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This is a photo of the National Register of Historic Places listing with reference number 7000063

Friday, December 20, 2013

SEC CHARGES INDIVIDUALS, ENTITIES IN PRIME BANK FRAUD INVOLVING OVER $31 MILLION

FROM:  U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION 
SEC Charges Seven Individuals and Six Entities Involved in Prime Bank Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil injunctive action on December 12, 2013, in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado against Colorado resident Daniel D. Coddington, his company Golden Summit Investors Group, Ltd., and others who carried out a Prime Bank Fraud that raised more than $31 million from 2010 through 2012.

The SEC’s complaint alleges that Coddington, Jesse W. Erwin, Merlyn C. “Curt” Geisler, Marshall D. Gunn, Lewis P. Malouf, Golden Summit, Extreme Capital Ltd, Fidelity Asset Service Corp., Geisco FNF, LLC and SouthCom Management, LLC claimed to have access to special programs that would provide annual returns of more than 250 percent by obtaining loans against a financial instrument known as a collateralized mortgage obligation, or CMO, and then investing the loan proceeds in a purported CMO trading program.  The complaint alleges that the above individuals and entities never obtained any loans against CMOs or placed investor funds in a CMO trading program, but instead misappropriated investor funds for their own use.  The complaint also alleges that Seth A. Leyton, Michael B. Columbia and Stonerock Capital Group LLC aided and abetted the fraud by selling CMOs held for the benefit of investors and funneling those proceeds back to Coddington.

The SEC’s complaint alleges that Coddington, Erwin, Geisler, Gunn, Malouf, Golden Summit, Extreme Capital, Fidelity Asset, Geisco and SouthCom violated the antifraud provisions of the securities laws in Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder; and that Coddington, Erwin, Columbia, Leyton, and Stonerock Capital also aided and abetted these violations.  The complaint also alleges that Coddington, Geisler, Gunn, Malouf, Extreme Capital, Geisco, Golden Summit, and SouthCom violated the security registration provisions of the securities laws in Sections 5(a) and (c) of the Securities Act.  Also, the complaint alleges that Coddington, Geisler, Gunn, Malouf, Extreme Capital, Geisco, Golden Summit, and SouthCom violated Section 15(a) of the Exchange Act by acting as unregistered broker-dealers.  The SEC’s complaint seeks permanent injunctions, disgorgement plus prejudgment interest, third-tier penalties, and other relief against all of the defendants.   Additionally, the complaint seeks disgorgement plus prejudgment interest from relief defendants Daniel S. “Scott” Coddington, Coddington Family Trust, Joanna I. Columbia, Vincent G. Farris, and Vincent G. Farris Co., L.P.A.

The SEC’s investigation was conducted in the Denver Regional Office by John C. Martin, Kerry M. Matticks and James A. Scoggins.  Leslie J. Hughes will lead the SEC’s litigation.  The SEC acknowledges the assistance and cooperation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

REMARKS BY SEC COMMISSIONER STEIN REGARDING RULES TO AMEND REGULATION A

FROM:  U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION 
Remarks at SEC Open Meeting
Statement on Proposed Rules to Amend Regulation A
 Commissioner Kara M. Stein
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Washington, D.C.
Dec. 18, 2013

Today, the Commission is taking an important step towards completing its responsibilities under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, commonly called the JOBS Act.

I also would like to thank the staff for all of your hard work in getting this Proposed Rule before us today so we may continue our progress towards implementing the JOBS Act.  I would also like to thank my fellow Commissioners for working with me to put into this proposal a framework for what may be a better path forward than the text of the rule being proposed today.  I am concerned that the rule we are proposing today will not work for issuers seeking to raise smaller amounts of capital, will unnecessarily preclude the states from performing an important oversight role, and will not ultimately achieve the goals of the drafters.  Nevertheless, I will support this proposal so that we may hear from small businesses, investors, the states, and others on how we may best improve it.

In the aftermath of the Great Recession, far too many small businesses with great ideas, great people, great products, and customers, were unable to secure the capital that they needed to survive and grow.   The JOBS Act was enacted to help solve that problem by revising some of the restrictions imposed by the federal securities laws.  One portion of the JOBS Act, Section 401, added a new exemption from registration to Section (3)(b) of the Securities Act for offerings of up to $50 million per year, subject to certain basic statutory protections.  This new exemption is loosely being termed Reg A plus, as it is modeled after the existing exemption under Section 3(b), which was the basis for Regulation A.  Our work today is to propose how the Commission may best implement these provisions.

