The United States Securities and Exchange Commission(“SEC”) has accused a Georgia investment adviser of operating a Ponzi scheme that the SEC alleges in its legal Complaint (accessible here SEC Complaint) filed in federal court has defrauded over 400 investors nationwide. The SEC Complaint alleges that investment advisers at a company…
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has filed charges Cardinal Energy Group, Inc. (“Cardinal”), a Texas-based oil and gas company, as well as and its former CEO Timothy W. Crawford (“Crawford”). The SEC charges defendants with fraudulently concealing the loss of Cardinal’s major source of revenue. In mid-2017,…
On September 18, 2018, the SEC initiated a civil action (the “Complaint”) against Defendants World Tree Financial, LLC (“World Tree”), Wesley Kyle Perkins (“Perkins”), and Priscilla Gilmore Perkins (“Gilmore”). The Complaint alleges that Perkins and Gilmore, husband and wife owners of World Tree, engaged in a purported “cherry-picking” scheme. Specifically,…
As recently reported, on August 15, 2018, the SEC initiated formal charges against Defendants Jerome Cohen, Shaun Cohen, and their companies — Equitybuild, Inc. (“Equitybuild”) and Equitybuild Finance, LLC (“Equitybuild Finance”) — in connection with the SEC’s efforts to halt a purported Ponzi scheme. As alleged in the SEC’s Complaint,…
On June 19, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filed a Complaint against various individuals and entities — including former financial advisor John Charles Piccarreto, Jr. (CRD# 6276418) of San Antonio, TX — in furtherance of the SEC’s efforts to “stop an ongoing fraudulent scheme in which the Defendants…
On May 30, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filed a civil complaint against Mr. Steven Pagartanis, alleging that the East Setauket, NY stockbroker purportedly “[d]efrauded at least nine retail investors of approximately $8 million by soliciting and selling them securities using false and misleading statements from 2013 to…
On March 27, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced formal charges against Wedbush Securities Inc. (“Wedbush”, CRD# 877) with respect to allegations that the broker-dealer failed to supervise its employee, Ms. Timary Delorme (f/k/a Timary Koller) (“Delorme”). Based on its investigation, the SEC alleged Wedbush ignored numerous red…
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reportedly has settled charges against the operators of a real estate investment business that caused millions in loses to investors. Up to 300 investors may have lost money on interests in a fund known as Alaska Financial Company III, LLC (“AFC III”), which two…
On December 21, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) formally announced charges, as well as an asset freeze, against the Woodbridge Group of Companies (“Woodbridge”) and its related unregistered investment funds, as well against Woodbridge’s owner and former CEO, Robert Shapiro. Through initiating litigation (the “Complaint”) in Florida federal…
On December 8, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued a Cease-and-Desist Order (“Order”) against Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. (“Ameriprise”) in connection with allegations that Ameriprise and its employees or agents purportedly misrepresented the performance of certain ETF strategies. Specifically, the SEC’s investigation focused on sales of AlphaSector strategies…