November 28, 2011
SEC Brings Charges Against Investment Advisers For Compliance Failures
The SEC charged three investment advisers for failing to have in place compliance procedures designed to prevent securities law violations. The SEC stated that the Asset Management Unit of its Enforcement Division worked closely with examiners from OCIE, the SEC’s inspection arm, to review compliance programs at advisory firms in connection with these matters.
November 28, 2011
SEC Penalizes Investment Advisers for Compliance Failures
The SEC charged three investment advisers for failing to put in place compliance procedures designed to prevent securities law violations. The cases stem from the SEC Enforcement Division’s Asset Management Unit’s initiative to proactively prevent investor harm by working with agency examiners to ensure viable compliance programs are in place.
November 21, 2011
SEC Charges Longtime Madoff Employee With Creating Fake Trades
The SEC charged longtime Bernie Madoff employee with fraud for his role in creating fake trades to facilitate the massive Ponzi scheme.
November 18, 2011
SEC Charges Perpetrator of Washington-Area Ponzi Scheme
The SEC charged a Bethesda, Md. man and several family members and friends with conducting a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme targeting investors in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area.
November 16, 2011
SEC Charges Morgan Stanley Investment Management With Violating Securities Laws
The SEC charged Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) with violating securities laws in a fee arrangement that repeatedly charged a fund and its investors for advisory services they weren’t actually receiving from a third party.
November 11, 2011
SEC Charges San Diego-Based Investment Adviser and Its President with Fraud
The SEC issued an Order Instituting Administrative and Cease-and-Desist Proceedings alleging that Western Pacific Capital Management, LLC (Western Pacific) and Kevin James O’Rourke (O’Rourke) urged many Western Pacific clients to invest in a security without disclosing that Western Pacific would receive a 10% commission. The SEC further alleges that Western Pacific and O’Rourke failed to register as a broker, failed to provide required written disclosures to clients, improperly redeemed one hedge fund investor’s interest ahead of another’s, and made material misstatements and omissions to clients regarding the fund’s liquidity.
November 10, 2011
SEC Charges New York-Based Hedge Fund Managers With Securities Fraud
The SEC charged ThinkStrategy Capital Management, LLC (ThinkStrategy) and managing director Chetan Kapur with deceptive conduct in connection with two hedge funds that they managed and advised: ThinkStrategy Capital Fund (Capital Fund) and TS Multi-Strategy Fund (Multi-Strategy Fund).
November 9, 2011
SEC Charges Two Minnesota-Based Fund Managers With Facilitating Petters Ponzi Scheme
The SEC charged two Minnesota-based hedge fund managers and their firm with fraudulently funneling more than half a billion dollars of investor money into a Ponzi scheme operated by Minnesota businessman Thomas Petters. This is the fourth case that the Commission has brought against hedge fund managers for facilitating the Petters fraud.
November 9, 2011
SEC Enforcement Division Produces Record Results in Safeguarding Investors and Markets- Agency’s Fiscal Year Totals Show Most Enforcement Actions Filed in Single Year
The SEC announced that the agency filed a record 735 enforcement actions in the fiscal year that ended September 30. This record number includes many cases involving highly complex products, transactions, and market practices, including those related to the financial crisis as well as insider trading by market professionals.
November 9, 2011
SEC Obtains Record $92.8 Million Penalty Against Raj Rajaratnam
The SEC obtained a record financial penalty of $92.8 million against billionaire hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam for widespread insider trading, the largest penalty ever assessed against an individual in an SEC insider trading case.