Regulation A, which allows for an exemption for securities offerings of up to $5 million, as  mentioned by my fellow Commissioners, has been used very rarely, as acknowledged in the release.  The Government Accountability Office and others have studied this issue and identified a number of reasons why issuers use this exemption infrequently, including the comparative ease with which issuers may raise capital through Rule 506 offerings, the small amount of capital that can be raised in reliance on the exemption, and the difficulty of navigating the various relevant state securities laws.

In seeking to construct a new exemption for smaller issuers, Congress sought to revive and improve Regulation A.   It lifted the ceiling for offerings made under the new exemption to $50 million.  Commensurate with the increased size of the new exempted offerings, Congress inserted important, basic investor protections into the statute, such as requiring issuers to provide audited financial statements.  Equally important, Congress did not explicitly preempt these smaller offerings from all state securities regulation.  To the contrary, Congress deliberately revised the bill to ensure that state securities laws were not explicitly preempted before the bill’s final passage.

I am concerned that the Proposed Rule before us today does not yet achieve the appropriate balance between promoting capital formation for issuers and protecting investors.  I believe that the states play an important role protecting investors.  The Proposed Rule explicitly preempts the state securities laws for offerings relying upon this new exemption, notwithstanding Congress’ decision not to do so.  The Proposed Rule also fails to make any real attempt to make the old Regulation A, which is for offerings up to $5 million, work.  I think we could and should have included in the text of the rule a clear proposal as to how to make the old Regulation A exemption work.

The Proposed Rule does make great efforts to ensure that larger offerings relying on the new exemption are subject to critical investor protections, including audited financials and ongoing reporting obligations.  Those are important.  I urge commenters to explore these protections and offer thoughts regarding how we can improve them.  I also specifically look forward to comments on what role states can and should play in the regulatory regime, and I encourage the states to continue their diligent work toward a coordinated review process.[1] The states are often uniquely well-suited to oversee these kinds of offerings, with strong motivations to both protect investors and support the success of their local businesses seeking to raise money.  

I also remain concerned with how this proposal fits within the overall framework of our federal regulatory regime.  We just proposed a rule for Crowdfunding that includes greater investor protections than the Tier 1 proposal before us today, despite the fact that issuers can raise up to $5 million from retail investors in a Tier 1 offering, and only $1 million through Crowdfunding.  As I said before, we should be taking this opportunity to improve the old Regulation A to make it both more useful to issuers and protective of investors.

I also worked with my fellow Commissioners to ensure that this proposal outlines alternative approaches, including the development of an intermediate tier.  That tier could involve state-level oversight, while also streamlining the requirements to make the exemption more accessible for issuers seeking lesser amounts, such as $10 million.  I look forward to robust comment on this approach.

We all want to make sure the new and improved Regulation A exemption works for both issuers and investors.  Unfortunately, I’m not yet convinced that today’s proposal fulfills that objective, but I am confident that the Commission will benefit from the input of all stakeholders as we seek to finalize it.

Again, I thank the staff and my fellow Commissioners for their work on this proposal, and I look forward to learning with them how we can best improve and finalize it in the near future.  Thank you.

REMARKS BY SEC COMMISSIONER AGUILAR ON REGULATION A+

FROM:  U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION 
Remarks at SEC Open Meeting
Promoting Investor Protection in Small Business Capital Formation
 Commissioner Luis A. Aguilar
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Washington, D.C.

