In September 2023, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges against nine investment advisory firms for violations of the Marketing Rules. Almost eight months later, the SEC has brought a second wave of Market Rule violations filing resolved charges against several registered investment advisory firms. Each of the targeted investment advisory firms consented...Read More

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has secured a final judgment in federal district court against Zachary Horwitz, an individual the SEC sued for allegedly orchestrating a $690 million Ponzi scheme. The SEC’s enforcement complaint contends that Horwitz falsely represented to investors that he had a successful history of selling movie rights to two...Read More

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently secured a final consent judgment against Volkswagen Group of America Finance, which the SEC had previously filed securities fraud charges against in 2019 for making materially false and misleading representations relating to its billions in corporate bond offerings in 2014 and 2015. The SEC enforcement action,...Read More

The US Securities and Exchange Commission sued Andreas “Andy” Bechtolsheim, the founder of Arista Networks, Inc., alleging he engaged in illegal insider trading.  In settlement of the SEC’s enforcement action, Bechtolsheim consented to pay an approximate $1 million civil monetary penalty. Per the SEC’s federal court complaint, Bechtolsheim is alleged to have misappropriated inside information...Read More

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has filed fraud charges, on a settled basis, in federal court against the former head of the now bankrupt automaker Lordstown Motors Corp, Stephen Scott Burns.  In its complaint, the SEC alleged that Burns materially mislead company investors regarding “pre-orders” for its electric truck called Endurance. Specifically, in...Read More

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed an enforcement action against numerous individuals for their involvement in a $300 million Ponzi scheme run by CryptoFX LLC, which allegedly targeted in excess of 40,000 mainly Latino investors here in the United States, as well as in two other countries.  The SEC’s complaint follows its prior emergency...Read More

A New York lawyer agreed to the entry of a Rule 102(e) SEC Administrative Order suspending her from appearing or practicing before the SEC Commission as an attorney. In its administrative proceeding, the SEC alleged that from August 2017 through 2018, the New York attorney held herself out as a lawyer to prospective investors in...Read More

In early February 2024, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission successfully obtained final court judgments as to John Feloni and Stock Squirrel, Inc., the company he controlled.   The final judgments obtained by the SEC compel the payment of more than $2 million in disgorgement of illicit profits, interest as well as civil monetary penalties....Read More

In late January 2024, a New York Federal Court granted the SEC a partial summary judgment against the former Chief Financial Officer of Synchronoss Technologies, as well as its current Controller. In its Complaint, the SEC alleged that the CFO and Controller overstated the revenue of Synchronoss through fraudulent accounting activities.  In particular, the SEC...Read More

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed an enforcement action against Shanchun Huang for allegedly engaging in a scheme to manipulate Future FinTech Group stock by utilizing an offshore account shortly prior to being tapped as the company’s Chief Executive Officer in 2020.  In addition to the securities manipulation charge, the SEC also sued Huang...Read More