SEC Stops Fraudulent Hedge Fund Offering By Florida Investment Advisor
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently charged Kinetic Investment Group LLC and its managing member, Michael Scott Williams, in connection with an alleged fraudulent, unregistered securities offering. According to the SEC, the fraudulent offering raised approximately $39 million from at least 30 investors located mostly in Florida and Puerto Rico.
If you’ve been the victim of a fraudulent or unregist...
Recovery of Investment Losses in UBS’s Yield Enhancement Strategy
The securities attorneys at Morgan & Morgan’s Business Trial Group are investigating investment losses in UBS Wealth Management’s Yield Enhancement Strategy (YES).
The financial firm marketed YES as a conservative, market-neutral strategy and bond-portfolio enhancer. This strategy, according to UBS, would generate consistent income while limiting risks to the premiums paid, even if markets turned bearish. UBS represented to investors that YES would limit exposure to substantial...
Investigations into Investment Losses at WestPark Capital Continue
Morgan & Morgan’s securities attorneys are investigating investment losses in pre-IPO shares and products sold by WestPark Capital, Inc. These pre-IPO products include the Horizon Select Technology Fund LLC and Horizon Select Technology Fund II LLC (collectively, “Horizon Funds”). Pre-IPO shares include Uber, Lyft, Palantir Technologies, Spotify, Pinterest, Dropbox, SpaceX, MagicLeap, Cloudera, AliphCom (d/b/a Jawbone), and Air...
SEC Charges Wells Fargo In Connection With Investment Recommendation Practices
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently settled charges against Wells Fargo Clearing Services and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network for failing to adequately supervise advisers and registered representatives who recommended single-inverse ETF investments to retail investors. According to the SEC, Wells Fargo also lacked proper compliance policies and procedures for ensuring the suitability of these recommendations. The recommendations occurred from April 2012 through September...
Recovery of Investment Losses in Exchange Traded Products
The securities attorneys at Morgan & Morgan’s Business Trial Group are investigating investment losses in Exchange Traded Products (ETP) that recently closed after suffering massive losses this year.
Amid the markets’ extreme volatility in 2020, an unusually high number of Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) and Exchange Traded Notes (ETN) have closed. Many of the ETFs and ETNs that have closed were leveraged or inverse products.
Leveraged and inverse ETPs are extremely high-ri...
Recovery of Investor Losses in Oil & Energy Funds
Morgan & Morgan’s securities attorneys within our Business Trial Group are investigating losses in oil and energy investments, including losses in the United States Oil Fund LP.
Oil prices have crashed to multi-decade lows amidst drastically reduced demand during the COVID-19 pandemic. The most heavily traded crude contracts recently fell to their lowest level in over 20 years. And one contract for U.S crude oil fell into negative territory for the first time ever – meaning tha...
Investigation on Investment Losses at WestPark Capital Continues
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently settled charges against Wells Fargo Clearing Services and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network for failing to adequately supervise advisers and registered representatives who recommended single-inverse ETF investments to retail investors. According to the SEC, Wells Fargo also lacked proper compliance policies and procedures for ensuring the suitability of these recommendations. The reco...
Investigation on Investment Losses at WestPark Capital Continues
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently settled charges against Wells Fargo Clearing Services and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network for failing to adequately supervise advisers and registered representatives who recommended single-inverse ETF investments to retail investors. According to the SEC, Wells Fargo also lacked proper compliance policies and procedures for ensuring the suitability of these recommendations. The reco...
Recovery of Leveraged ETF Losses During 2020 Market Crash
The securities attorneys at Morgan & Morgan’s Business Trial Group are investigating losses that leveraged investment products have experienced recently during the 2020 market crash.
Leveraged products – more specifically leveraged exchange-traded funds or exchange-traded notes – allow investors to gain greater exposure to the market without increasing their capital investment. By doing so, these products amplify the potential p...
How to Recover High-Yield Bond ETF Losses
By Attorney Jared Levy
During this most recent period of market volatility and decline, it’s become difficult to trade certain options. That has been the case recently with options on iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond Exchange-Traded Fund, a high-yield bond ETF whose price has declined drastically.