Dec. 18, 2013

Today, the Commission proposes rules to implement Title IV of the JOBS Act.[1]  As mandated by that Act, the proposed rule would allow companies to issue a class of securities that are exempted from the registration and prospectus requirements of the Securities Act, provided that certain conditions are met.[2]  This is the third major rulemaking undertaken by the Commission to comply with the JOBS Act since its adoption last year.[3]

Enhancements to Investor Protection under Regulation A-plus

The proposed rules being considered today enhance an existing exemptive regime known as Regulation A.  Under the current provisions of Regulation A, companies can raise up to $5 million per year without registration, provided that they file an offering statement with the Commission containing certain required information and furnish an offering circular to purchasers, among other conditions.[4]

Today’s proposal, often referred to as “Regulation A-plus,” would extend this exemption to issuances of up to $50 million in any 12-month period, while at the same time increasing investor protection for so-called “Tier 2” offerings[5] in four important ways:

First, by enhancing disclosure requirements, and by requiring companies to include audited financial statements in their offering circulars;
Second, by ensuring that the Commission staff has an opportunity to review and comment on the offering circular before it becomes effective;
Third, by limiting the amount of securities that a potential investor may invest to 10% of the investor’s annual income or net worth, whichever is greater; and
Fourth, by requiring companies that issue a class of securities under Regulation A-plus to file ongoing disclosure reports, so long as the securities are held of record by at least 300 investors.[6]  
Given the $50 million limit on offerings under Regulation A-plus, the offering statement and ongoing disclosure reports required by the proposed rules are focused on the types of information that the staff’s experience suggests are relevant to smaller companies and their investors.  As a result, the required disclosure, while valuable, is less extensive than the disclosure required in a registered offering.  In that regard, I encourage commenters, and in particular investors with experience investing in smaller companies, to comment in detail about the specific disclosures that would be valuable to require in offering circulars and reports under revised Regulation A.

It is my hope that the final disclosure requirements will protect and inform investors, resulting in the investor confidence necessary for the success of Regulation A-plus, while at the same time providing an appropriate alternative to registered offerings for those small and emerging companies that need access to public capital to grow and create jobs.[7]

The Role of the States

Today’s release also addresses the issue of preempting state blue sky review for Regulation A‑plus offerings, as provided for in Section 401(b) of the JOBS Act.[8]  One way the statute enables preemption is by authorizing the Commission to adopt a definition of “qualified purchaser” with respect to such offerings, as offers and sales to qualified purchasers would be exempt from state registration or qualification.[9]  To that end, today’s proposal would define “qualified purchaser” to include all offerees, and all purchasers in “Tier 2” offerings.[10]  In other words, the proposed rule defines “qualified purchaser” in a way that would preempt all Tier 2 offerings from state blue sky requirements—although state securities commissions would nevertheless retain jurisdiction to investigate and bring enforcement actions in the case of any fraud or deceit.

However, as the Commission acknowledges in the proposing release,[11] the North American Securities Administrators Association—known as NASAA—recently proposed a coordinated process to streamline review of Regulation A offerings.[12]  This new streamlined protocol could substantially reduce state securities law compliance hurdles for Regulation A issuers by reducing the cost and time frame associated with state review.[13]  In that regard, the proposing release solicits comments on potential alternative approaches to the definition of “qualified purchaser”[14] that would take into account possible state review.[15]

The Commission is mindful of the important role that state securities administrators play in protecting investors and promoting capital formation, particularly with respect to smaller offerings.[16]  It has long been recognized that the states are on the “front lines” of antifraud enforcement for smaller offerings.[17]  Moreover, the states have a history of working closely with issuers and investors in their jurisdictions, and have extensive experience reviewing small offerings.[18]  This is important expertise and experience to incorporate into the process. Accordingly, I look forward to NASAA and the state regulators completing their work to implement a workable protocol for state review of offerings under Regulation A, and I urge both investors and other interested parties to comment on the pros and cons of incorporating a form of state review into the Regulation A qualification process.

Ongoing Reporting and Secondary Trading

Before concluding, it is important to note that, in accordance with the statute, securities issued pursuant to Regulation A-plus will not be restricted securities, and will thus be freely tradeable by security holders who are not affiliates of the issuer.[19]  Accordingly, the ongoing reporting requirements in the proposed rules provide an important protection for investors in securities issued pursuant to Tier 2 of Regulation A.

It cannot yet be known whether a reliable secondary market will develop for Regulation A securities.  However, even with the proposed reporting requirements, the market for such securities will almost certainly be less transparent than the market for listed securities.  In addition, given the smaller offering size and reduced transparency, Regulation A securities may experience wider spreads, lower liquidity, and the potential for significant volatility as compared to registered securities, in any secondary trading markets that may develop.

