Financial Enforcement Actions | Week of Apr 10 to Apr 16

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Quickwork LLC and Eric A. Nepute
Violation: Pursuant to Rule 65 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Section 13 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (“FTC Act”), 15 U.S.C. § 53, the government seeks a preliminary injunction to stop Defendants from making deceptive and misleading statements that taking Vitamin D and zinc supplements can prevent or treat COVID-19, thus violating the FTC Act and the COVID-19 Consumer Protection Act… Read More

Penalties: $146,249.24
Respondent: Akil Kurji & GENNEX MEDIA LLC, d/b/a Brandnex, BrandStrong, PMGOA, and Promotional Manufacturing Group of America
Violation: The Commission considered the matter and determined that it had reason to believe that Respondents have violated the Federal Trade Commission Act, and that a Complaint should issue stating its charges in that respect… Read More

Penalties: $150,000.00
Respondent: Sea Otter Securities Group LLC
Violation: From August 1,2017 through March 8, 2018 (“First Relevant Period”) and from August 1, 2019 through August 31, 2019 (“Second Relevant Period”), Sea Otter Securities Group LLC incorrectly calculated its net capital causing the Firm to not continuously maintain its required level of net capital as required under Section 15(c) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”), Rule 15c3-l thereunder, and NYSE Area Rule 4.1-E… Read More

Penalties: $5,000.00
Respondent: Jimmie Darrel Summers
Violation: In March 2019, Summers circumvented Cetera’s procedures that prohibited registered representatives from being named as a trustee, successor trustee, or executor for a firm customer, or from having power of attorney for a firm customer, except when the customer was a member of the representative’s immediate family… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Abdul Matin Rahmani
Violation: Ramani: (1) violated FINRA Rules 3270 and 2010, for engaging in outside business activitied without providing prior written notice to Joseph Stone; (2) violated FINRA Rules 8210 and 2010 for providing false or misleading written responses and false or misleading testimony to FINRA; and (3) violated FINRA Rules 8210 abd 2010 for failing to produce information and documents requested pursuant to FINRA Rules 8210… Read More

Penalties: $7,500.00
Respondent: Steven Patrick Melen
Violation: From September 2016 through August 2018, Steven Melen accepted four loans from two customers totaling $307,000 without disclosing them to his firm. As a result, Melen violated FINRA Rules 3240 and 2010. Melen also failed to disclose his ownership of a rental property to his firm in violation of FINRA Rules 3270 and 2010… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Michael Joseph Dellaporta, Jr
Violation: In connection with FINRA’s investigation into Dellaporta’s involvement in an outside business activity, FINRA staff issued Dellaporta a request for information and documents pursuant to FINRA Rule 8210. Dellaporta refused to produce the information and documents, in violation of FINRA Rules 8210 and 2010… Read More

Penalties: $250,000.00
Respondent: Score Priority Corp., formerly known as Just2Trade, Inc.
Violation: From September 2016 through September 2020, Score Priority failed to develop and implement an anti-money laundering (AML) program reasonably designed to achieve and monitor the firm’s compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and the implementing regulations thereunder. In particular, the firm did not establish and implement policies and procedures tailored to the firm’s business, which could be reasonably expected to detect and cause the report of suspicious activity arising from transactions and money movements in domestic and foreign-based retail accounts… Read More

Penalties: $80,000.00
Respondent: NatAlliance Securities, LLC
Violation: This matter originated from a review by FINRA’s Department of Market Regulation. From October 2016 through December 2017, NatAlliance engaged in a pattern and practice of distributing or publishing unsupported “throw-away” bids in multiple illiquid municipal securities that were not based on the firm’s best judgment of the fair market value (FMV) of the securities. Such conduct violated Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) Rules G-13 and G-17. Moreover, from October 2016 to the present, NatAlliance failed to establish, maintain and enforce a supervisory system, including written supervisory procedures (WSPs), reasonably designed to achieve compliance with MSRB Rule G-13. Such conduct violated MSRB Rule G-27… Read More

Penalties: $5,000.00
Respondent: Jared Matthew Reinstein
Violation: On September 4, 2018 and January 30, 2019, while associated with LPL Financial, Reinstein violated FINRA Rule 2010 by effecting four securities transactions, totaling $3,429.65, in two customers’ accounts without authorization… Read More

Penalties: $32,000.00
Respondent: Christopher Nelson Beard & Secured Marketing Concepts Corp., d/b/a Pacific One Lending
Violation: The Department conducted a full scope compliance examination of Respondent Secured Marketing Concepts in 2020. The Department’s examiners reviewed the five most recent loan files closed as of September 30, 2019… Read More

