COURT ORDERS TWO OFFICERS OF UNITED AMERICAN VENTURES TO PAY $1 MILLION PENALTIES AND $8.5 MILLION IN DISGORGEMENT IN SEC CASE

The following excerpt is from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission website:
March 13, 2012
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that a federal judge has ordered two current and former officers of United American Ventures, LLC to pay a total of $2 million in civil penalties and to disgorge over $8.5 million in ill-gotten profits in a securities fraud case.

The SEC litigated the case beginning in June 14, 2010 when the agency charged Eric J. Hollowell of Newport Beach, California, Philip Lee David Jack Thomas of Irvine, California, Matthew A. Dies of Corona, California, Anthony J. Oliva of Placitas, New Mexico, and United American Ventures, LLC, and Integra Investment Group, LLC with securities fraud. The complaint alleged that United American Ventures, LLC, which is also known as UAV, raised $10 million from at least 100 investors through the unregistered and fraudulent sale of convertible bonds. According to the complaint, Hollowell and Thomas founded UAV, with Hollowell acting as the company’s president from 2006 until 2009, when Thomas took over as president of the company.

The Honorable Judith C. Herrara in federal court in New Mexico granted judgment in favor of the SEC on March 2, 2012, finding Hollowell, Thomas, and United American Ventures, LLC jointly liable for disgorgement of $8,652,942 and prejudgment interest of $426,430. The court also assessed civil penalties of $1,000,000 each against Hollowell and Thomas. The court had previously enjoined Hollowell and Thomas from violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as well as other provisions of federal securities laws.

The court also granted judgment in favor of the SEC finding Oliva and Integra Investment Group, LLC jointly liable for $284,039 in disgorgement, and Dies liable for $54,381 in disgorgement. It assessed a $130,000 civil penalty against Oliva and a $54,381 penalty against Dies.

SEC BRINGS CHARGES IN CONNECTION WITH SECONDARY MARKET TRADING OF PRIVATE COMPANY SHARES

The following excerpt is from the SEC website:
March 14, 2012
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a New York City area fund manager with misleading investors and pocketing undisclosed commissions in connection with several pooled investment vehicles he operated.

The SEC alleges that Mazzola, who lives in Upper Saddle River, N.J., and his firms Felix Investments, LLC, and Facie Libre Management Associates, LLC, created two funds to buy securities of Facebook and other high profile technology companies. However, Mazzola and his firms engaged in improper self-dealing – earning secret commissions above the 5 percent disclosed in offering materials on the funds’ acquisition of Facebook stock and on re-sales of fund interests to new investors. The hidden charges essentially raised the prices paid by their investors for Facebook stock because it created a disincentive for Mazzola and his firms to negotiate a lower price for fund investors. They also sold Facie Libre fund interests despite knowing the funds lacked ownership of certain Facebook shares.

According to the SEC’s complaint filed in federal court in San Francisco, Mazzola and his firms also made false statements to investors in other funds they created to invest in various pre-IPO companies. For instance, they misled one investor into believing a Felix fund had successfully acquired stock of Zynga. They also made false representations about Twitter’s revenue to attract investors to their Twitter fund.

The SEC’s lawsuit charges Mazzola, Felix Investments, and Facie Libre Management Associates with violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5(b) thereunder. It also charges Mazzola and Facie Libre Management Associates with violating Section 206(4) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and Rule 206(4)-8 thereunder. The Commission seeks court orders prohibiting them from engaging in securities fraud and requiring them to disgorge their ill-gotten gains and pay financial penalties.

Separately, the Commission initiated a settled administrative proceeding against Laurence Albukerk and his company EB Financial Group LLC, for failing to disclose in their offering materials certain compensation they earned in connection with two Facebook funds they managed. Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, Albukerk and EB Financial consented to entry of a SEC order finding that they violated Section 17(a)(2) of the Securities Act and Section 206(4) of the Advisers Act and Rule 206(4)-8 thereunder. Albukerk and EB Financial also agreed to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest of $210,499 and a penalty of $100,000.