Although the JOBS Act is silent regarding what actions can be taken to mitigate the risks to investors that may result from such a trading environment, the Commission must be proactive in addressing foreseeable consequences.

In that regard, I expect the staff to actively monitor any secondary trading activity that develops after adoption with respect to Regulation A securities, for any possible indications of fraud, manipulation, or market failure.   The rule changes we propose today will not achieve the hoped for benefits in capital formation, if the end result is that investors are left holding a portfolio of securities that cannot be valued or sold.

Notably, Regulation A-plus is just one of several initiatives under the JOBS Act that raises this issue.  Other JOBS Act provisions may also increase the number of companies that are exempt from the registration and reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, but still have significant security holdings in public hands.  For example, the availability of general solicitation and advertising under Regulation D allows shares to be sold to an unlimited number of accredited investors in transactions that are much more widely dispersed than the traditional private placement.  Although such securities are initially restricted, they may be resold after a one-year holding period pursuant to Rule 144, provided that certain limited information about the issuer is publicly available.  Similarly, as currently proposed, shares issued in crowdfunding transactions would be freely tradable after a one-year holding period.[20]

While there may not be a single, simple solution to this developing problem, it is clear that the Commission needs to take a hard and comprehensive look at Exchange Act Rule 15c2-11, which describes the information required under Rule 144 for non-reporting companies, and provides the conditions pursuant to which broker-dealers may publish quotations in over-the-counter securities.[21]  The problems with Rule 15c2-11 have long been documented,[22] and the likelihood of an exponential growth in companies whose securities trade in reliance on that rule is real.  The Commission needs to get in front of the problem and not wait until investors are harmed.  It is my hope that the staff will complete such a review, together with any recommended ameliorative steps, before the adoption of the rules implementing crowdfunding and Regulation A-plus.

As always, the Commission’s focus must be on the public interest and the interests of investors, who alone supply the capital required for capital formation.

I look forward to comments on today’s proposal and on the issues raised in the release.

Finally, I want to thank the staff for their hard work on this proposal.


[1] Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, Pub. L. No. 112-106, 126 Stat. 306 (2012) (the “JOBS Act”), §§ 401-402.

[2] Title IV of the JOBS Act amends certain provisions of the Securities Act of 1933, 15 U.S.C. 77c(b) (the “Securities Act”), to provide this mandate.

[3] The JOBS Act was signed into law on April 5, 2012.  Titles I, V, and VI of the Act are self-operating.  Rules to implement Title II of the JOBS Act, which amended Rule 506 of Regulation to remove the ban on general solicitation and general advertising, so long as sales are made only to accredited investors, were proposed August 29, 2012 (Rel. No. 33-9354) and adopted July 10, 2013 (Rel. No. 33-9415).  Rules to implement Title III of the JOBS Act, to provide an exemption for qualifying Internet crowdfunding transactions, were proposed on October 23, 2012 (Rel. No. 33-9470).  In addition, the staff of the Commission published two reports required by the JOBS Act—the “Report on Authority to Enforce Exchange Act Rule 12g5-1 and Subsection (b)(3)” as required by Section 504 of the JOBS Act (October 16, 2012), and the “Report to Congress on Decimalization” as required by Section 106 of the JOBS Act (July 20, 2012)—and hosted a public roundtable on decimalization on February 5, 2013.   I have publicly and privately urged the Commission to complete its important work under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”), with all deliberate speed.  Numerous important requirements under the Dodd-Frank Act remain unfulfilled, despite the fact that well over three years have passed since enactment.

[4] See, Regulation A under the Securities Act, 17 C.F.R. §§ 251-263.

[5] The proposed amendments would create two tiers of offerings:  Tier 1, for offerings of up to $5 million in a twelve-month period, and Tier 2, for offerings from zero to up to $50 million in a twelve-month period.  An issuer seeking to raise $5 million or less could elect to proceed under either Tier.  Both Tiers would be subject to certain basic requirements as to issuer eligibility, disclosure, and other matters.  Tier 2 offerings would also be subject to additional requirements, including audited financial statements, ongoing reporting obligations, and an investment limit of 10% of the investor’s annual income or net worth, whichever is greater.  As proposed, sales pursuant to Tier 2 would be exempted from state registration or qualification pursuant to the preemption provisions under the JOBS Act; sales pursuant to Tier 1would remain subject to blue sky review.  See note 8 below and accompanying text.