If you have suffered large or disproportionate losses in this ETF, ...
CFPB, South Carolina, and Arkansas File Suit Against Brokers of High-Interest Credit Offers to Veterans
By Emily Zulz
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — along with the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs and Arkansas Attorney General — recently filed a lawsuit against a South Carolina law firm that worked with several companies that brokered contracts offering high-interest credit to consumers, primarily disabled vete...
Beware Coronavirus Investment Scams
By Emily Zulz
The Securities and Exchange Commission is warning investors about potential coronavirus investment scams. The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued an Investor Alert that warns investors about fraudulent claims that a company’s products or services will be used to help stop the coronavirus outbreak.
“We have become aware of a number of Internet promotions, incl...
SEC Charges Florida-based Real Estate Company With Defrauding Retail Investors
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced an emergency enforcement action to stop an alleged fraud by EquiAlt LLC, a Florida real estate firm .
The SEC alleges that EquiAlt, its CEO, and its managing director, orchestrated a Ponzi scheme involving $170 million in investor funds raised through fraudulent unregistered securities offerings. Many of the investors were elderl...
Blockchain Startup Agrees to Return Funds and Register Tokens As Securities
By Emily Zulz
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently settled charges against a blockchain technology startup for conducting an unregistered initial coin offering (ICO).
Enigma MPC, a blockchain technology startup, has agreed to return funds to harmed investors. It also has agreed to register its tokens as securities, file periodic reports with the SEC, and pay a $500,000...
SEC Charges Businessman Who Orchestrated $33M Digital Asset Scheme
By Attorney Jared Levy
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently filed charges against Michael Ackerman, alleging that the Ohio businessman defrauded about 150 investors (including many physicians) in a $33 million digital asset scheme.
The SEC claims that Ackerman told investors that he had created an algorithm that enabled extraordinary profits from cryptocurr...
SeaWorld Settles Securities Class Action for $65M
By Attorney Jared Levy
SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. recently settled a securities class action for $65 million, where investors alleged SeaWorld misled them about park attendance declines following the release of the 2013 documentary ,“Blackfish.” The documentary depicted the brutality involved in capturing killer whales and the hazards that SeaWorld’s trainers faced.
The securities class action – filed in 2014 – alleged that SeaWorld blamed poor attendance on factors other ...
Be Cautious If Considering an IEO or ICO Investment
By Emily Zulz
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently issued an investor alert urging caution when considering investments in initial exchange offerings (IEOs) and initial coin offerings (ICOs).
“The past few years have seen opportunistic fraudsters take advantage of the quickly evolving investment space around digital assets, crypto...
SEC Charges Firm and Portfolio Manager for Misrepresenting Risk
By Attorney Jared Levy
We are currently investigating claims against Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC for alleged misrepresentations regarding risk management in a mutual fund.
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced charges against Catalyst (an investment advisory firm) and its Chief Executive Officer, Jerry Szilagyi. Catalyst and Szilagyi agreed to pay a total o...
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Business Trial Group Investigates Bitfinex Offerings
By Attorney Jared Levy
Many companies today use initial coin offerings or initial exchange offerings to raise capital or provide investment opportunities. These offerings may, in fact, involve the sale of securities – which means they need to be registered under federal securities laws. And, as with any offering, issuers may not misrepresent or omit important facts to investors.
We are currently investigating offerings issued by Bitfinex. If you invested in any initial coin...
Blockchain Company Block.one Settles Charges for Unregistered ICO
By Attorney Jared Levy
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently settled charges against Block.one for allegedly making an unregistered initial coin offering (ICO) of digital tokens that raised several billion dollars. The blockchain technology company paid a $24 million penalty to resolve the charges.
The SEC’s Order finds that Block.one c...
CFTC Awards Whistleblower $1 Million
By Attorney Jared Levy
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently announced a $1 million whistleblower award to a tipster who helped uncover Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) violations. Notably, the tipster first provided the information to another regulator before it reached to the CFTC.
CFTC Director of Enforcement James McDonald stated, “Today’s award shows how referrals from other regulators ca...