Securities Industry Commentator by Bill Singer Esq

From at least 2013 through 2017, Kinslieh and Patel, who were convenience store owners purchased winning lottery tickets from the ticket holders for cash, at a discount to the value of the tickets, thereby allowing the ticket holders to avoid reporting the winnings on their tax returns - a scheme known as "ten-percenting." Kinslieh and Patel gave the winning tickets to Jones, who presented them to the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission as his own, and collected the full winnings. Kinslieh did not report to the Internal Revenue Service or pay taxes on the income that he received from the ticket scheme.   

[M]ERLO and DECKER engaged in a scheme with others known and unknown designed to steal over $2 million from a deceased Manhattan woman (the "Victim").  As part of the scheme, DECKER and another co-conspirator, who both worked in the Victim's building, stole stock certificates valued at over $2 million from the Victim's Manhattan apartment after the Victim's death.  DECKER approached MERLO, a New Jersey-based insurance agent and DECKER's longtime friend, to find a way to monetize the stock certificates.  In August 2016, MERLO and DECKER agreed with others to make false representations to a financial institution ("Company-1") in order to open a brokerage account (the "Account") in the Victim's name, deposit the stolen stock certificates into the Account, and sell the shares in the brokerage account, resulting in a cash balance of over $2 million.  MERLO agreed to help launder the cash balance in the brokerage account, approaching several individuals to carry out his plan.  MERLO, DECKER, and their co-conspirators then attempted to purchase $2 million in gold coins using the assets in the Account.  MERLO, DECKER, and the other co-conspirators met several times over the course of months and communicated using prepaid or "burner" phones regarding the fraudulent scheme. 

[H]enry Sargent, a Connecticut resident, created BMP Holdings Inc. and issued BMP shares to friends, family, and co-workers for the purpose of manufacturing shares to be sold later on public markets. To register the public sale of these shares, attorney Joseph Tomasek, a New Jersey resident, allegedly helped Sargent file BMP's Form S-1, which falsely stated that BMP shareholders had acquired their shares for investment purposes and that Sargent did not control the shares. New York residents Patrick Giordano, Frederick Mintz, and Alan Fraade then helped Sargent and Tomasek facilitate the merger of BMP into PixarBio Corporation, a private company that the SEC previously charged along with three other individuals. The defendants allegedly transferred the fraudulently registered BMP shares to Sargent, Giordano, and M. Jay Herod, a defendant in the PixarBio litigation. Sargent and Giordano allegedly made over $1 million from the sale of BMP to PixarBio, and the sale of the fraudulently registered shares into the public market.

[D]uring the summer of 2017, Equifax was the victim of a data breach, where hackers acquired names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, and addresses of over 145 million Americans.  At the time, Jun Ying was the Chief Information Officer of Equifax U.S. Information Solutions.  In that role, he was provided sensitive information that led him to conclude that Equifax was the victim of the data breach before it was made public.

On Friday, August 25, 2017, Ying texted a co-worker that the breach they were working on "sounds bad.  We may be the one breached."  The following Monday, Ying conducted web searches on the impact of Experian's 2015 data breach on its stock price.  Later that morning, Ying exercised all of his stock options, resulting in him receiving 6,815 shares of Equifax stock, which he then sold.  He received proceeds of over $950,000, and realized a gain of over $480,000, thereby avoiding a loss of over $117,000.  On September 7, 2017, Equifax publicly announced its data breach, which resulted in its stock price falling.

[C[hahal used his company, Kane Capital Investment Group, LLC, to fraudulently solicit approximately $1.4 million from about 50 individuals, including friends and family members. The complaint further alleged that Chahal initially invested client funds in a variety of investments, but suffered significant trading losses. According to the complaint, instead of disclosing the losses, Chahal lied to his clients about their investment returns, continued raising funds, then used the money for his personal benefit, including to pay for his luxury car, rent, travel, dining, and other living expenses, and to make Ponzi-like payments to earlier investors.

Chahal was also charged criminally by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia and civilly by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. In the criminal case, Chahal pleaded guilty to charges of orchestrating a multi-year investment fraud scheme, and was sentenced to a prison term of 30 months followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay forfeiture of $1,232,510 and restitution of $445,633. Chahal also settled the charges brought against him by the CFTC, consenting to permanent injunctions and restitution of $1,232,510, which was deemed satisfied by the forfeiture order against him in the criminal case.