[6] The proposed amendments would provide for the filing of an annual report on proposed new Form 1-K, semiannual updates on Form 1-SA, and current event reporting on Form 1-U, so long as the securities are held of record by at least 300 investors.

[7] Recently-established, fast-growing firms, sometimes called “gazelles,” are extremely important to job growth.  One study reported that 43,000 rapidly-expanding businesses between three and five years old—about eight-tenths of 1% of all U.S. businesses—were responsible for about 10% of overall net job creation in the economy.  D.  Stangler, High-Growth Firms and the Future of the American Economy, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Research Series (March 2010) 7, available at  http://www.kauffman.org/~/media/kauffman_org/research%20reports%20and%20covers/2010/04/highgrowthfirmsstudy.pdf .  Research shows that companies in that category are particularly dependent on outside equity investments for early stage capital.  A.M. Robb and D.T. Robinson, The Capital Structure Decisions of New Firms, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, (November 2008), available at  http://www.kauffman.org/~/media/kauffman_org/research%20reports%20and%20covers/2008/11/capital_structure_decisions_new_firms.pdf .

[8] JOBS Act §401(b).

[9] Securities Act §18(b)(4)(D)(ii), as added by JOBS Act §401(b).

[10] Proposed Rule Amendments for Small and Additional Issues Exemptions Under Section 3(b) of the Securities Act, SEC Release No. 33-XXXX (December 18, 2013) (“Proposing Release”) 183.

[11] Proposing Release 176-77.

[12] See, NASAA Release, dated October 30, 2013, Notice of Request for Public Comment: Proposed Coordinated Review Program for Section 3(b)(2) Offerings, available at:  http://www.nasaa.org/27427/notice-request-public-comment-proposed-coordinated-review-program-section-3b2-offerings/ ; see, also, letter from Andrea Seidt, the President of NASAA, to Chair White of the SEC, dated December 12, 2013.

[13] Proposing Release 185.                          

[14] Proposing Release 185-88, 192-93.

[15] Proposing Release 185-86 (“We will also consult with the states and consider any changes to the states’ processes and requirements for reviewing offerings, before we adopt final amendments.”).

[16] Section 19(d) of the Securities Act establishes a policy of federal and state cooperation in securities matters and authorizes the Commission to cooperate with state securities administrators and any association of their duly constituted representatives.  For three decades, the Commission and NASAA have conducted an annual conference to promote effective regulation, uniformity in federal and state regulatory standards, capital formation, and administrative efficiency.

[17] In 2012, NASAA members initiated 2,496 enforcement actions, resulting in $694 million in awards to investors and 1,361 years of incarceration sentenced upon violators.  NASAA Enforcement Report (October 2013), available at  http://www.nasaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/2013-Enforcement-Report-on-2012-data.pdf .

[18] All states currently conduct disclosure review of Regulation A securities offerings, and a majority of the states also conduct merit reviews, based on the terms of the offering.  See, e.g., U.S. Gov’t Accountability Office, Factors That May Affect Trends In Regulation A Offerings (July 2012) 13.

[19] Securities Act §3(b)((2)(C), as added by JOBS Act §401(a).  See, Rule 144 under the Securities Act.

[20] The effect is compounded by other provisions of the JOBS Act, which substantially raised the number of holders a company may have before it is required to register as a reporting company under the Exchange Act.  This loosening of the reporting threshold is exacerbated by the fact that reporting triggers continue to be based on the number of “record holders,” which may fail to count large numbers of beneficial owners for securities held in “street name.”

[21] Exchange Act Rule 15c2-11 requires, among other things, that a broker-dealer have in its records certain information specified in paragraph (a) of the rule before it publishes any quotation for an issuer’s security in any quotation medium other than a national securities exchange.  In addition, the broker-dealer must, based on a review of that information together with any other documents and information required by subsection (b) of the rule, have a reasonable basis under the circumstances for believing that the paragraph (a) information is accurate in all material respects, and that the sources of the paragraph (a) information are reliable.  Certain information required by paragraph (a) must be made reasonably available upon request to any person expressing an interest in a proposed transaction in the security with such broker-dealer.  However, under the so-called piggyback exception of Rule 15c2-11(f)(3), a broker-dealer may publish quotations on a security in an interdealer quotation system, without complying with such information gathering requirements, if the security has been quoted in the same system on at least 12 of the previous 30 calendar days, with no more than four business days in succession without a quotation.  A broker-dealer can "piggyback" on either its own or other broker-dealers’ previously published quotations.  17 C.F.R. §240.15c2-11.