Penalties: $125,000.00
Respondent: CF Secured, LLC
Violation: Between April 2018 and January 2019, CF Secured failed to accurately calculate its required customer reserve on three separate occasions, resulting in nine hindsight deficiencies ranging from approximately $4 million to $29.8 million and totaling approximately $126 million… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Tonia Berg
Violation: From January 2020 through March 2020, Berg converted approximately $44,200 from her mother’s brokerage account through three wire transfers, in violation of FINRA Rules 2150(a) and 2010. Berg also forged her mother’s signature on two Client Authorization forms without her mother’s knowledge or consent, in violation of FINRA Rule 2010… Read More

Penalties: $1,396,769.43
Respondent: SettleIt, Inc.
Violation: The Complaint alleges violations of §§ 1031(a) and 1036(a) of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (CFPA), 12 U.S.C. §§ 5531(a), 5536(a)(1)(A) and (B), and violations of the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), 16 C.F.R. §§ 310.3(a)(1)(i), 310.3(a)(2)(x), and 310.4(a)(5)(i)(A), in connection with Defendant’s debt-settlement practices… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Healthway Shopping Network; Monetiva, Inc; Unity Global Holdings Ltd
Violation: On the basis of this Order and Respondent’s Offer, the Commission finds that : Monetiva (CIK No. 1681309) is a Delaware corporation located in Newport Beach, California with a class of securities registered with the Commission under Exchange Act Section 12(g)… Read More

Penalties: $65,000,000.00
Respondent: Robinhood Financial, LLC
Violation: The Commission found that, from 2015 through September 2018, Robinhood made material misrepresentations and omissions relating to its revenue sources, specifically its receipt of payment from certain principal trading firms, for routing Robinhood customer orders to them and relating to certain statements about the execution quality Robinhood achieved for its customers’ orders… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: CHRISTOPHER LEE HIBBARD
Violation: In connection with that plea, Respondent admitted that between approximately February 9, 2007 and December 29, 2008, he made, or caused to be made, at least 65 Automated Clearing House (“ACH”) or other wire transfers from the brokerage account of an individual in the total amount of approximately $1,226,995, and that he misappropriated and used a substantial portion of the individual’s money for his own personal use… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Martin Silver
Violation: According to the SEC’s complaint, from October 2013 to at least July 2018, Silver, the co-founder and chief operating officer of IIG, a formerly registered investment adviser, defrauded IIG’s investment advisory clients by, among other things, grossly overvaluing the assets in IIG’s flagship hedge fund… Read More

Penalties: $54,056.00
Respondent: Lev Parnas; David Correia
Violation: According to the SEC’s complaint, from 2013 through mid-2019, Correia, along with another individual, Lev Parnas, raised over $2 million from investors through investments in their entity, Fraud Guarantee… Read More

Penalties: $550,000.00
Respondent: Laurence I. Balter & Oracle Investment Research
Violation: The Commission found that Respondent, a former registered investment adviser to the Oracle Mutual Fund (the “Fund”), committed multiple breaches of fiduciary duty and violations of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws from January 2011 to April 2014 in 100 to 120 separately managed accounts (“SMA”)… Read More

Penalties: $9,500,000.00
Respondent: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V
Violation: On September 28, 2020, the Commission issued an Order Instituting Cease-and-Desist Proceedings Pursuant to Section 21C of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Making Findings, and Imposing a Cease-and-Desist Order against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V… Read More

Penalties: $975,057.78
Respondent: MASON INVESTMENT ADVISORY SERVICES, INC
Violation: These proceedings arise out of breaches of fiduciary duty by MIAS, a registered investment adviser, in connection with its mutual fund share class selection practices and the receipt of fees by its affiliated broker-dealer, Mason Securities, Inc. (“MSI”) pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (“12b-1 fees”)… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Hughe Duwayne Graham; Donald Howard; Larry Louis Matyas
Violation: On April 9, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission voluntarily dismissed defendant Donald Lee Howard of South Carolina in an ongoing civil action alleging that several individuals acted as unregistered brokers in the sale of the securities of microcap issuer US Lighting Group, Inc. (“USLG”)… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: CRAIG R. FRONCKIEWIC
Violation: The Commission found that Fronckiewicz caused Weatherford International Ltd.’s (“Weatherford”) violations of Section 13(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 12b-20, 13a-1, and 13a-13 thereunder, and engaged in improper professional conduct under Rule 102(e)(1) of the Commission’s Rules of Practice between 2007 and the third quarter of 2010 (the “relevant period”)… Read More

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