SEC OBTAINS ASSET FREEZE AGAINST ALLEGED FRAUDSTER

FROM:  U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION 

SEC Obtains Asset Freeze and Other Relief Against Michael P. Zenger

On January 31, 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a temporary restraining order and an emergency asset freeze in an offering fraud orchestrated by Lehi, Utah resident Michael P. Zenger (Zenger).

The complaint alleges that since June 2013, Zenger solicited at least $200,000 from two friends for the purported purpose of trading futures contracts, commodities, and government securities. While Zenger used some investor money as represented, the complaint alleges that Zenger misappropriated approximately $100,000 of the $200,000 he raised to pay personal expenses, including airplane rentals, monthly credit card bills, payments to BMW and Mercedes Benz, purchases at Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom and Costco, and other personal expenses.

The Commission's complaint charges Zenger with violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The complaint seeks a preliminary and permanent injunction as well as disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil penalties from Zenger.

The SEC's investigation was conducted by Jennifer Moore and Scott Frost; the litigation will be led by Thomas Melton.

SEC CHARGES ATTORNEY AND OTHERS WITH RUNNING PRIME BANK INVESTMENT SCHEME

FROM:  U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION 

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges and an emergency asset freeze against a Miami-based attorney and other perpetrators of a prime bank investment scheme that promised exorbitant returns from a purported international trading program.

Prime bank schemes lure investors to participate in a sham international investing opportunity with phony promises of exclusivity and enormous profits.  The SEC alleges that attorney Bernard H. Butts, Jr. has acted as an escrow agent to enable Fotios Geivelis, Jr. and his purported financial services firm Worldwide Funding III Limited to defraud approximately 45 investors out of more than $3.5 million they invested in a trading program that doesn’t actually exist.  Geivelis, who lives in Tampa and uses the alias “Frank Anastasio” with investors, touted returns of 6.6 million Euros (approximately $8.7 million converted to U.S. dollars) for investors within 15 to 45 business days on an initial investment of $60,000 to $90,000 in U.S. dollars.  Geivelis and Butts assured investors that their funds would remain with Butts in an escrow account until Worldwide Funding acquired the bank instruments necessary to generate the promised returns.  Butts instead has been doling out investor funds almost as soon as they’re received to enrich himself, sales agents, and Geivelis, who has been spending the money on such personal expenses as travel and gambling.

The SEC’s complaint, filed under seal on August 29 in federal court in Miami, also charged three sales agents who Geivelis and Butts paid to sell interests in the scheme: Douglas J. Anisky of Delray Beach, Fla., James Baggs of Lake Forest, Calif., and Sidney Banner of Delray Beach, Fla., and his company Express Commercial Capital.  The court granted the SEC’s request for an asset freeze on August 30, and the case was unsealed late Friday, September 6.

“Geivelis attempted to add a twist of legitimacy to a classic prime bank scheme by using a long-time attorney as an escrow agent to give investors the false impression that their money was secure,” said Julie K. Lutz, Acting Co-Director of the SEC’s Denver Regional Office.  “Meanwhile, Geivelis and Butts have misused investor funds and made lulling statements to investors that portray the sham trading program as successful and payments to investors as imminent.”

According to the SEC’s complaint, investors were lured through the Internet, telephone, and personal contact with promises of extraordinary profits.  Investors were told their $60,000 to $90,000 investment would pay for bank charges to lease a standby letter of credit (SBLC) in the amount of 10 million Euros from a banking group in Europe.  The SBLCs were to be used to acquire loans, and the funds from the loan were to be placed in a securities trading program.  Investors were promised that after their initial profit of at least 6.6 million Euro within 15 to 45 business days, the securities trading program would generate a weekly return of approximately 14 percent for 40 to 42 weeks.

The SEC alleges that investors were falsely promised that their money was being deposited into Butts’ attorney trust account, and Butts would not release the funds until he received proof from the receiving bank that a $10 million Euro SBLC had been deposited into the securities trading program to generate profits for investors.  Contrary to these representations by Butts, Geivelis, and the sales agents, no SBLC acquisitions ever occurred, no loans were obtained, and no promised returns were earned in a trading program or paid to investors. Investors were not told that instead of using the funds to obtain SBLCs, Butts and Geivelis each took approximately 45 percent and paid approximately 10 percent to the sales agents.

