Blowing the whistle to the Securities and Exchange Commission — even when the SEC is already hot on the trail of the securities wrongdoer — can be quite lucrative. Case in point: the SEC recently announced a whistleblower award of more than $3.5 million to a company employee whose tip “bolstered” its ongoing investigation with...Read More

Chalk up one for the good guy. Brandon Neal, a former Morgan Stanley broker, achieved a rare, total victory in defense of a FINRA promissory note arbitration claim filed against him by Morgan Stanley. The claim sought approximately $215,000 in debt and another $100,000 or so in interest and attorney’s fees. In response, Mr. Neal...Read More

In a rare event, a federal court recently ordered the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, to refund to a now defunct hedge fund — Level Global Investors — $21.5 million in settlement monies the hedge fund paid in 2013 to settle SEC insider trading charges. The Federal Court’s Order was issued based upon...Read More

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently filed an enforcement action against a Deutsche Bank research analyst, Charles P. Grom, for his certification of a buy rating on the stock of Big Lots, a discount retailer, even though his opinion had grown bearish after he became privy to negative information from discussions with company executives. The...Read More

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently brought fraud charges against a securities broker-dealer, Portfolio Advisors Alliance (PAA), in connection with its role as placement agent in a high yield securities offering. The SEC also sued the broker dealer’s owner, Howard Allen, and its President, Kerri Wasserman. The broker-dealer served as placement agent for the sale...Read More

While the SEC has always prioritized insider trading investigations in its enforcement program, and publicly touts its successful cases when filed and settled, the truth is that many insider trading investigations simply do not see the light of day and are closed without enforcement action. The reason: insider trading is very difficult for the SEC...Read More

FINRA fined Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. $6 million and ordered disgorgement of almost $1.3 million in commissions for its sale of billions of unregistered shares in thinly traded microcap shares. FINRA also sanctioned the firm for failing to have in place adequate supervisory or anti-money laundering (AML) programs tailored to detect red flags or suspicious...Read More

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged this week “a known securities fraudster” with engaging in a new stock scheme after he was released from prison. According to the SEC, Edward Durante, after serving a 10-year prison term for securities fraud, commenced a new securities con by soliciting investments in a shell company he secretly controlled...Read More

Over the years, I have represented many securities brokers in promissory note, or employee forgivable loan, cases. There is no doubt that they are generally tough cases to defend — the stock broker received the money upfront, the promissory note requires repayment when the broker leaves the firm for any reason, and FINRA arbitration panels...Read More

When I was a young attorney in the Enforcement Division of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) back in the mid-to-late 1990s, the SEC did not have a formal cooperation program. There was thus no official means by which the SEC could either induce individuals to cooperate during the course of an investigation, or reward...Read More