[22] See, Publication or Submission of Quotations Without Specified Information, SEC Release No. 34-41110 (February 25, 1999), available at http://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed/34-41110.htm (reproposing amendments to Rule 15c2-11 originally proposed in response to “concerns about increased incidents of fraud and manipulation in over-the-counter (OTC) securities…”); Publication or Submission of Quotations Without Specified Information, SEC Release No. 34-39670 (February 17, 1998), available at http://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed/34-39670.txt (the requirement to make information available to investors on request “may have little practical effect because only the first broker-dealer to publish quotations must have the information, and an investor might find it difficult to identify that broker-dealer”);  See, also, Michael Molitor, Will More Sunlight Fade the Pink Sheets? Increasing Public Information About Non-Reporting Issuers with Quoted Securities, 39 Ind. L. Rev. 309 (2006) (due to Rule 15c2-11’s “piggyback” provision “it may be difficult for an investor actually to get the information [required by paragraph (a)].”  And, Rule 15c2-11 “is badly flawed because neither the investor nor the registered representative of the broker-dealer will possess the required information in most instances.  Moreover, even if the piggyback exception does not apply, the investor will receive the information only if he or she asks for it.”  Also, “[j]ust as the content of paragraph (a) information is paltry compared to the information required of Exchange Act reporters, its timeliness could lag far behind that required of Exchange Act reporters ….”).

SEC CHAIR WHITE'S OPENING STATEMENT ON REGULATION A+ PROPOSAL

FROM:  U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION 
Remarks at SEC Open Meeting
Opening Statement on Proposal for Regulation A+
 SEC Chair Mary Jo White
Washington, D.C.

Dec. 18, 2013

Good morning.   This is an open meeting of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Dec. 18, 2013, under the Government in the Sunshine Act.

Today we are considering an important rulemaking mandated by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act.  Title IV of the JOBS Act requires the Commission to adopt rules to create a new exemption from registration under the Securities Act for offerings of up to $50 million dollars in a 12-month period.

This new exemption is intended to build upon Regulation A, which is an existing exemption from registration for small issues of up to $5 million within a 12-month period.  We often have referred to this new exemption as Regulation A+.

At its core, the mandate of Regulation A+ is to help increase the access of smaller companies to capital.  This is obviously a very important objective.  Our rulemaking goal is to make Regulation A+ an effective, workable path to raising capital that – very importantly – also builds in the necessary investor protections.

As it exists today, Regulation A is little used by issuers.  A GAO Report last year found that various factors have contributed to this outcome, including the type of investors that businesses seek to attract, the process of filing with the Commission, state securities law compliance, and the cost-effectiveness of Regulation A relative to other exemptions.  The factors identified by the GAO Report were not a surprise to either regulators or market participants.

Responding to this record, the proposal we are considering today aims to increase the use of Regulation A by establishing two tiers – Tier 1 for offerings up to $5 million and Tier 2 for offerings up to $50 million.  The proposal builds on our existing regulation in several ways to put forward an effective exemption that maintains important investor protections and addresses the challenges of balancing the respective roles of federal and state law.

First, the proposed rules broadly preserve and modernize the essential, current framework of Regulation A, including existing provisions regarding issuer eligibility, offering circulars, “testing the waters,” and bad actor disqualifications.  The proposal also retains the review and qualification of offering statements by the Commission and its staff.  I believe that such review and qualification is a critically important investor protection.

Second, the proposed rules include additional investor protections designed to address the heightened risk to investors associated with increasing the annual offering limitation to $50 million.  Tier 2 offerings would, for example, impose a limitation on the amount of securities that investors can purchase and require audited financial statements and ongoing reporting from issuers.

