Financial Enforcement Actions | Week of Mar 17 to Mar 22

Penalties: $235,000.00
Respondent: Cowen and Company, LLC
Violation: The firm failed to transmit and/or transmitted inaccurate order information to OATS, in violation of FINRA Rule 7450. In addition, during the Relevant Period, the firm failed to establish and maintain a supervisory system, including written supervisory procedures, reasonably designed to achieve compliance with its OATS reporting obligations, in violation of FINRA Rules 3110 and 2010… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Dakota Securities International, Inc. and
Bruce Martin Zipper
Violation: Dakota and Zipper violated FINRA Rules 4511 and 2010, and Dakota willfully violated Section 17(a) of the Exchange Act and Rule 17a-3 thereunder, by misidentifying in Dakota’s books and records the representative of record for certain trades entered before, during, and after the Suspension Period… Read More

Penalties: $50,000.00
Respondent: Corinthian Partners, LLC, Richard Calabrese, Mitchell Manoff
Violation: Corinthian, Calabrese, and Manoff failed to establish, maintain and enforce a reasonably designed supervisory system, including written supervisory procedures (WSPs), regarding the sale of Non-Traditional Exchange Traded Products (NT-ETPs) to the Firm’s customers… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Judith A. Johnston
Violation: “During the Staff’s investigation into multiple customer complaints regarding the sale of variable annuities when Johnston was registered with NYLIFE. Johnston failed to cooperate by not providing on-the-record testimony in violation of FINRA Rules 8210 and 2010″… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Qianqi Rao
Violation: On April 23, 2018, while associated with JPMS, Rao accessed and reviewed prohibited material while taking the Series 52 examination, in violation of FINRA Rule 2010… Read More

Penalties: $506,369.00
Respondent: Devin Lamarr Wicker
Violation: Wicker converted and misused the customer’s $50,000 to pay for Bonwick’s expenses, in violation of FINRA Rules 2150(a) and 2010… Read More

Penalties: $25,000.00
Respondent: Arbor Research & Trading, LLC
Violation: Arbor was a broker-dealer with market access and that provided customers with access to an alternative trading system (ATS), but failed to establish, document, and maintain a system of risk management controls and supervisory procedures reasonably designed to manage the financial, regulatory, and other risks of this business activity. Arbor violated Section 15(c)(3) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934; SEA Rule 15c3-5(b), (c)(I) and (2), and (e); and FINRA Rule 2010, Arbor’s conduct also violated MSRB Rule 0-27… Read More

Penalties: $20,000.00
Respondent: Farrukh S. Kazami
Violation: Kazmi has consented, without admitting or denying the allegations of the Complaint, and solely for the purposes of this proceeding and any other proceeding brought by or on behalf of FINRA, or to which FINRA is a party, to the entry of findings and violations consistent with the allegations of the Complaint, and to the imposition of the sanctions set forth below, and fully understands that this Order will become part of Kazmi’ permanent disciplinary record and may be considered in any future actions brought by FINRA… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Dennis Allen Hayes
Violation: Hayes failed to provide information and documents in response to two requests FINRA made pursuant to FINRA Rule 8210. As a result, Hayes violated FINRA Rules 8210 and 2010… Read More

Penalties: $22,500.00
Respondent: McDonald Partners LLC
Violation: From November 1, 2015, through June 1, 2017, McDonald Partners failed to report certain municipal securities transactions to the MSRB’s Real-Time Transaction Reporting System (“RTRS”), in violation of MSRB Rule G-14… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Edward Earl Matthes
Violation: In 2019, Matthes failed to provide documents and information requested pursuant to FINRA Rule 8210, in violation of FINRA Rules 8210 and 2010… Read More

Penalties: $25,000,000.00
Respondent: Citibank, N.A.
Violation: The Bank failed to ensure effective risk management and internal controls, including inadequate periodic reviews, over the RLP program, including… Read More

Penalties: $8,064,476.40
Respondent: Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated
Violation: Merrill failed reasonably to fulfill such supervisory responsibilities within the meaning of Section 15(b)(4)(E) of the Exchange Act because Merrill failed to establish reasonable policies and procedures, and a system for implementing such policies and procedures, that would reasonably be expected to prevent and detect the violations of Section 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act by the associated persons on the securities lending desk described above… Read More

