The USA's Securities and Investment Commission has charged one Richard Karp with an audacious fax-based pump and dump. No doubt he thought it right to Karp-e diem.
The USA's Securities and Investment Commission has filed an emergency civil action against Wealth Management LLC, James Putman, and Simone Fevola alleging involvement in a kickback scheme and fraudulent conduct in relation to six unregistered investment pools they manage. An assets freezing order has been made.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has taken civil penalty enforcement action against CHUA Yang Joo (female) for insider trading under Section 218(2)(a) of the Securities and Futures Act (SFA). She dodged the insider blackout period to avoid a loss in shares.
Abiola Agbalaya was an FSA approved person and sole controller of Herald Finance Ltd (Herald). And an accomplished fiddler of mortgage applications.
Not so long ago, people were shocked when they learned of a fraud of several tens of millions. A USD50 million fraud was cause for alarm. Then Bernard Madoff created the mental equivalent of a shifting of the continental shelf. How does USD50,000 million go astray without anyone noticing. And so the news that a Florida investment adviser is accused of defrauding clients of USD550 million, somehow doesn't seem so serious.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged New York-based investment adviser Hennessee Group LLC and its principal Charles J. Gradante with securities law violations for failing to perform their advertised review and analysis before recommending that their clients invest in the Bayou hedge funds that were later discovered to be a fraud. And although Hennessee has consented to the making of a finding, it will not prove to be a precedent, dashing hopes of the victims of other, similar frauds that they may be able to rely in to recover from their own advisers.
FinCEN and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency have today announced that they have both assessed civil money penalties against the New York Branch of Doha Bank of Doha, Qatar. It's another example of regulator swarming in the USA.
As if it's not enough that the UK revoked the multi-entry visa of former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai government has responded to recent demonstrations by "Red Shirts," allegedly incited by Thaksin to the point where an ASEAN summit was cancelled amid security fears, by revoking Thaksin's Thai passport.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) yesterday (Thursday) referred to the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) four cases involving complaints of alleged misconduct in respect of investment products related to Lehman Brothers for it to decide whether to take further action.
A Hong Kong judge has ordered the winding up of Gartlett Investments Limited based on the SFC's investigation into unlicensed futures trading by Gartlet.