[B]etween 2011 and 2018, Green, a SunTrust Bank employee, stole more than $171,000 from a bank customer. Green withdrew more funds then the bank client had authorized, he then directed the extra funds into several different bank accounts that he controlled. At different times during the scheme, Green took the stolen funds to pay down his own mortgage and auto loans. Upon discovering the theft, in April 2018, SunTrust immediately fired Green and reimbursed the bank customer for the stolen funds.  

SIDE BAR: A golden not-so-oldie:

Securities Industry Commentator /  June 14, 2019
http://www.rrbdlaw.com/4636/securities-industry-commentator/

BB&T and SunTrust Come Up With Half-Assed Name for Merged Companies: "Truist"

As proclaimed on https://www.thepremierfinancialinstitution.com/brand-story/:

Bringing together two organizations with rich histories and deep values takes commitment, care, and creativity. Turning them into one bank will prove to be an unparalleled opportunity for transformation. To build our new brand for success, we started by talking to the people closest to it. Associates, teammates, prospects, and clients all shared inputs and insights to shape who we are and where we're going, ensuring that we're creating the bank people want.

Now, we're thrilled to announce our new name: Truist. Truist is the first signal of our bold future together. It reflects a shared belief in building a better future for our clients and communities. Throughout our process, one thing has always been clear: we are creating a bank that will be built around you and what you want in a financial institution. We want to do more than just understand your financial goals; we believe in helping you on the road to achieving them. Making that belief real involves innovating and building new technology, helping you grow your own financial confidence, and taking action to help you pursue the goals that drive you forward. And that's why we're taking a stand to always look forward, pursue what's next, and do more for you.

The transaction between BB&T and SunTrust to form Truist is subject to regulatory approvals. BB&T and SunTrust remain separate and independent companies until the transaction closes.

Bill Singer's Comment: Truist? Truist?? Truist??? How much moolah did BB&T and SunTrust blow on that bull-shit name. You can't merge BB&T with SunTrust and come up with Truist. There are rules about these things, right? If you're merging BB&T and SunTrust, you are limited to using the letters in the names of each of the to-be-merged firms, which would be BTSUNR. Using those six letters but only those six letters (and adopting the Corporate Naming Convention: Sec. 401(D)(a)(ii), which permits the repetition of any pre-existing letter from a predecessor-in-interest's name), I came up with the perfect name for the successor entity of BB&T and SunTrust: BS Butt Burn 

fraudulently inducing at least 25 investors to invest more than $1.69 million in an unregistered offering of promissory notes. According to the Complaint, Krimm and KFS falsely claimed that they owned and operated their own highly successful mortgage loan business when, in fact, Krimm and KFS operated no mortgage lending business of their own. The Complaint further stated that Krimm and KFS used over 75% of the money from new investors to pay Krimm's personal expenses and to make Ponzi-like payments to prior investors. The Complaint alleged that Krimm and KFS violated the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act") and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, as well as the securities registration provisions in Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act.

U.S. District Judge Robert D. Mariani, sitting by designation in the District of Delaware, entered the final judgments, which order that Krimm and KFS are jointly and severally liable for $913,537 in disgorgement, $161,277 in prejudgment interest, and a civil penalty in the amount of $913,537. The final judgments resolve this litigation in its entirety.

In a parallel criminal action brought by the Delaware Department of Justice, Krimm pleaded guilty to two counts of securities fraud and three counts of theft. He is awaiting sentencing.

[S]ugarman, formerly associated with a registered broker-dealer and investment adviser, directed the scheme along with Jason Galanis, whom the SEC has previously charged with securities fraud.  According to the SEC's complaint, Sugarman secured financing to acquire control of investment advisers so that he and his associates could use client funds to purchase Native American tribal bonds.  The SEC further alleges that Sugarman and his associates gained control over the disposition of the bond sale proceeds, and that although the proceeds were supposed to be invested in annuities to benefit the tribal corporation and repay the bondholders, Sugarman and his associates instead misappropriated the proceeds for their own benefit.

The Commission has previously charged Galanis and seven other individuals for their roles in the tribal bonds scheme. Galanis, who pleaded guilty to parallel criminal charges arising from his role in the tribal bonds scheme, is currently incarcerated.

• Securities Industry Commentator
• Bill Singer