Financial Enforcement Actions | Week of October 05 to October 11

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Zurixx, LLC
Violation: The FTC brings this action under Sections 13(b) and 19 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (“FTC Act”), 15 U.S.C. §§ 53(b) and 57b, and the Consumer Review Fairness Act (“CRFA”), 15 U.S.C. § 45b, to obtain temporary, preliminary, and 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 Section 5(a) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. § 45(a), and the CRFA, 15 U.S.C. § 45b… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Coaching Department
Violation: The defendants conned millions of dollars from people by falsely telling them they could earn thousands of dollars a month by
purchasing business coaching services and establishing Internet businesses… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: LifeLock
Violation: LifeLock failed to establish and maintain a comprehensive information security program to protect its customer data, falsely advertised that it protected sensitive customer data with the same high-level safeguards used by financial institutions, and falsely claimed it provided 24/7/365 alerts “as soon as” it received any indication a customer’s identity was being used… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: J. Williams Enterprises
Violation: The defendants called timeshare owners, and falsely claimed that they had someone ready and willing to buy or rent the
timeshare for a specified price, or made false promises to sell the timeshare quickly. The FTC says that the defendants
failed to deliver on these promises… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Mai Ly-Vu
Violation: Ly-Vu engaged in unsafe or unsound practices by failing to disclose, and making false statements to the Bank regarding, her familial ties to Companies 1–3. Further, Ly-Vu engaged in unsafe or unsound practices by failing to disclose, and making false statements to the Bank regarding, her financial interest in an extension of credit to Company 4, an entity owned by a member of her immediate family, in violation of the Bank’s Code of Conduct. These unsafe or unsound practices caused the Bank to suffer a financial loss in the amount of $56,930 when it charged off the loan to Company 4, and posed legal and reputational risks to the Bank… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Christopher J. Spencer and John Busshaus
Violation: The SEC’s complaint, filed in Federal District Court in the Southern District of New York, charges Spencer and Busshaus with violations of the antifraud provisions of Sections 17(a)(2) and (3) of the Securities Act of 1933… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Kerri L. Wasserman
Violation: The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) deems it appropriate and in the public interest that public administrative proceedings be, and hereby are, instituted pursuant to Section 15(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) against Kerri L. Wasserman (“Respondent” or “Wasserman”)… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Howard J. Allen, III
Violation: The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) deems it appropriate and in the public interest that public administrative proceedings be, and hereby are, instituted pursuant to Section 15(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) against Howard J. Allen, III (“Respondent” or “Allen”)… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Portfolio Advisors Alliance, Inc.
Violation: The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) deems it appropriate and in the public interest that public administrative proceedings be, and hereby are, instituted pursuant to Section 15(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) against Portfolio Advisors Alliance, Inc. (“Respondent” or “PAA”)… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Gino M. Pereira, Jeffrey Auerbach, Jared Mitchell, and Richard Brown
Violation: The agreements were actually a guise through which Auerbach and Mitchell funneled cash bribes from Pereira to Richard Brown, a registered stockbroker, to buy Nxt-ID stock in Brown’s customers’ accounts. The SEC alleges that Brown did not disclose the fact or amount of the bribes he received to his customers… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Blockchain Solutions, Inc. and Universal Resources (f/k/a Global Immune Technologies Inc.),
Violation: BLCS has failed to comply with Exchange Act Section 13(a) and Rules 13a-1 and 13a-13 thereunder because it has not filed any periodic reports with the Commission since the period ended June 30, 2018… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Shenzhen-ZhongRong Morgan Investment Holding Group Co., Ltd. and Solar Wind Energy Tower, Inc.,
Violation: SWET has failed to comply with Exchange Act Section 13(a) and Rules 13a-1 and 13a-13 thereunder because it has not filed any periodic reports with the Commission since the period ended September 30, 2016… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Hengyi International Industries Group, Inc., Jacobs Financial Group, Inc., and Ranger Gold Corp.,
Violation: JFGI has failed to comply with Exchange Act Section 13(a) and Rules 13a-1 and 13a-13 thereunder because it has not filed any periodic reports with the Commission since the period ended May 31, 2017… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: IFS Securities
Violation: Miller Kaplan Arase LLP (“Miller Kaplan”), a certified public accounting firm, with one of their offices located in San Fransciso, California, as tax administrator (“Tax Administrator”) in administrative proceedings where the distribution fund may incur tax-related obligations as a Qualified Settlement Fund (“QSF”) under the Department of the Treasury Regulation § 1.468B-1(c)… Read More

Penalties: $327,500.00
Respondent: Thomas Conrad, Jr. et al.
Violation: The complaint also alleged that Conrad failed to disclose conflicts of interest arising from loans the funds made to Conrad’s family members, and from Conrad’s appointment of himself as a sub-manager, for which he received a fee. As alleged, offering documents the firms gave to prospective investors touted Conrad’s significant experience in the securities industry, but failed to disclose his disciplinary history, which included an industry bar that the SEC imposed on him in 1971… Read More

