SEC CHARGES MAN WITH STEALING MONEY HE RECEIVED FROM INVESTORS

FROM:  U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION 

SEC Charges California Resident with Fraudulent Sales of Stock

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged the owner of several now-defunct investment entities with fraudulently selling shares of stock that he claimed to own when he had actually purchased them for others a few years before.

The SEC alleges that Vinay Kumar Nevatia, who used several aliases while living in Palo Alto, Calif., sold approximately $900,000 worth of stock he supposedly owned in a privately-held information technology company called CSS Corp. Technologies (Mauritius) Limited. He deceived the buyers into believing that he owned the shares, orchestrated a series of secret wire transfers, and induced the stock transfer agent into recording his fraudulent sales. He stole the money he received from investors for his own use.

According to the SEC's complaint filed in federal district court in San Francisco, Kumar provided the true owners of the shares with fake updates on their investments for more than a year after he had disposed of their stock in these subsequent sales in 2011 and 2012. The actual owners had bought the CSS stock through Kumar in 2008. Kumar has never been registered with the SEC nor licensed to trade securities.

The SEC's complaint charges Kumar with violating Sections 17(a)(1), (a)(2), and (a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933 as well as Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and seeks permanent injunctions, the return of ill-gotten gains, and a financial penalty.

The SEC's investigation was conducted by William T. Salzmann, Jason H. Lee, and Cary S. Robnett of the San Francisco Regional Office with assistance from Kristin A. Snyder, Stephanie A. Wilson, Edward G. Haddad, Brian Applegate, Michael A. Tomars, and Tracey A. Bonner of the San Francisco office's examination program. Mr. Salzmann and Mr. Lee will lead the SEC's litigation. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Remarks to the SEC Small Business Forum

Remarks to the SEC Small Business Forum

Statement on Court’s Final Judgment in Case Against Life Partners Holdings, Brian Pardo, and R. Scott Peden

Statement on Court’s Final Judgment in Case Against Life Partners Holdings, Brian Pardo, and R. Scott Peden

SEC ANNOUNCES PRISON SENTENCE FOR JEREMY FISHER FOR MISAPPROPRIATING INVESTOR FUNDS

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION 

Litigation Release No. 23139 / November 24, 2014

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jeremy Fisher, The Good Life Financial Group, Inc., and The Good Life Global, LLC, Civil Action No. 3:13-cv-00683

Jeremy Fisher Sentenced to 30 Months for Offering Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that on October 27, 2014, the Honorable John E. Steele of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida sentenced Jeremy S. Fisher to 30 months in prison, followed by 3years of supervised release and ordered him to forfeit $500,000. The Court has scheduled a hearing to set the amount of restitution to be ordered on December 15, 2014. Fisher, 44, of La Crescent, Minnesota, had previously pled guilty to two counts of wire fraud for his role in stealing over $1 million from 18 victims in an investment scam. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of Florida filed criminal charges against Fisher on January 14, 2014. Fisher was ordered to surrender on December 1, 2014, to begin serving his prison sentence.

The criminal charges arose out of the same facts that were the subject of a settled civil enforcement action that the Commission filed against Fisher on September 30, 2013. The Commission's complaint alleges that from at least August 2009 through December 2012, Fisher raised approximately $1.04 million from approximately 18 investors who invested in unregistered securities offerings conducted by Fisher through his two companies. Fisher offered investors the opportunity to invest their money through a "special trading platform" that supposedly generated significant returns. Fisher told investors that their money would be deposited in an overseas bank account and used as collateral for the purchase and sale of collateralized debt obligations and medium term notes on the trading platform. However, Fisher instead fraudulently misappropriated and converted investors' funds for his personal use to pay previous investors, to purchase a house and car and to pay his daughter's tuition and other personal and business expenses. Fisher also provided quarterly statements to investors which falsely represented that investors were earning money on their investments. The Commission's complaint alleged that Fisher and his companies violated Sections 5(a), 5(c), and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The complaint also alleged Fisher violated Section 15(a) of the Exchange Act.

On October 16, 2013 the Court in the Commission's case entered orders of permanent injunction and disgorgement, plus prejudgment, totaling $936,226 to be paid jointly and severally among Fisher and his companies and ordered Fisher to pay a civil penalty of $150,000. Fisher and his companies consented to the entry of the Court's orders.

SEC CHARGES EXECUTIVES OF PENNY STOCK COMPANY FOR ISSUING FALSE AND MISLEADING PRESS RELEASES

FROM:  U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION 

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged father-and-son executives at a New Jersey-based penny stock company for issuing false and misleading press releases while secretly selling thousands of their own stock shares into the market.  They agreed to pay nearly $325,000 and accept officer-and-director bars to settle the SEC’s charges.

Conolog Corporation’s public filings state that it manufactures communications equipment primarily for use by electric utilities, fiber optic service providers, and the military.  The SEC alleges that Conolog issued three consecutive press releases in early 2010 with distorted information at the behest of chairman and then-CEO Robert Benou with assistance from his son and company president Marc Benou.  Among the company’s mischaracterizations were that Conolog had secured $1.9 million in new equipment orders when, in fact, only $50,000 worth of new orders had been received at the time.  Conolog also created the misimpression that it had developed new fiber optic technology that was fully vetted and ready for commercial use and sale.  Marc Benou was quoted saying it “surpassed our expectations in field tests” when in reality there had been no independent third-party testing as implied in the press release.  The “testing” was merely an in-house demonstration of the product.