Third, in light of these investor protections and the need to develop a workable exemption, the proposed rules would preempt state securities laws with respect to Tier 2 offerings, but preserve state review with respect to Tier 1 offerings.  The complexity, time, and cost of compliance with state securities laws for Regulation A offerings was cited by the GAO Report – and was repeatedly cited in the pre-rulemaking comments we received – as a key reason for the limited use of the exemption.  To ensure that the revised exemption will be a viable path for capital-raising, a calibrated preemption of state securities laws in connection with certain Regulation A offerings currently appears necessary.

Importantly, however, the proposal explores alternative approaches to addressing the challenge of balancing the respective roles of federal and state securities laws.  One recent significant development is the proposal by the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) for coordinated reviews of Regulation A offerings, which, if fully implemented, could potentially reduce the costs of compliance with state securities law obligations and enhance the speed of state-level review.  NASAA has taken significant steps to develop a coordinated review program, including milestones they highlighted in a letter to the Commission just last week.  I will be closely watching the continued development of this program and would like to hear more about how this program could effectively resolve the challenges identified with the current approach to state securities law compliance.

The proposal we are considering today is very thoughtful and benefits from the staff’s careful analysis and work over many months, and it considers a range of approaches to developing a workable exemption that preserves investor protections.  It provides a strong basis for moving forward on this important initiative.  We should, however, be open to views on all of the issues raised by the proposal.

Before I turn the proceedings over to Keith Higgins, the Director of the Division of Corporation Finance, to discuss the recommendations, I would like to thank the staff for all of their efforts to develop this proposal.  Specifically, I would like to thank Keith Higgins, Mauri Osheroff, Sebastian Gomez Abero, Karen Wiedemann, Zachary Fallon, Shehzad Niazi, Paul Dudek, Amy Starr, Craig Olinger, and Mark Green in the Division of Corporation Finance; Annie Small, Rich Levine, David Fredrickson and Dorothy McCuaig in the Office of the General Counsel; Craig Lewis, Scott Bauguess, Erin Smith, Vladimir Ivanov , Rachita Gullapalli, and Christopher Meeks in the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis; Brian Croteau, Jeffrey Minton, John Cook, Kevin Stout, Ellen Gazlay, and Eric West in the Office of the Chief Accountant; Andrea Orr, Josephine Tao, Carla Carriveau, and John Guidroz in the Division of Trading and Markets; and James Curtis and Christian Sandoe in the Division of Investment Management.  I also would like to thank my fellow Commissioners and their counsels for their hard work on this proposal.

SEC ANNOUNCES PRISON TERM AND RESTITUTION PAYMENT ORDER FOR INVESTMENT ADVISOR

FROM:  U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION 
Massachusetts Investment Adviser Sentenced to 36 Months in Jail for Defrauding Investors

The Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission) announced that, on December 11, 2013, Judge Denise J. Casper of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts sentenced former Plymouth, Massachusetts investment adviser Jeffrey A. Liskov (Liskov) to serve a prison term of 36 months, followed by a supervised probationary period of 3 years, and to pay $3,003,147 in restitution. The sentence was imposed in connection with Liskov’s guilty plea in July 2013 to a one-count criminal Information charging him with willfully violating Section 206 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (Advisers Act).

The Commission previously filed a civil action against Liskov and his former advisory firm, EagleEye Asset Management, LLC (EagleEye), for defrauding their clients in connection with foreign currency exchange (forex) investments. The factual allegations in the criminal Information are substantially similar to those in the Commission’s complaint in the civil case.  The Commission’s complaint, filed on September 8, 2011, alleged that, between at least November 2008 and August 2010, Liskov made material misrepresentations to several advisory clients to induce them to liquidate investments in securities and instead invest in forex. The forex investments resulted in client losses totaling nearly $4 million, while EagleEye and Liskov pocketed over $300,000 in performance fees. The Commission alleged that Liskov’s strategy was to generate temporary profits on client forex investments to enable him to collect performance fees, after which client forex investments invariably quickly declined in value.

