Financial Enforcement Actions | Week of Apr 07 to Apr 12

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Avonside Home Improvements Limited
Violation: AHIL is failing to satisfy the suitability Threshold Condition, in that the Authority is not satisfied that AHIL is a fit and proper person having regard to all the circumstances, including whether AHIL managed its business in such a way as to ensure that its affairs were conducted in a sound and prudent manner… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: C.B.C Salon Design Limited
Violation: CBC has failed to comply with the regulatory requirement to submit the Return. CBC has not been open and co-operative in all its dealings with the Authority, in that CBC has failed to respond adequately to the Authority’s repeated requests for it to submit the Return, and has thereby failed to comply with Principle 11 of the Authority’s Principles for Businesses and to satisfy the Authority that it is ready, willing and organized to comply with the requirements and standards under the regulatory system… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Cherry Pie Ltd
Violation: CPL has failed to pay the Overdue Balance and it has not been open and cooperative in all its dealings with the Authority, in that CPL has failed to respond to the Authority’s repeated requests for it to pay the Overdue Balance, and has thereby failed to comply with Principle 11 of the Principles and to satisfy the Authority that it is ready, willing and organized to comply with the requirements and standards of the regulatory system… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Darren Parry
Violation: Mr. Parry has failed to pay the Overdue Balance and he has not been open and cooperative in all his dealings with the Authority, in that Mr. Parry has failed to respond to the Authority’s repeated requests for him to pay the Overdue Balance, and has thereby failed to comply with Principle 11 of the Principles and to satisfy the Authority that he is ready, willing and organized to comply with the requirements and standards of the regulatory system… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Derren White
Violation: Mr. White has failed to pay the Overdue Balance and he has not been open and co-operative in all his dealings with the Authority, in that Mr. White has failed to respond to the Authority’s repeated requests for him to pay the Overdue Balance, and has thereby failed to comply with Principle 11 of the Principles and to satisfy the Authority that he is ready, willing and organized to comply with the requirements and standards of the regulatory system… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Egcars
Violation: Egcars has failed to respond to six separate requests for the same information. The final three requests included a statement to the effect that the recipient must contact the Authority or face a Warning Notice. The Firm has failed to respond to all requests… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Kevin Hart
Violation: Mr. Hart has failed to comply with the regulatory requirement to submit the Return. Mr. Hart has not been open and co-operative in all his dealings with the Authority, in that Mr. Hart has failed to respond adequately to the Authority’s repeated requests for him to submit the Return, and has thereby failed to comply with Principle 11 of the Authority’s Principles for Businesses and to satisfy the Authority that he is ready, willing and organized to comply with the requirements and standards under the regulatory system… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Restasleep Yorkshire Limited
Violation: RYL has failed to comply with the regulatory requirement to submit the Return. RYL has not been open and co-operative in all its dealings with the Authority, in that RYL has failed to respond adequately to the Authority’s repeated requests for it to submit the Return, and has thereby failed to comply with Principle 11 of the Authority’s Principles for Businesses and to satisfy the Authority that it is ready, willing and organized to comply with the requirements and standards under the regulatory system… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Fresenius Medical Care and NxStage Medical
Violation: Respondent Fresenius is, and at all times relevant herein has been, engaged in commerce, as “commerce” is defined in Section 1 of the Clayton Act as amended, 5 U.S.C. § 12, and is a company whose business is in or affects commerce, as “commerce” is defined in Section 4 of the FTC Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. § 44… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: EduTrek, LLC
Violation: Defendants are telemarketers that call telephone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry (“the Registry” or “the Do Not Call Registry”) without consumers’ consent. Defendants are paid by post-secondary and vocational schools to promote their programs and generate consumer leads. They do so by making unsolicited telephone calls to consumers who have submitted their contact information on websites that claim to help them apply for jobs, health insurance, unemployment benefits, Medicaid coverage, or other forms of public assistance… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: iSpring Water Systems, LLC
Violation: In numerous instances, Corporate Defendant and its officers, Chen and Cai, made false, deceptive, or unsubstantiated U.S.-origin claims for imported products in violation of these Commission Order provisions… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Global Community Innovations LLC, et al. (Geniux)
Violation: The FTC brings this action under Section 13(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (“FTC Act”), 15 U.S.C. § 53(b), to obtain permanent injunctive relief, rescission or reformation of contracts, restitution, the refund of monies paid, disgorgement of ill-gotten monies, and other equitable relief for Defendants’ acts or practices in violation of Sections 5(a) and 12 of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 45(a) and 52, in connection with Defendants’ marketing and sale of purported cognitive enhancement products… Read More