Penalties: $600,000.00
Respondent: Kent R.E. Whitney, David Lee Parrish, The Church for the Healthy Self a/k/a CHS Trust, and CHS Asset Management Inc.
Violation: Defendant violated, and unless restrained and enjoined will continue to violate, Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act [15 U.S.C. § 78j(b)] and Rule 10b-5thereunder [17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5]… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Kent R.E. Whitney, David Lee Parrish, The Church for the Healthy Self a/k/a CHS Trust, and CHS Asset Management Inc.
Violation: The SEC alleges that the defendants violated the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The SEC is seeking permanent injunctions, disgorgement, and civil penalties against the defendants… Read More

Penalties: 1,003,306.11
Respondent: Augustine Capital Management, LLC (F/K/A Augustine Capital Management, Inc.), John T. Porter, and Thomas F. Duszynski, CPA
Violation: The Respondents caused the Fund to engage in conflicted transactions without disclosure to, or the consent of, the Fund’s investors. Respondents invested in and lent money to two entities in which the ACM owners had an interest… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Gregg A. Lerman
Violation: Lerman negligently engaged in conduct in connection with the offering of interests in Pangaea Trading Partners LLC (“Pangaea”) that operated as a fraud on Pangaea investors… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Joshua B. Gladtke
Violation: Gladtke pleaded guilty to criminal conduct relating to certain matters alleged in the complaint in this action. Gladtke pleaded guilty to one count of grand larceny in the second degree in violation of NY Penal Law § 155.40; one count of scheme to defraud in the first degree in violation of NY Penal Law § 190.65(1)… Read More

Penalties: $6,500,000.00
Respondent: Robert P. Depalo
Violation: DePalo engaged in a scheme to defraud investors who purchased units in Pangaea, a holding company that held itself out as holding indirect interests in both Arjent US and Arjent UK… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Cardinal Energy Group, Inc.
Violation: Cardinal is delinquent in its periodic filings with the Commission and has repeatedly failed to meet its obligations to file timely periodic reports and failed to make the required filings after receiving a Wells Notice from the Division of Enforcement notifying Cardinal of the delinquency and the Division’s intention to take action. Respondent failed to comply with Exchange Act Section 13(a) and Rules 13a-1 and 13a-13 thereunder… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Richard G. Cody
Violation: Cody pled guilty to one count of investment adviser fraud in violation of Title 15 United States Code, Sections 80b-6 and 80b-17, and two counts of making a false declaration in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Section 1623(a), before the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts in United States v. Richard G. Cody, Case No. 1:17-cr-10291-FDS… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Timothy W. Crawford
Violation: Cardinal and Crawford allegedly raised additional money from investors, misreported Crawford’s stock ownership, and Crawford failed to make the required disclosures that he sold millions of shares of Cardinal stock… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Timothy W. Crawford and Cardinal Energy Group, Inc.
Violation: But in periodic reports filed with the SEC in July 2017, they failed to disclose the litigation or its adverse outcome for the company. Instead, in those filings they misrepresented to the investing public that Cardinal anticipated that the leases would “become important producing properties” to the company. Crawford signed those public filings… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Inergetics, Inc.
Violation: Accordingly, notice is hereby given, pursuant to Rule 360(d) of the Commission’s Rules of Practice, that the initial decision of the administrative law judge has become the final decision of the Commission with respect to Inergetics, Inc… Read More

Penalties: $812,500.00
Respondent: “Rhode Island Commerce Corporation”
Violation: Rhode Island, enjoins Wells Fargo from violating provisions of the federal securities laws that require disclosure of material information and fair dealing in municipal bond transactions… Read More

Penalties: $2,700,000.00
Respondent: Carol Ann Pedersen
Violation: Pedersen provided investors with fabricated account statements that falsely represented that their money had been invested and was earning a return. Pedersen’s scheme fell apart in 2017 when she began to experience chronic cash flow problems and investors sued her… Read More

Penalties: $1,236,357.00
Respondent: “Frank Morelli III and Louis Buonocore”
Violation: connection with a pump-and-dump scheme that defrauded investors in YaFarm Technologies Inc., a company that purported to provide stem cell therapy, has concluded after one was sentenced and the other died after pleading guilty in parallel criminal cases… Read More

Penalties: $160,000.00
Respondent: Judson F. “Rick” Hoover, CPA
Violation: Hoover signed several of BECC’s public reports filed with the Commission that contained materially false and misleading representations about, among other things, BECC’s relationship with Crude, BECC’s business model and results and operation, and BECC’s internal controls… Read More

Penalties: $7,800,000.00
Respondent: Barry Honig, et al
Violation: Defendants failed to disclose that they were members of an investor group with respect to their investments in certain public companies, and in so doing, misled investors, and/or allegedly violated registration provisions of the federal securities in connection with their sales of securities in a penny stock issuer… Read More

Click here to see the full list of SEC Enforcement Documents