Penalties: $1,945,892.00
Respondent: Lek Securities Corp., et al.
Violation: Avalon illegally profited from layering, which involved placing and canceling orders to trick others into buying or selling stocks at artificial prices, and cross-market manipulation, which involved buying or selling stocks to artificially impact options prices. The SEC’s complaint alleged that Lek Securities and Sam Lek made the schemes possible by giving Avalon access to the U.S. markets, relaxing the brokerage firm’s layering controls after Avalon complained, allowing Avalon to conduct the trading activity, and improving Lek Securities’ technology to assist Avalon’s trading… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Daniel Rivas, et al.,
Violation: The final judgments also order each defendant to disgorge their respective insider trading profits but deem disgorgement satisfied by the orders of forfeiture entered in the parallel criminal matter. The partial final judgments against Rivas and Moodhe, entered, respectively, on December 19, 2017 and March 19, 2018 by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, enjoin each of them from violating Sections 10(b) and 14(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 10b-5 and 14e-3 thereunder… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Anton Senderov, et al.
Violation: Senderov and Babazara with violating the securities registration provisions of Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act of 1933 and with violating Section 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) by acting as control persons for LianTech, LBinary, and Ivory Option’s uncharged violations of the antifraud provisions of Sections 10(b) and 15(a) of the Exchange Act and Rules 10b5(a) and (c) thereunder. The SEC seeks disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, prejudgment interest, financial penalties, and permanent injunctions against all three defendants… Read More

Penalties: $476,298.70
Respondent: Gray Financial Group, Inc., Laurence O. Gray, and Robert C. Hubbard, IV
Violation: On November 22, 2017, the Commission settled proceedings instituted on May 21, 20151 , and issued an Order Making Findings and Imposing Remedial Sanctions and Cease-andDesist Order (the “Order”)2 against Gray Financial Group, Inc., Laurence O. Gray, and Robert C. Hubbard, IV (collectively, the “Respondents”)… Read More

Penalties: $278,289.30
Respondent: Jeremy A. Licht d/b/a JL Capital Management
Violation: On September 12, 2017, the Commission issued an Order Instituting Administrative and Cease-and-Desist Proceedings Pursuant to Section 21C of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Sections 203(f) and 203(k) of the of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, and Section 9(b) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, Making Findings, and Imposing Remedial Sanctions and a Cease-and-Desist Order (the “Order”)1 against Jeremy A. Licht d/b/a JL Capital Management (“Licht” or the “Respondent”)… Read More

Penalties: $250,000.00
Respondent: Northwest Biotherapeutics, Inc.
Violation: These proceedings involve violations of the federal securities laws in connection with the Respondent’s Internal Control over Financial Reporting (“ICFR”). Respondent failed to create and implement effective ICFR for twelve consecutive annual reporting periods from 2007 through 2018… Read More

Penalties: $803,117.00
Respondent: Richard Andrew Mallion
Violation: The SEC’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, charges Mallion with violating the broker-dealer registration provisions of Section 15(a)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and the registration provisions of Section 5 of the Securities Act… Read More

Penalties: $500,000.00
Respondent: UQM Technologies, Inc.
Violation: UQM violated Sections 17(a)(2) of the Securities Act, which makes it unlawful, in the offer or sale of securities, to obtain money or property by means of any untrue statement of a material fact or any omission to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act, which, in the offer or sale of securities, proscribes any transaction, practice or course of business which operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon a purchaser of securities… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: John Busshaus, CPA
Violation: The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) deems it appropriate and in the public interest that public administrative proceedings be, and hereby are, instituted against John Busshaus (“Respondent” or “Busshaus”) pursuant to Rule 102(e)(3)(i) of the Commission’s Rules of Practice… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Bakken Resources, Inc., Ireland Inc., and Worlds Mall, Inc.,
Violation: BKKN has failed to comply with Exchange Act Section 13(a) and Rules 13a-1 and 13a-13 thereunder because it has not filed any periodic reports with the Commission since the period ended September 30, 2017… Read More

Click here to see the full list of SEC Enforcement Documents

Penalties: $30,000,000.00
Respondent: Citibank, N.A
Violation: Bank reviewed its OREO processes and portfolio and identified violations of 12 U.S.C. § 29 and 12 C.F.R. § 34.82. These violations resulted from the Bank’s deficient processes and controls in the identification and monitoring of the OREO holding period. Specifically, the Bank lacked adequate policies, procedures, and processes to effectively identify and monitor the holding period for OREO assets. The Bank committed to developing and implementing corrective actions to address these deficiencies… Read More