Securities Industry Commentator by Bill Singer Esq

December 10, 2019

featured in today's Securities Industry Commentator:



http://www.brokeandbroker.com/4954/synapse-harassment-discrimination/
In a recently filed Complaint by three former Synapse Financial employees, Chief Executive Officer Sankaet Pathak is accused of harassment and discrimination. Allegedly, Pathak tried to "break" and "rebuild" his female staff, and fostered a hostile workplace. Read the stunning allegations in the full-text Complaint.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndia/pr/social-media-influencer-sentenced-14-years-federal-prison-after-plotting-hijack
Following a four-day jury trial in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa, Rossi Lorathio Adams II a/k/a "Polo", 27, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by force, threats, and violence; and he was sentenced to 168 months' in prison plus three years of supervised release; and he was ordered to pay $9,000 in restitution., $3,9756.45 in costs, and $22,000 in attorneys fees. Although Adams had court-appointed counsel during trial, it was later determined that he was earning significant amounts of money while the case was pending.  The harrowing fact-pattern was set forth in the DOJ Release:

The evidence at trial showed that Adams founded the social media company "State Snaps" while a student at Iowa State University in 2015.  State Snaps operates on a variety of social media platforms, including Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter.  At one time, Adams had over a million followers on his social media sites, which mostly contained images and videos of young adults engaged in crude behavior, drunkenness, and nudity.  In 2015, a Des Moines area television station aired a news segment in which Adams, who in the interview would only identify himself as "Polo," was continuing to operate his social media sites despite the objections of Iowa State University administrators and the policies of the social media platforms.

Adams' followers often used the slogan, "Do It For State!"  Adams tried to purchase the Internet domain "doitforstate.com" from a Cedar Rapids resident who had registered the domain with GoDaddy.com.  Between 2015 and 2017, Adams repeatedly tried to obtain "doitforstate.com", but the owner of the domain would not sell it.  Adams also threatened one of the domain owner's friends with "gun emojis" after the friend used the domain to promote concerts.

In June 2017, Adams enlisted his cousin, Sherman Hopkins, Jr., to break into the domain owner's home and force him at gunpoint to transfer doitforstate.com to Adams.  Hopkins was a convicted felon who lived in a homeless shelter at the time.

On June 21, 2017, Adams drove Hopkins to the domain owner's house and provided Hopkins with a demand note, which contained instructions for transferring the domain to Adams' GoDaddy account.  When Hopkins entered the victim's home in Cedar Rapids, he was carrying a cellular telephone, a stolen gun, a taser, and he was wearing a hat, pantyhose on his head, and dark sunglasses on his face.        

The victim was upstairs and heard Hopkins enter the home.  From the top of a staircase, the victim saw Hopkins with the gun on the first floor.  Hopkins shouted at the victim, who then ran into an upstairs bedroom and shut the door, leaning up against the door to stop Hopkins from entering. 

Hopkins went upstairs, kicked the door open, grabbed the victim by the arm and demanded to know where he kept his computer.  When the victim told Hopkins that he kept his computer in his home office, Hopkins forcibly moved the victim to the office.  Hopkins ordered the victim to turn on his computer and connect to the Internet.  Hopkins pulled out Adams' demand note, which contained a series of directions on how to change an Internet domain name from the domain owner's GoDaddy account to one of Adams' GoDaddy accounts.

Hopkins put the firearm against the victim's head and ordered him to follow the directions on the demand note.  Hopkins then pistol whipped the victim several times in the head.  Fearing for his life, the victim quickly turned to move the gun away from his head.  The victim then managed to gain control of the gun, but during the struggle, he was shot in the leg.  The victim shot Hopkins multiple times in the chest.  He then contacted law enforcement.