The SEC’s complaint charges all defendants with violations of the antifraud and securities registration provisions of the federal securities laws.  The complaint also charges Butts, Geivelis, Anisky, Banner, Express Commercial Capital, and Baggs with violations of the broker-dealer registration provisions of the federal securities laws.  The SEC seeks disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, financial penalties, and permanent injunctions.  The SEC’s complaint names several relief defendants: Butts’ law firm, his wife Margaret A. Hering, and Butts Holding Corporation as well as two other companies with ties to Geivelis (Global Worldwide Funding Ventures) and Anisky (PW Consulting Group).  The complaint names relief defendants for the purposes of recovering any ill-gotten assets from the fraud that may be in their possession.

The SEC’s investigation, which is continuing, has been conducted by Amy A. Sumner and Laura M. Metcalfe in the Denver Regional Office.  The SEC’s litigation will be led by Leslie J. Hughes.

BROKER GETS ASSETS FROZEN IN BK INSIDER TRADING CASE

FROM: U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C., Sept. 20, 2012 – The Securities and Exchange Commission today obtained an emergency court order to freeze the assets of a stockbroker who used nonpublic information from a customer and engaged in insider trading ahead of Burger King’s announcement that it was being acquired by a New York private equity firm.

The SEC alleges that Waldyr Da Silva Prado Neto, a citizen of Brazil who was working for Wells Fargo in Miami, learned about the impending acquisition from a brokerage customer who invested at least $50 million in a fund managed by private equity firm 3G Capital Partners Ltd. and used to acquire Burger King in 2010. Prado misused the confidential information to illegally trade in Burger King stock for $175,000 in illicit profits, and he tipped others living in Brazil and elsewhere who also traded on the nonpublic information.

The SEC obtained the asset freeze in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The agency took the emergency action to prevent Prado from transferring his assets outside of U.S. jurisdiction. Prado recently abandoned his most current job at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, put his Miami home up for sale, and began transferring all of his assets out of the country.

"Prado’s e-mails and other communications may have been sent from Brazil and may have been in Portuguese, but our commitment to prosecute illegal insider trading in U.S. markets knows no geographic or language barrier," said Sanjay Wadhwa, Deputy Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Market Abuse Unit and Associate Director of the New York Regional Office.

According to the SEC’s complaint, Prado’s insider trading in Burger King stock occurred from May 17 to Sept. 1, 2010. At the time, Prado was the representative on the account used by the customer to transfer his investment to 3G Capital. The customer had been with Prado for more than 10 years and often shared his confidential financial information with the understanding that it was to remain confidential. Prado had repeated contact with the customer by phone and e-mail as well as in person in Brazil during the time period that Prado traded Burger King securities.

The SEC alleges that Prado began his illegal trading while on a business trip to Brazil, during which he sent an e-mail to a friend that – translated from Portuguese – read, "I’m in Brazil with information that cannot be sent by email. You can’t miss it…." Prado later told his friend on a phone call that night that he heard 3G Capital was going to take Burger King private. The friend, a hedge fund manager in Miami, warned Prado that he should not trade on this information and should not encourage any of his customers to trade either.

According to the SEC’s complaint, Prado went on to tip at least four of his customers who eventually traded in Burger King stock based on nonpublic information about the impending acquisition. For example, just minutes after Prado sent the May 17 e-mail to his friend in Miami, he sent an e-mail to one of those customers which, again translated from Portuguese, read, " … if you are around call me at the hotel … I have some info…You have to hear this." A 10-minute phone conversation followed, and the customer purchased out-of-the-money Burger King call options during the next two days. In August 2010 Prado was on another business trip to Brazil, the same customer sent Prado an e-mail which translated to, "[i]s the sandwich deal going to happen?" Prado replied, "Vai sim," which means, "Yes it’s going to happen." He continued, "[e]verything is 100% under control. I was embarrassed to ask about timing. The last ‘vol’ got in the way." Following these e-mails, the customer – identified as Tippee A in the SEC’s complaint – made additional purchases in Burger King call options. The customer’s total insider trading profits amounted to more than $1.68 million.

The SEC’s complaint against Prado seeks a permanent injunction from violations of Sections 10(b) and 14(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 10b-5 and 14e-3 thereunder, disgorgement with prejudgment interest and monetary penalties.

The SEC’s investigation, which is continuing, has been conducted by Megan Bergstrom, David Brown, and Diana Tani in Los Angeles, and Charles D. Riely in New York, who are members of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Market Abuse Unit. The investigation was supervised by Unit Chief Daniel M. Hawke and Deputy Chief Sanjay Wadhwa. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Comissão de Valores Mobliliários (Securities and Exchange Commission of Brazil), Options Regulatory Surveillance Authority, and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).