Penalties: $39,430.00
Respondent: Brian Lawrence Stephan.
Violation: Stephan lacked a reasonable basis to recommend that TF invest in twenty different mutual fund families during the Relevant Period because his recommendations generated higher sales charges than similar investments across fewer fund families. With respect to ten of the twenty purchases, Stephan also lacked a reasonable basis for recommending that TF purchase Class A share mutual fund shares in an amount that was just $5,000 or $10,000 below an available breakpoint. Based on the foregoing, Stephan violated FINRA Rules 2111 and 2010, and NASD Ruled 2310… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Caroline Wisniewski
Violation: Wisniewski permitted Pariter to conduct a securities business while below its net capital requirement, failed to prepare timely net capital computations, filed inaccurate Financial and Operational Combined Uniform Single (“FOCUS”) reports on behalf of Pariter, failed to file timely notifications of Pariter’s net capital deficiencies, and caused Pariter to maintain inaccurate books and records. As a result of the foregoing, Wisniewski violated FINRA Rules 4110(b), 4511 and 2010… Read More

Penalties: $169,458.85
Respondent: Corey Lee Mireau
Violation: Mireau borrowed $150,000 and $500, respectively, from two of his Firm customers without notifying, or obtaining prior written approval from, Ameriprise, in violation of FINRA Rules 3240 and 2010… Read More

Penalties: $7,500.00
Respondent: Denise Marie Bucci (“Bucci”)
Violation: Bucci forged and falsified at least 99 signatures. Bucci forged her branch manager’s signature on customer account documents and falsified signatures of RJFS clients by photocopying signatures from previously signed forms and pasting them onto new ones… Read More

Penalties: $10,000.00
Respondent: Euro Pacific Capital, Inc. (n/k/a A.G.P./Alliance Global Partners Corp.)
Violation: EURP improperly charged a EURP customer $6,000 for filing a Form 211 with FINRA, in violation of FINRA Rule 5250. EURP’s actions violated FINRA Rules 5250 and 2010… Read More

Penalties: $30,905.60
Respondent: Gary A. Forrest
Violation: Forrest engaged in unapproved private securities transactions involving the sale of promissory notes totaling $826986.Hence, violated FINRA Rules 3280 and 2010… Read More

Penalties: $5,000.00
Respondent: Jason Lane
Violation: Lane failed to notify WFCS about the full nature of his participation in three outside business activities—in particular, his efforts to solicit investments in those activities, which WFCS explicitly prohibited. Two of Lane’s notices about those outside business activities were also untimely. By virtue of this conduct, Lane violated FINRA Rule 3270 and consequently FINRA Rule 2010… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: John W. Cutshall
Violation: General Securities Representative John Cutshall abused his position as trustee for trusts that he administered on behalf of deceased and elderly customers by converting and improperly using funds from the trusts, and he thwarted his member firms’ ability to supervise his trustee activities by failing to disclose that he had been named as a beneficiary to a trust for which he had been serving as trustee… Read More

Penalties: $5,000.00
Respondent: Justin R. Cornelison
Violation: Cornelison willfully failed to amend his Uniform Application for Securities Industry Registration or Transfer (“Form U4”) to disclose that he had been charged with, and subsequently pled guilty to, a felony, in violation of Article V, Section 2(c) of FINRA’s By-Laws, and FINRA Rules 1122 and 2010… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Michael Paul Lessard, Jr.
Violation: In December 2016, while associated with Southeast, Lessard borrowed $60,000 from his Southeast customer G.J., a senior investor to whom Lessard is unrelated, Lessard failed to notify Southeast of his borrowing arrangement with G.J. nor seek the firm’s approval… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Pariter Securities, LLC
Violation: Pariter conducted a securities business while below its net capital requirement, did not prepare timely net capital computations, filed inaccurate Financial and Operational Combined Uniform Single (“FOCUS”) reports, did not file timely notifications of its net capital deficiencies, and maintained inaccurate books and records… Read More

