purportedly had contracts with such major corporations as C

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 23060 / August 7, 2014 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Rudolf D. Pameijer, et al. , Civil Action No. 1:12-CV-01364 (S.D. Ind.) Indiana Forex Trader Settles SEC Fraud Charges The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced today that on August 6, 2014, the Honorable Tanya Walton Pratt of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, entered final judgments against Ryan W. Koester and his company Rykoworks Capital Group, LLC (Rykoworks), in a fraudulent investment scheme case the SEC filed against Koester, Rykoworks, and others on September 24, 2012. The SEC's complaint alleged that Koester held himself out as an expert foreign currency trader, and falsely represented to investors that his unique trading strategy offered investors a principal guaranteed investment opportunity. As alleged in the complaint, Koester and Rudolf D. Pamejier, a career insurance salesman, agre

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 23046 / July 17, 2014 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Abraxas J. Discala, Marc E. Wexler, Matthew A. Bell, Craig L. Josephberg, and Ira Shapiro , Civil Action No. 14-cv-4346 (E.D.N.Y.) The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged individuals who pocketed millions of dollars running an elaborate pump-and-dump scheme involving shares of a medical education company in Pennsylvania and two other microcap stocks.  The SEC alleges that the stock market manipulation ring included two self-described bankers, a pair of dishonest brokers, and a corrupt company executive who issued misleading press releases.  The SEC today suspended trading in one of the microcap companies before they could illegally profit further. According to the SEC’s complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the CEO and president of a purported merchant banking firm – Abraxas “A.J.” Discala and Marc

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 23039 / July 8, 2014 Securities and Exchange Commission v. John Babikian , Civil Action No. 14-CV-1740 (S.D.N.Y.) Court Enters Final Judgment Against Promoter in Settlement of Microcap Stock Scalping Case and Orders $3.73 Million in Sanctions The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that the Honorable Paul A. Crotty of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a final judgment on July 8, 2014, against defendant John Babikian in the Commission action styled, SEC v. John Babikian, Civil Action No. 14-CV-1740 (S.D.N.Y.). The Court entered the final judgment, to which Babikian consented without admitting or denying the allegations in the Commission's Complaint. The final judgment orders Babikian to pay a total of $3,730,000, comprised of $1,915,670 in disgorgement, together with prejudgment interest in the amount of $128,073, and a civil penalty in the amount of $

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 22995 / May 16, 2014 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Douglas E. Cowgill and Professional Investment Management, Inc. , Civil Action No. 2:14 CV 396 (S.D. Ohio) Court Enters Preliminary Injunction Against Ohio-Based Investment Adviser and Its President and Appoints Receiver The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that, on May 15, 2014, the Honorable Algenon L. Marbley, United States District Court Judge for the Southern District of Ohio, entered an order of preliminary injunction and other relief, by consent, against Professional Investment Management, Inc. (PIM), a Columbus, Ohio-based investment adviser, and its president, Douglas E. Cowgill. The Court also entered an order, by consent, appointing a receiver for the estate of PIM. The Court appointed Michael P. O'Grady as the receiver. The SEC filed a complaint against PIM and Cowgill under seal on April 29, 2014, which alleges a shortfall i