Morgan Stanley is cutting jobs due to uncertain global environment, sources say (CNBC.com)
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/09/morgan-stanley-cutting-jobs-due-to-uncertain-environment-sources.html
As set forth under "Key Points" in the article:
  • Morgan Stanley is cutting roughly 2% of its workforce due to an uncertain global economic outlook, according to people with knowledge of the situation. 
  • The job cuts at the investment bank, the world's biggest equities trading firm and a leading mergers adviser, are skewed towards technology and operations roles globally, said the people, who declined to be named.
  • In October, the bank posted third-quarter profit and revenue that exceeded analysts' expectations.
SEC Obtains Touting and Fraud Judgment Against Colorado Cannabis Stock (SEC Release)
https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2019-255
In a Complaint filed in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado ("DCO") https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2019/comp-pr2019-255.pdf, the SEC named alleged stock promoter Jeffrey O. Friedland, and tow his companies: Global Corporate Strategies LLC, and Intiva Pharma LLC, as Defendants; and Lane 6552 LLC, Kathy B. Friedland, Aspen Upper Ranch LLC, and The JEffrey and Kathy Friedland Irrevocable Trust as Relief Defendants. Without admitting or denying the allegations in the complaint, Friedland and Global agreed to disgorge nearly $2.1 million plus prejudgment interest, and Intiva agreed to disgorge $20,000. Friedland also agreed to pay a $2 million penalty. All defendants consented to bars prohibiting them from participating in penny stock offerings. See DCO Judgment  https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2019
/judgement-pr2019-255.pdf As alleged in part in the DOJ Release:

[J]effrey O. Friedland touted - or promoted - the stock of cannabis company OWC Pharmaceutical Research Corp., while misrepresenting his own investment in OWC and his professional relationship with the company. According to the complaint, Friedland promoted OWC to investors without disclosing his role as a paid promoter or the amount of his compensation. As alleged in the complaint, Friedland held millions of shares of OWC stock through two companies that he controlled, Intiva Pharma LLC and Global Corporate Strategies LLC, with the bulk of the shares received as compensation for promoting OWC to investors, including retail investors.  Additionally, according to the complaint, Friedland secretly sold his OWC shares into the market at the same time that he was touting OWC stock to the public as a long-term investment.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/san-diego-woman-sentenced-nearly-six-years-federal-prison-ponzi-scheme-run-sham
Susan Margaret Werth, 58, pled pleaded guilty in the United States District Court for the Central District of California to one count of wire fraud, and she was sentenced to 70 months in prison, and she was ordered o pay $6,290,510 in restitution. As allege in part in the DOJ Release:

Werth and others working at her direction falsely promised victims that their investments were risk-free and 100 percent guaranteed by CES's "collateral account" at Wells Fargo. She lulled her victims by creating fictitious Wells Fargo bank statements to show that CES had an account with a balance of $7.2 million, as well as fabricating emails she claimed were from an employee of Wells Fargo Asset Management. Werth also falsely told investors that her companies were investing in properties that had been evaluated by the international valuation firm of Duff & Phelps.

In return for their short-term investments of 30 to 90 days, Werth promised victims a rate of return of at least 15 percent.

In reality, Werth knew the representations were false and fraudulent because she operated CES and ESC as a Ponzi scheme, in which the vast majority of its incoming revenue was comprised of victim-investor funds, which defendant Werth used to repay prior victim-investors, to pay her personal expenses, to withdraw cash, to repay investors' principal, and to make fictitious profit payments to some investors.

The total loss resulting from Werth's Ponzi scheme exceeded $6 million.

https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2019-257
https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2018/comp-pr2018-151.pdf, former U.S. Rep. Christopher Collins, his son Cameron Collins, and Stephen Zarsky were charged with insider trading, and, in a separate criminal case, each pled guilty. In response to the SEC's civil Complaint, the Defendants consented to the entry of final judgments permanently enjoining them from violating antifraud provisions of the securities laws. Christopher Collins consented to be permanently barred from acting as an officer or director of any public company. Cameron Collins and Stephen Zarsky agreed to disgorge their avoided losses with prejudgment interest, totaling $634,299 and $159,880, respectively.       