“Information released by a company into the marketplace must be truthful and substantiated so investors can make well-informed trading decisions,” said Andrew M. Calamari, Director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office.  “The Benous caused Conolog Corporation to issue press releases with false and misleading information that was used to promote the stock to unwitting investors.”

According to the SEC’s complaint filed in federal court in Newark, N.J., Robert Benou hired a public relations firm to promote Conolog’s stock using the false and misleading statements from the press releases.  The promotional efforts significantly increased the company’s stock price and trading volume, and Robert and Marc Benou made combined profits of more than $81,000 through undisclosed sales of some of their stock holdings at the artificially inflated prices.  They also each violated the federal securities laws requiring company insiders to disclose information about their holdings and transactions in company stock so other investors are aware of their moves.

“Officers and directors of public companies must promptly report their own purchases and sales of company stock so the marketplace has the benefit of knowing what insiders are doing with their shares,” said Sanjay Wadhwa, Senior Associate Director for Enforcement in the SEC’s New York Regional Office.  “Robert and Marc Benou ignored their responsibilities to shareholders as they bought and sold Conolog stock over the years without informing investors about their transactions on a timely basis.”

The SEC’s complaint charges Conolog Corporation and the Benous with violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws.  The complaint charges Robert and Marc Benou with violating securities law provisions requiring officers and directors of public companies to report their transactions in the company’s stock within two business days, and requiring all owners of more than 5 percent of a company’s stock to timely report the size of their holdings and any material changes to them.

Robert Benou agreed to settle the charges without admitting or denying the allegations by paying $77,490 in disgorgement of illegal profits made from selling Conolog stock as the misleading press releases were issued.  He also must pay prejudgment interest of $12,400 and a penalty of $177,490, and will be permanently barred from acting as an officer or director of a public company or participating in penny stock offerings.  Marc Benou agreed to settle the charges by paying disgorgement of $4,191 plus prejudgment interest of $671 and a penalty of $51,250.  He will be barred for at least two years from acting as an officer or director of a public company or participating in penny stock offerings.  The settlement is subject to court approval.

The SEC’s investigation has been conducted by Justin P. Smith and George N. Stepaniuk of the New York office and supervised by Mr. Wadhwa.

SEC CHARGED UNREGISTERED BROKER WITH STEALING INVESTOR FUNDS IN DAY TRADING INVESTOR SCHEME

FROM:   U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION 
11/18/2014 05:30 PM EST

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged an unregistered broker living outside Tampa, Fla., with stealing investor funds as part of a fraudulent day trading scheme.

The SEC alleges that Albert J. Scipione and his business partner solicited investors to establish accounts at their company called Traders Café for the purposes of day trading, which entails the rapid buying and selling of stocks throughout the day in hope that the stock values continue climbing or falling for the seconds to minutes they own them so they can lock in quick profits.  Scipione touted Traders Café’s software trading platform and made a series of false misrepresentations to investors about low commissions and fees, high trading leverage, and safety of their assets.  More than $500,000 was raised from investors who were assured that funds invested with Traders Café would be segregated and used only for day trading or other specific business purposes.  However, many customers encountered technical service problems that prevented them from trading at all, and Scipione and his business partner squandered nearly all of the money in investor accounts for their personal use.  Meanwhile, Traders Café was never registered with the SEC as a broker-dealer as required under the federal securities laws.

“Scipione portrayed Traders Café as a broker-dealer for customers interested in day trading, but it became merely a depository from which he stole investor funds for himself,” said Eric I. Bustillo, Director of the SEC’s Miami Regional Office.

The SEC previously charged Scipione’s business partner Matthew P. Ionno, who agreed to settle the case and has been barred from the securities industry.  Financial penalties will be decided by the court at a later date.

In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida today announced that Scipione has pleaded guilty to criminal charges.  The U.S. Attorney’s Office previously brought a criminal case against Ionno.

According to the SEC’s complaint filed against Scipione in federal court in Tampa, customers across the country deposited approximately $367,000 with Traders Café from December 2012 to October 2013 with the intention of opening day trading accounts.  Traders Café also received approximately $150,000 from an investor who invested directly in Traders Café’s business. Customers encountered problems with Traders Café from the outset, and many of them cancelled their accounts and requested refunds of their remaining account balances.  Scipione and Ionno tried to cover up their fraudulent scheme by offering excuses and delays for why customers could not get refunds.  Eventually less than $1,200 remained in Traders Café’s accounts primarily due to the repeated misuse of investor funds by Scipione and Ionno.

The SEC’s complaint against Scipione alleges that he violated Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 as well as Section 15(a) and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5.  The SEC seeks disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, financial penalties, and permanent injunctive relief to enjoin Scipione from future violations of the federal securities laws.

The SEC’s investigation was conducted by D. Corey Lawson and Tonya T. Tullis, and the SEC’s litigation is being led by Christopher E. Martin.  The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation.