PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION OBTAINED IN BINARY OPTIONS CASE

FROM:  U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION 
SEC Obtains Preliminary Injunction in Binary Options Case

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced that on July 30, 2013, the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada issued an order granting a preliminary injunction and other relief against Banc de Binary Ltd., a Cyprus-based company that operates an online binary options trading platform.

The Commission's complaint, filed on June 5, 2013, alleges that Banc de Binary has been offering and selling binary options to investors across the U.S. without first registering the securities as required under the federal securities laws. The company has broadly solicited U.S customers by advertising through YouTube videos, spam e-mails, and other Internet-based advertising; and Banc de Binary representatives have communicated with investors directly by phone, e-mail, and instant messenger chats. Banc de Binary also has allegedly been acting as a broker when offering and selling these securities, but failed to register with the SEC as a broker as required under U.S. law.

At the SEC’s request, the Court issued an Order preliminarily enjoining Banc de Binary from offering or selling unregistered securities in violation of Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933 and acting as an unregistered broker-dealer in violation of Section 15(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. In its Order, the Court concluded that binary options are “securities” subject to regulation by the Commission.

SEC CHARGES FORMER PORTFOLIO MANAGER WITH INSIDER TRADING

FROM:  U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION 
SEC Charges Former Portfolio Manager At S.A.C. Capital with Insider Trading

On July 25, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged a former portfolio manager at S.A.C. Capital Advisors with insider trading ahead of major announcements by technology companies.

The SEC alleges that Richard Lee's illegal trading based on nonpublic information he received from sources with connections to insiders at the technology companies enabled the S.A.C. Capital hedge fund that he managed to generate more than $1.5 million in illegal profits. Lee also made trades in his personal account. The insider trading occurred ahead of public announcements about a Microsoft-Yahoo partnership and the acquisition of 3Com Corporation by Hewlett-Packard.

In a separate action, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York today announced criminal charges against Lee, who lives in Chicago.

According to the SEC's complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Lee received inside information in July 2009 from a sell-side analyst familiar with nonpublic negotiations between Microsoft and Yahoo to enter into an Internet search engine partnership. Lee learned that the negotiations, previously the subject of market rumors, were moving forward and a deal could be finalized in the next two weeks. The analyst told Lee that the confidential information came from a close personal friend who worked at Microsoft. Lee thanked the analyst for the "very specific information" and promptly purchased hundreds of thousands of shares of Yahoo stock in a portfolio that he managed on behalf of S.A.C. Capital. Lee also purchased shares of Yahoo stock in his personal trading account. When the imminent deal was reported in the press almost a week later, Yahoo's stock price rose approximately four percent on the news and S.A.C. Capital and Lee reaped substantial profits.

The SEC further alleges that Lee received highly confidential information about 3Com from a Beijing-based consultant who he knew had close personal ties with executives at the company. When his source tipped him on Nov. 11, 2009, that 3Com was on the verge of being acquired by Hewlett-Packard, Lee quickly purchased several hundred thousand shares of 3Com stock for the S.A.C. Capital hedge fund. On the basis of the nonpublic information, Lee amassed the sizeable 3Com position just minutes before Hewlett-Packard announced it agreed to acquire 3Com for $2.7 billion. The price of 3Com stock jumped more than 30 percent the next day, and the S.A.C. Capital hedge fund reaped substantial illicit profits as a result of Lee's illegal trades.

The SEC's complaint charges Lee with violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5. The complaint seeks a final judgment ordering Lee to pay disgorgement of his ill-gotten gains plus prejudgment interest and financial penalties, and permanently enjoining him from future violations of these provisions of the federal securities laws.

INVESTMENT FRAUDSTER GETS 20 YEARS IN PRISON

FROM:  U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Minneapolis-Based Fraudster Patrick Joseph Kiley Sentenced to 20 Years in Priso
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that on July 15, 2013, the Honorable Chief Judge Michael J. Davis of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota sentenced Patrick J. Kiley to 20 years in prison and ordered him to pay $155 million in restitution.  The sentence was based on Kiley’s conviction on 15 criminal counts including mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and money laundering for his role in a $194 million foreign currency trading scheme that defrauded approximately 1,000 investors.  Kiley was charged on July 19, 2011, and a jury found him guilty on June 12, 2012.

Kiley is one of the defendants in a pending civil injunctive action filed by the Commission on November 23, 2009 in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota.  The Commission’s action against Kiley arose out of the same facts that are the subject of the criminal case against him.

The Commission’s complaint alleges that from at least July 2006 through at least July 2009, Kiley and co-defendant Trevor G. Cook of Minneapolis, Minnesota, raised at least $190 million (later determined to be $194 million) from 1,000 investors through the unregistered offer and sale of investments in a purported foreign currency trading venture.  According to the Commission’s complaint, Cook and Kiley pooled investors’ funds in bank and trading accounts in the names of entities they controlled.  The Commission’s complaint alleges that the foreign currency trading they conducted resulted in millions of dollars in losses, and they misused approximately one half of the investor funds to make Ponzi-like payments to earlier investors and pay for, among other things, Cook's gambling losses and the purchase of the historic Van Dusen Mansion in Minneapolis.