President And Chief Financial Officer Of New Jersey Company Charged With $17 Million Fraud Scheme (DOJ Release)
https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/president-and-chief-financial-officer-new-jersey-company-charged-17-million-fraud-scheme
In a criminal Complaint filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/press-release/file/1224591/download, Rajendra Kankariya and Rakesh Sethi are each charged with one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution. As alleged in part in the DOJ Release:

From late 2015 to early 2016, Lotus Exim International Inc. (LEI) obtained from the victim bank a $17 million line of credit to discharge a prior debt and gain working capital. The line of credit was to be secured by LEI's accounts receivable and assets. In reality, LEI's accounts receivable and assets were insufficient to serve as collateral for the line.

In order to conceal the lack of sufficient collateral, LEI and its employees, including Kankariya and Sethi, devised a scheme to create fake email addresses on behalf of LEI's customers so they could pose as those customers and answer the bank's and outside auditor's inquiries about the accounts receivables. The scheme involved numerous fraudulent accounts receivable where the outstanding balances were either inflated or entirely fabricated. The scheme caused the victim bank losses of approximately $17 million.

https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2019-256
Without admitting or denying the SEC's findings in its Order Instituting Administrative Proceedings https://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2019/34-87680.pdf, Jefferies LLC agreed to disgorge over $2.2 million and to pay over $468,000 in prejudgment interest and a $1.25 million penalty. As alleged in part in the DOJ Release:

The SEC's order finds that Jefferies improperly borrowed pre-released ADRs from other brokers when Jefferies should have known that those brokers did not own the foreign shares needed to support those ADRs.  The order against Jefferies also finds that it failed reasonably to supervise its securities lending desk personnel concerning borrowing pre-released ADRs from these brokers.

This is the SEC's 14th enforcement action against a bank or broker resulting from its widespread investigation into abusive ADR pre-release practices, which has thus far resulted in monetary settlements exceeding $431 million.

SEC Obtains Judgments Against Two Attorneys in Fraudulent Scheme to Issue False Legal Opinions (SEC Release) (the "2019 SEC Release")
https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2019/lr24685.htm
In a Complaint filed an Amended Complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, the SEC charged lawyer Michael J. Woodford for his role in a fraudulent scheme to conceal attorney Diane D. Dalmy's involvement in preparing legal opinion letters concerning the sale of certain microcap securities from transfer agents and brokerage firms. As set forth in part in ""SEC Charges Colorado Divorce Lawyer in Fraudulent Microcap Scheme (SEC Release)
https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2019/lr24523.htm

The initial complaint alleged that Dalmy recruited a lawyer to facilitate her scheme to circumvent the consequences of being placed on the OTC Market Group Inc.'s list of prohibited attorneys. The OTC Market Group owns and operates the largest U.S. electronic quotation and trading system for microcap securities. The SEC's amended complaint charges Woodford as the lawyer who allegedly signed the legal opinion letters drafted by Dalmy and provided them to transfer agents and brokerage firms. According to the complaint, Woodford, a divorce attorney with no previous securities law experience, signed the opinion letters without performing due diligence or conducting any legal analysis, despite representations made in the letter that he had done so. The SEC alleges that legal opinion letters are a significant factor in transfer agents' and brokerage firms' decisions to deem certain securities eligible to be freely sold on the public market without SEC registration, and that transfer agents and brokerage firms often refuse to accept legal opinion letters from attorneys subject to OTC Markets prohibitions. The SEC's amended complaint further alleges that, in 2016, Dalmy was permanently suspended from appearing and practicing before the SEC as an attorney, which prohibited her from representing clients in SEC matters, including advising clients about SEC filing obligations or content. Despite this, the SEC alleges that Dalmy continued to prepare filings for publicly traded companies and directing Woodford to sign and file them with the SEC. 

The SEC's amended complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, charges Dalmy and Woodford with violating the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and seeks from both defendants permanent injunctions against violating these provisions, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus interest, penny stock bars, and seeking from Woodford civil penalties. In addition, the SEC seeks a conduct-based injunction prohibiting Dalmy from providing legal services pertaining to federal securities law exemptions from registration and requiring her to provide actual or potential clients seeking advice or representation in matters related to the federal securities laws with copies of the SEC's prior actions against her and an order pursuant to Section 21(e) of the Exchange Act requiring Dalmy to comply with the SEC's September 2016 order.

As updated in part in the 2019 SEC Release:

The court entered a final judgment against Dalmy by default. Dalmy was previously ordered to comply with the SEC's September 2016 order permanently suspending her from appearing and practicing before the SEC as an attorney. Woodford consented to the entry of a final judgment against him. The final judgments, which were both entered on December 6, 2019, enjoin Dalmy and Woodford from violating the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and impose penny stock bars. The judgment against Dalmy orders her to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest of $30,236 and a civil penalty of $86,718, and prohibits her from providing legal services pertaining to federal securities law exemptions from registration. She is also required to provide clients or potential clients seeking advice or representation in matters related to the federal securities laws with copies of the SEC's and the court's prior orders against her. The judgment against Woodford orders him to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest of $29,762, but waives payment based on his financial condition.

For the purpose of proposing a settlement of rule violations alleged by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA"), without admitting or denying the findings, prior to a regulatory hearing, and without an adjudication of any issue, Louis Ward submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent ("AWC"), which FINRA accepted. In accordance with the terms of the AWC, for violation of NASD Rule 3010 and FINRA Rules 3110 and 2010, FINRA imposed upon Louis Ward a $10,000 fine and a six-month suspension from association with any FINRA member in any Principal capacity; and an undertaking to complete 40 hours of continuing education concerning supervisory responsibilities. The AWC asserts that Louis Ward was first registered in 1991, and by February 2008, he was registered with FINRA member firm K.C. Ward Financial, which has since had its membership terminated in February 2018. The AWC asserts that K.C. Ward "terminated Ward's registration in December 2017, when it closed." The AWC asserts that Louis Ward "does not have any  disciplinary history with the Securities and Exchange Commission, any state securities regulators, FINRA, or any other self-regulatory organization." As set forth in part in the AWC, during the relevant period from June 2010 to May 2017, Ward "was the majority owner and chief executive officer of K.C. Ward," and the firm's written supervisory procedures (the "WSPs") provided that he was "responsible for reviewing the Firm's daily transactions, and in particular, for reviewing the suitability of those transactions. The Firm's WSPs also stated that Ward was responsible for reviewing a "Monthly Active Accounts Report" that would be generated for the firm's most active accounts." The AWC alleges that:

[W]ard failed to reasonably supervise three K. C. Ward registered representatives, each of whom recommended unsuitable trades in customer accounts. Ward, the responsible principal, was aware of multiple red flags in those accounts, but failed to take reasonable steps to address those red flags.

For the purpose of proposing a settlement of rule violations alleged by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA"), without admitting or denying the findings, prior to a regulatory hearing, and without an adjudication of any issue, Kathryn Renee Charpie submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent ("AWC"), which FINRA accepted. In accordance with the terms of the AWC, for violation of FINRA Rules 3240 and 2010, FINRA imposed upon Kathryn Renee Charpie a $5,000 fine and a three-month suspension from association with any FINRA member in any and all capacities. The AWC asserts that Kathryn Renee Charpie entered the industry in 1986; and by 1994, she was registered with FINRA member firm LPL Financial LLC (and she was concurrently associated from May 2012 to February 2013 as an Investment Advisor with Independent Financial Partners). LPL terminated Charpie's registration in February 2018. The AWC asserts that Kathryn Renee Charpie "has no disciplinary history with the Securities and Exchange Commission, any state securities regulators, FINRA, or any other self-regulatory organization." As set forth in part in the AWC: 

Between August 2015 and August 2017, Charpie borrowed a total of $10,100 from Customer A and repaid $5,640. Customer A was not a family member, and Charpie neither notified nor sought pre-approval from LPL before borrowing from Customer A. She further denied borrowing from anyone on annual compliance questionnaires in 2015, 2016, and 2017.