The Wall Street Legal & Regulatory Feed
Securities Industry Commentator by Bill Singer Esq
January 30, 2018
Eight Individuals Charged With Deceptive Trading Practices Executed on U.S. Commodities Markets (DOJ Press Release 18-111) https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/eight-individuals-charged-deceptive-trading-practices-executed-us-commodities-markets Eight individuals who allegedly engaged in various deceptive trading practices on U.S. commodities markets in the United States were charged in three different federal courts with crimes including, conspiracy, fraud, and/or spoofing. As set forth in part in the DOJ Press Release:
Six individuals have been charged in four cases with spoofing and/or manipulative conduct charged in the Northern District of Illinois including:James Vorley, 37, of the United Kingdom, and Cedric Chanu, 39, a French citizen, are charged in a criminal complaint with conspiracy, wire fraud, commodities fraud, and spoofing offenses in connection with executing a scheme to defraud involving both solo and coordinated spoofing on the COMEX while they were employed as precious metals traders at a leading global financial institution. Vorley was based in London, United Kingdom and Chanu was based in London, and the Republic of Singapore.Edward Bases, 55, of New Canaan, Connecticut, and John Pacilio, 53, of Southport, Connecticut, are charged in a criminal complaint with commodities fraud in connection with an alleged scheme to engage in both solo and coordinated spoofing on the COMEX when they were employed as precious metals traders at a leading global financial institution. Bases is also charged with spoofing offenses. Bases and Pacilio were based in New York City.Jitesh Thakkar, 41, of Naperville, Illinois, is charged in a criminal complaint with conspiracy and spoofing offenses alleging that Thakkar developed a software program that was used by Thakkar's co-conspirator to engage in spoofing through the placement of thousands of orders on the CME when Thakkar was the founder and principal of Edge Financial Technologies Inc. ("Edge"), an information technology consulting firm located in Chicago, Illinois.Jiongsheng ("Jim") Zhao, 30, of Australia, is charged in a criminal complaint with wire fraud, commodities fraud, making false statements to the CME, and spoofing offenses when he was a trader at a proprietary trading firm located in Sydney, Australia. According to the complaint, data analysis identified hundreds of instances of spoofing by Zhao on the CME between approximately July 2012 and March 2016. Additionally, the complaint alleges that Zhao made false written statements to the CME after being confronted with allegations of his disruptive trading practices.District of ConnecticutAndre Flotron, 53, a Swiss national currently residing in Wayne, New Jersey, has been charged in an indictment in the District of Connecticut with conspiracy to commit spoofing, wire fraud, and commodities fraud when he was a UBS AG precious metals trader at UBS's trading desks in Stamford, Connecticut and Zurich, Switzerland. The indictment also alleges that Flotron trained and instructed another UBS trader in the practice of using spoof orders.Southern District of TexasKrishna Mohan, 33, of New York, New York, is charged in a criminal complaint filed in the Southern District of Texas with commodities fraud and spoofing offenses when he was employed as a programmer and trader at a proprietary trading firm in Chicago, Illinois. According to the complaint, data analysis identified that Mohan engaged in a pattern of spoofing over a thousand times in a two-month period.
Defined Benefit Pension Plan Dispute Taxes Stockbrokers And Brokerage Firms (BrokeAndBroker.com Blog) http://www.brokeandbroker.com/3798/tax-advice-arbitration/
Tax season is upon us. Added into that already volatile mix of rules, regulations, laws, and opinions is a lot of uncertainty about the Trump administration's tax reform plans. Public customers should be meeting with their tax professionals and ensuring that any contemplated asset sales or purchases make tax sense. As often develops during this time of year, certain assets are in a highly depreciated or appreciated state and the sale of such an asset could produce an undesirable capital event. All of which prompts a lot of discussion between customers and stockbrokers about tax shelters and transfers of assets and deferring recognition of proceeds and the like. Of course, later on, when the tax bill comes and it turns out that the customer misunderstood the advice or the stockbroker was misinformed, well then it's time to hire an expensive lawyer and likely spend more money on a lawsuit then the damages that you will be awarded but at least you will make the lawyer happy.