According to the Commission’s complaint, Liskov made material misrepresentations or failed to disclose material information to clients concerning the nature of forex investments, the risks involved in forex, and Liskov’s poor track record in forex trading for himself and other clients. The Commission’s complaint further alleged that, as to two clients, without their knowledge or consent, Liskov liquidated securities in their brokerage accounts and transferred the proceeds to their forex trading accounts where he lost nearly all their funds, but not before first collecting performance fees on temporary profits in these clients’ forex accounts. The complaint alleged that Liskov accomplished the unauthorized transfers by using “white out” correction fluid to change dates, amounts, and other data on asset transfer documentation. Liskov also opened multiple forex trading accounts in the name of one client, without obtaining the client’s consent, thereby maximizing his ability to earn performance fees on the client’s forex investments.

As result of the foregoing conduct, the Commission alleged that EagleEye and Liskov violated Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) and Rule 10b-5 thereunder and Sections 206(1) and 206(2) of the Advisers Act. The Commission also alleged that EagleEye failed to maintain certain books and records required of investment advisers in violation of Section 204 of the Advisers Act and Rule 204-2 thereunder, and that Liskov aided and abetted EagleEye’s violations of these recordkeeping provisions.

After an eight-day trial in the Commission’s civil case, on November 26, 2012, a jury found that EagleEye and Liskov violated Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder and Section 206(1) of the Advisers Act. After a further hearing, United States District Court Judge William G. Young found that EagleEye and Liskov violated Section 204 of the Advisers Act and Rule 204-2 thereunder, concerning recordkeeping obligations relating to EagleEye’s business. On December 12, 2012, the Court entered a final judgment against EagleEye and Liskov in the Commission’s action, ordering that they be permanently enjoined from future violations of the foregoing provisions of the securities laws. The Court also ordered EagleEye and Liskov to pay, jointly and severally, disgorgement of their ill-gotten gains in the amount of $301,502.26, plus pre-judgment interest on that amount of $29,603.59, and each to pay a civil penalty of $725,000.

On December 27, 2012, the Commission instituted public administrative proceedings against each of EagleEye and Liskov to determine what sanctions against them, if any, would be appropriate and in the public interest. On July 24, 2013, an administrative law judge revoked EagleEye’s registration as an investment adviser and barred Liskov from, among other things, associating with any investment adviser. On September 23, 2013, the Commission issued orders of finality in the administrative proceedings against EagleEye and Liskov.

The Commission acknowledges the assistance of Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts William F. Galvin’s Securities Division and the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, both of which filed cases against EagleEye and Liskov in September 2011.


Wednesday, December 18, 2013

COMMODITY POOL OPERATOR ORDERED TO PAY OVER $470,000 TO SETTLE FRAUD CHARGES

FROM:  U.S. COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION 
CFTC Orders David R. Lynch to Pay More than $470,000 in Restitution and a Civil Monetary Penalty to Settle Charges of Fraudulent Misappropriation, Fraudulent Solicitations, and False Statements

Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that it entered an Order requiring David R. Lynch of Stuart, Florida, to make restitution of $171,297 to defrauded customers and pay a $300,000 civil monetary penalty, among other sanctions, for fraudulent misappropriation, fraudulent solicitations, and false statements in connection with a commodity pool trading leveraged or margined off-exchange foreign currency contracts (forex). Lynch has never been registered with the CFTC.

According to the CFTC’s Order, from about December 2008 through July 4, 2013, Lynch operated a commodity pool and fraudulently solicited at least $348,450 from at least 14 pool participants. Lynch falsely told pool participants that he had earned as much as 7 percent per month trading forex, that they could never lose their principal, and that they could get their funds back at any time. However, Lynch deposited only a portion of his pool participants’ funds in forex trading accounts and the trading he did was unprofitable, the Order finds.

The CFTC’s Order also finds that Lynch misappropriated over $126,000 of his pool participants’ funds by using part of those funds to pay his personal expenses and the remainder to pay false profits or purported returns of capital to some pool participants in the manner of a Ponzi scheme. Further, to conceal his trading losses and misappropriations, Lynch issued monthly account statements to pool participants that falsely showed that pool participants were earning consistent profits.

In addition to ordering restitution to be made and imposing a civil monetary penalty, the CFTC Order also requires Lynch to cease and desist from further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and a CFTC regulation, as charged, and imposes permanent bans on trading, registration, and certain other commodity related activities.

CFTC Division of Enforcement staff members responsible for this case are Glenn I. Chernigoff, Alison B. Wilson, Kara L. Mucha, and Gretchen L. Lowe.