Penalties: $5,000.00
Respondent: Thomas Z. Tan
Violation: Tan improperly charged a EURP customer $6,000 for filing a Form 211 with FINRA, in violation of FINRA Rule 5250. Tan’s actions violated FINRA Rules 5250 and 2010… Read More

Penalties: $32,500.00
Respondent: Wilson-Davis & Co., Inc.,
Violation: Wilson-Davis failed to establish, maintain, and enforce a supervisory system, including written supervisory procedures, reasonably designed to review email correspondence for indications of potential violations of federal securities laws or FINRA rules… Read More

Penalties: $5,778.26
Respondent: Frederick David Holloway
Violation: Under cause one, Holloway failed to meaningfully compare the benefits, fees, and surrender costs associated with variable annuities being exchanged, or document any suitability analysis, in connection with 42 variable annuity exchanges, all in violation of FINRA Rules 2330(b)(1) and 2010. We would suspend Holloway for six months and fined him $15,000 for this violation, but in light of the bars, we do not impose this additional sanction… Read More

Penalties: $5,000.00
Respondent: John Robert White
Violation: By using an unauthorized, personal email address to conduct broker-dealer business and by failing to preserve those emails, White prevented Growth Capital from maintaining all business-related communications as required under the FINRA rules, the Exchange Act and the applicable Exchange Act rules. By virtue of the foregoing, Respondent violated FINRA Rule 4511 and 2010… Read More

Penalties: $67,724.00
Respondent: William Stafford Thurmond
Violation: Thurmond violated NASD Conduct Rule 2310 (through July 8, 2012) and FINRA Rules 2111 (from July 9, 2012) and 2010. By virtue of the foregoing, Thurmond violated FINRA Rules 4511 and 2010… Read More

Penalties: $25,000.00
Respondent: Stephen H. Watkins
Violation: From March 30, 2015, through February 5, 2018, Watkins violated FINRA Rules 4511 and 2010 by using an email account associated with his outside business activities (“OBAs”) for communications related to securities business. Those communications were not inputted, maintained, or preserved by the Firm, and Watkins’ use of this outside email account caused the Firm to violate FINRA Rule 4511 and SEC Rules 17a-3 and 17a-4… Read More

Penalties: £400,000.00
Respondent: Bounty (UK) Ltd
Violation: Bounty Contravened DPP1 by sharing the personal data of over 14 million individuals to a number of organizations including credit reference and marketing agencies without informing those individuals that it might do so. As a result, Bounty processed that personal data unfairly and without satisfying any processing condition under schedule 2 to the DPA… Read More

Penalties: £400,000.00
Respondent: Bounty (UK) Ltd
Violation: Bounty UK is fined for sharing personal data unlawfully… Read More

Penalties: £120,000.00
Respondent: True Visions Productions
Violation: TVP failed to process the personal data of patients at the clinic fairly, lawfully and in accordance with a condition in schedules 2 or 3, in contravention of the First Data Protection Principle at Part I of schedule to the DPA… Read More

Penalties: £120,000.00
Respondent: True Visions Productions
Violation: ICO fines television company for unfair and unlawful filming in maternity clinic… Read More

Penalties: $9,425,186.56
Respondent: Craig Carton, et al.
Violation: “A New York-based sports radio personality convicted in November 2018 of securities and wire fraud and conspiracy following a federal jury trial was sentenced on April 5, 2019, to 42 months’ imprisonment… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Bevil et al; Duke et al; Duncan & Saccomanno et al
Violation: Respondents were hired by Intertech Solutions to engage in or facilitate cold-call solicitations of hundreds of prospective investors throughout the United States and Canada from at least February 2014 through December 2016… Read More