The Commission’s complaint charges Cook and Kiley with violating Sections 5 and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder.  On November 23, 2009, the Court entered a preliminary injunction order against Cook and Kiley and froze all of their assets.  On March 7, 2011, the Commission also filed a civil complaint in the U.S. District Court in Minneapolis against Jason Bo-Alan Beckman and his registered investment advisory firm Oxford Private Client Group, LLC, for their roles in this scheme.  On August 27, 2010, the Court entered an order of permanent injunction against Cook.  The Court also appointed a receiver to marshal and preserve all of the Defendants’ assets

SEEKING GUIDANCE ON DODD-FRANK STRESS TEST GUIDANCE FOR MEDIUM-SIZED FIRMS

FROM:  FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION

Agencies Seek Comment on Dodd-Frank Act Stress Test Guidance for Medium-sized Firms

Three federal bank regulatory agencies are seeking comment on proposed guidance describing supervisory expectations for stress tests conducted by financial companies with total consolidated assets between $10 billion and $50 billion.

These medium-sized companies are required to conduct annual company-run stress tests beginning this fall under rules the agencies issued in October 2012 to implement a provision in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act).

To help these companies conduct stress tests appropriately scaled to their size, complexity, risk profile, business mix, and market footprint, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency are proposing guidance to provide additional details tailored to these companies.

The stress test rules allow flexibility to accommodate different approaches by different companies in the $10 billion to $50 billion asset range. Consistent with this flexibility, the proposed guidance describes general supervisory expectations for Dodd-Frank Act stress tests, and, where appropriate, provides examples of practices that would be consistent with those expectations.

The public comment period on the proposed supervisory guidance will be open until September 25, 2013.

MAN ORDERED TO PAY OVER $480,000 TO SETTLE CHARGES OF VIOLATING A PERMANENT TRADING BAN

FROM:  COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION

Federal Court in Illinois Orders Michael Peskin to Pay More Than $480,000 and Imposes Other Sanctions to Settle Charges that Peskin Violated A Permanent Trading Ban

Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that Judge John F. Grady of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois entered a Consent Order permanently enjoining Michael Peskin from trading in violation of a CFTC trading ban. The Order was entered on July 24, 2013 and arises out of an enforcement action filed against Peskin in CFTC v. Michael Peskin, No. 13 cv 5211 (N. D. Illinois July 22, 2013), a case stemming from charges that Peskin had violated a permanent trading ban. The Court also ordered Peskin to pay disgorgement of $239,339.78 and a civil monetary penalty of $250,000.

The Commission imposed a trading ban against Peskin in 1993 as a sanction after finding that Peskin had fraudulently allocated trades to benefit himself at the expense of his customers in an administrative proceeding entitled In the Matter of Peskin, CFTC Docket No. 89-1 [1992-1994 Transfer Binder] Comm. Fut. L. Rep. (CCH) ¶ 25,660 (CFTC Feb. 9, 1993).

The CFTC complaint alleges that Peskin violated a permanent trading ban entered against him in 1993 by trading for himself through the individual trading accounts of others from at least February 2006 through December 2012. The complaint also alleged that Peskin profited by $239,339.78 by trading in violation of the ban.

The Order finds that, beginning in at least February 2006, Peskin arranged with other persons to assume the identity of these other persons in order to trade for himself, both telephonically and electronically, through the accounts of those other persons.

CFTC Division of Enforcement staff responsible for this case are Susan Padove, Judy McCorkle, Elizabeth M. Streit, Scott Williamson, Rosemary Hollinger, and Richard Wagner.

FLORIDA RESIDENT CHARGED BY SEC WITH SELLING UNREGISTERED SECURITIES

FROM:   SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION 

SEC Charges Florida Resident with Unregistered Sales of Securities

On July 23, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed settled charges against Florida resident Jorge Bravo, Jr., for unlawful sales of millions of shares of a microcap company to the public without complying with the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933.

According to the SEC's complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, from April 2009 until May 2010, Bravo unlawfully sold approximately 93 million shares of stock of AVVAA World Health Care Products, Inc. in unregistered transactions for proceeds of approximately $523,000. The complaint alleges that Bravo obtained the shares through three "wrap around agreements." The wrap around agreements involved debts that AVVAA supposedly owed to its officers, affiliates, or other persons closely associated with the company ("Affiliates") for unpaid compensation for services rendered. Under the wrap around agreements, the Affiliates assigned to Bravo the debts that AVVAA purportedly owed to them, and AVVAA consented to the assignment and agreed to modify the terms of the original debt obligation so that the debts now owed to Bravo were immediately convertible into shares of AVVAA common stock. According to the complaint, within weeks of entering into the first two agreements, and approximately four months after the execution of the third, Bravo began selling the shares he obtained under the agreements to the public. He then used some of the proceeds of the stock sales to pay the amounts owed to the Affiliates under the wrap around agreements. The complaint further alleges that Bravo had previously been involved in wrap around agreements, in his capacity as of president and chief executive of Cross Atlantic Commodities, Inc., a public company located in Weston, Florida, and that those wrap around agreements were subjects of a prior Commission enforcement action, SEC v. K&L International Enterprises, Inc., 6:09-cv-1638-GAP-KRS (M.D. Fla. Sept. 24, 2009). Bravo was not charged in that matter.

Without admitting or denying the SEC's allegations, Bravo agreed to settle the case against him by consenting to the entry of a final judgment permanently enjoining him from future violations of Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act; permanently enjoining him from participating in any offering of penny stock; and requiring him to pay disgorgement of $ 392,000, the amount of his ill-gotten gains, plus prejudgment interest of $ 53,866 and a civil penalty in the amount of $150,000. The settlement must be approved by the court.

The SEC's investigation was conducted by New York Regional Office Enforcement staff Karen Lee, Christopher Ferrante, and Leslie Kazon. The Commission acknowledges the assistance of FINRA, the British Columbia Securities Commission, and the Ontario Securities Commission in this matter.