The Commission also initiated a settled administrative proceeding against SharesPost, Inc., an online platform that facilitated certain secondary market transactions, and its CEO, Greg Brogger, for effecting securities transactions without registering as a broker-dealer. SharesPost and Brogger consented to an SEC order finding that SharesPost committed and Brogger caused a violation of Section 15(a) of the Exchange Act of 1934. They agreed to pay penalties of $80,000 and $20,000 respectively.

OWNER, EXECUTIVES AND BCI AIRCRAFT LEASING INC., ALL CONVICTED OF FRAUD

The following excerpt is from the Securities and Exchange Commission website:
March 20, 2012
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) announced that on March 14, 2012, a federal jury convicted Brian Hollnagel and BCI Aircraft Leasing Inc. on seven criminal counts, including fraud and obstruction charges for engaging in a fraudulent financing scheme that raised more than $50 million from investors and lenders. Brian Hollnagel, 38, of Chicago, the owner, president, and chief executive officer of BCI Aircraft Leasing Inc., and the corporation itself were each convicted of six counts of wire fraud and one count of obstruction of justice for obstructing the Commission’s 2007 lawsuit against them. As part of this verdict, Hollnagel and BCI were convicted of committing fraud and obstruction in connection with the provision of fraudulent court-ordered accountings of investor LLCs to the SEC during that litigation. U.S. v. Brian Hollnagel et al., Criminal Action No. 1:10-cr-0195 (N.D. Ill.) (St. Eve., J.).

On August 13, 2007, the Commission filed a civil injunctive complaint alleging that Defendants Hollnagel and BCI, from approximately 1998 through 2007, raised at least $82 million from approximately 120 investors as part of a fraudulent scheme in which the Defendants commingled investor funds, used investor funds to pay other investors, and failed to use investor funds as represented. The Complaint alleged that, as a result of their conduct, the Defendants violated Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The Commission’s action remains pending.

SEC CHARGES CHICAGO BROKER WITH INSIDER TRADING IN NBTY STOCK

The following excerpt is from the SEC website:
Washington, D.C., March 15, 2012 – The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a Chicago-based management consultant with insider trading based on confidential information about his client’s impending takeover of a Long Island-based vitamin company.

The SEC alleges that Sherif Mityas and others at his global management consulting firm were retained by Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm The Carlyle Group to provide strategic advice related to the acquisition of NBTY Inc. That same month, Mityas purchased NBTY stock and subsequently tipped a relative who also bought NBTY shares. After Carlyle publicly announced its acquisition of NBTY, Mityas and his relative sold their NBTY stock for a combined profit of nearly $38,000.

Mityas, who is a partner and vice president at the firm, has agreed to pay more than $78,000 to settle the SEC’s charges. In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York today announced the unsealing of criminal charges against Mityas.

“Mityas was entrusted with highly confidential information but, driven by greed, he violated that trust and jeopardized a successful consulting career for the chance to make a quick buck,” said Sanjay Wadhwa, Deputy Chief of the SEC’s Market Abuse Unit and Associate Director of the New York Regional Office. “Corporate transactions such as mergers and acquisitions demand confidentiality until they become public, and not just from company employees but also from the lawyers, accountants, consultants, and others who work on the deals.”

According to the SEC’s complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Mityas’s firm was retained by Carlyle in May 2010. Only five days after being told during a May 17 conference call that NBTY was Carlyle’s acquisition target, Mityas moved $50,000 from a bank account he shared with a relative into a brokerage account they shared. On May 27, he transferred $49,000 from that brokerage account to a different relative’s brokerage account that he controlled as custodian, and then used those funds to purchase 1,300 shares of NBTY at a cost of more than $44,000. On July 7, based on a tip from Mityas, yet another relative bought 440 shares of NBTY stock. That same relative bought an additional 210 shares on July 14. Carlyle’s acquisition of NBTY was publicly announced the following day. Mityas sold all of his shares only three hours after the announcement was made, for an illegal profit of $25,896. The relative held the shares purchased on July 7 and 14 through the completion of the merger, and sold all of the shares on October 1 for an illicit profit of $12,035.

The SEC’s complaint charges Mityas with violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5. The settlement, which is subject to court approval, would require Mityas to pay disgorgement of his and his relative’s ill-gotten gains totaling $37,931, plus prejudgment interest of $2,375.39, and a penalty of $37,931. The settlement also would bar Mityas from serving as an officer or director of a public company and permanently enjoin him from future violations of these provisions of the federal securities laws.

The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Daniel R. Marcus and Amelia A. Cottrell – members of the SEC’s Market Abuse Unit in New York – and Layla Mayer of the SEC’s New York Regional Office. The SEC acknowledges the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

FORMER STARMEDIA EXECUTIVE AGREES TO SETTLEMENT IN SEC LITIGATION

The following excerpt is from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission website:
March 13, 2012
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that on March 12, 2012, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a settled final judgment as to Adriana J. Kampfner, the former Senior Vice President for Global Sales for StarMedia Network, Inc., a now-defunct Internet portal, in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Fernando J. Espuelas et al., Civil Action No. 06 CV 2435 (PAE) (S.D.N.Y. filed Mar. 29, 2006). The Commission’s injunctive action alleged violations of the federal securities laws by eight former StarMedia executives. The Commission’s amended complaint alleges, in relevant part, that for fiscal year 2000 and the first two quarters of fiscal year 2001, StarMedia’s books and records misstated the company’s revenue.

Without admitting or denying the allegations in the amended complaint, Kampfner consented to the entry of the Final Judgment permanently enjoining her from future violations of Rule 13b2-1 promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act), and from aiding and abetting violations of Section 13(b)(2)(A) of the Exchange Act.

COURT ORDERS FORMER BROKER TO PAY OVER $500,000 FOR DEFRAUDING 9/11 WIDOW

The following excerpt is from the SEC website:
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that a federal judge in Massachusetts entered a final judgment on March 14, 2012 ordering defendant James J. Konaxis, formerly a registered representative of Beverly-based broker-dealer Sentinel Securities, Inc., to disgorge more than $483,000 in commissions earned over a two-year period by defrauding a former customer who was left widowed by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Together with prejudgment interested and a civil penalty, Konaxis has been ordered to pay a total of $514,954. In granting the Commission’s motion for monetary remedies, Judge Denise L. Casper found that Konaxis was liable in the amount of all commissions earned from three of the victim’s accounts over a two-year period because he “misled the victim into thinking her investments were safe, while churning (e.g., excessively trading) her funds in a manner contrary to her interests[.]”

According to the Commission’s complaint, Konaxis violated Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 (“Securities Act”) and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) and Rule 10b-5 thereunder by excessively trading his customer’s funds while knowingly or recklessly disregarding her interests. During a two-year period, the Commission alleges that the value of his customer’s accounts (funded by payments made to the victim and her family by the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund) decreased from approximately $3.7 million to approximately $1.6 million, much of which was due to Konaxis’s investments and the resulting commissions paid to Konaxis.

At the time the Commission’s complaint was filed, Konaxis entered into a partial settlement with the Commission, in which he consented to be enjoined from future violations of the antifraud provisions of the Securities Act and Exchange Act, and to be barred from participating in any offering of penny stock. In addition, as part of the settlement, Konaxis agreed to be barred in related administrative proceedings from any future association with any broker, dealer, investment adviser, municipal securities dealer, or transfer agent. However, the Commission also filed a motion with the Court seeking disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus pre-judgment interest, and the imposition of a civil penalty, which Konaxis opposed.

After a hearing on March 1, 2012, Judge Denise L. Casper issued an order granting the Commission’s motion for monetary remedies, including disgorgement in the full amount of Konaxis’ commissions earned over a two-year period from the three accounts churned, totaling $483,460.23, prejudgment interest in the amount of $31,494.44, and a civil penalty of $10,000, for a total of $514,954.