Penalties: $25,678.64
Respondent: Clear Scope Advisors, Inc.
Violation: Clear Scope Advisors Inc. (“CSA”) provided municipal advisory services to two municipal entities without being properly qualified in accordance with the rules of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (the “MSRB”)… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Gonzalo Ortiz
Violation: Gonzalo Ortiz, of Hackensack, New Jersey, falsely touted his success in investing in stocks and promised the investor a minimum 50% return in a year, and induced the investor to give him control of over $570,000 the investor’s retirement savings. The complaint alleges that contrary to these promises, Ortiz misappropriated almost half of the funds and invested the other funds in high-risk microcap companies that generated significant losses… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: James K. McKillop
Violation: McKillop has facilitated the effective sale of at least 116 public shell companies to those who were interested in taking their private businesses public. In doing so, McKillop acted as a broker by soliciting investors in securities transactions for which he received compensation based on the success of change in control transactions, helping structure securities transactions in public reporting shells for clients, and regularly participating in key aspects of the distribution of securities of public shell companies… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Jeremy S. Wagers, Esq.,
Violation: Wagers participated with others in a scheme that served to defraud investors who purchased oil-and-gas securities in transactions with four companies: Breitling Energy Corporation (“BECC”), Breitling Oil & Gas Corporation (“BOG”), Crude Energy, LLC (“Crude”), and Patriot Energy, Inc… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Martin R. Stancik
Violation: Stancik pled guilty to one count of mail fraud [18 U.S.C. § 1341] and one count of aggravated identity theft [18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1)] in a criminal action in connection with (1) his misappropriation of $544,398.76 from four broker-dealer customers between 2003 and 2015, and (2) in connection with the forgery of a check made payable to one of his clients… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Paul Bannon Powers
Violation: Paul B. Powers had early access to key revenue information as the company’s associate general counsel and assistant secretary, and he purchased 18,000 shares of SeaWorld stock the day after he received a confidential draft of the 2018 second-quarter earnings release that detailed a strong financial performance by the company after a lengthy period of decline… Read More

Penalties: $35,000.00
Respondent: Stanley S. Bae
Violation: Bae directed his clients to invest in First Picks Holdings LLC (“First Picks”) a private company based in Beverly Hills, California __V__ Bae portrayed First Picks as a safe and profitable investment opportunity. Investors were also told that their funds would be used to build new restaurants As Bae knew or was reckless in not knowing, these representations were false or misleading… Read More

Penalties: $109,296,448.10
Respondent: Joseph Meli, et al., Craig H. Carton, et al.
Violation: The final judgments entered against defendants Meli and his companies (127 Holdings, LLC, Advance Entertainment, LLC, and Advance Entertainment II, LLC) permanently enjoin them from violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and order them to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest collectively totaling more than $58 million… Read More

Penalties: $106,156,234.75
Respondent: Joseph Meli, et al., Craig H. Carton, et al.
Violation: Violating, directly or indirectly, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) [15 U.S.C. § 78j(b)] and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder [17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5], by using any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce, or of the mails, or of any facility of any national securities exchange, in connection with the purchase or sale of any security… Read More

Penalties: $336,603.05
Respondent: Anna Meli; – Joseph Meli, et al., Craig H. Carton, et al.
Violation: Violating, directly or indirectly, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) [15 U.S.C. § 78j(b)] and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder [17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5], by using any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce, or of the mails, or of any facility of any national securities exchange, in connection with the purchase or sale of any security… Read More

Penalties: $2,803,610.25
Respondent: Joseph G. Meli and Advance Entertainment, LLC – Joseph Meli, et al., Craig H. Carton, et al.
Violation: Violating, directly or indirectly, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) [15 U.S.C. § 78j(b)] and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder [17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5]. __V__ Violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”) [15 U.S.C. § 77q(a)]… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Ivan Acevedo and Dane R. Roseman a/k/a Dayne R. Roseman
Violation: The SEC’s complaint charges Acevedo and Roseman with violating the anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws, Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 (“Securities Act”) and Section 10b5 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) and Rule 10b-5 thereunder… Read More

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