In its seemingly endless pursuit to track down and prosecute insider traders who profit from their use of material, nonpublic information — particularly those fiduciaries who are legally entrusted with the inside information (lawyers, accountants and investment bankers, known as “Gatekeepers”) — the Securities and Exchange Commission charged an attorney for illegal insider trading based...Read More

Earlier this month, the Securities and Exchange Commission sought and secured emergency relief from a federal court, including a restraining order and a temporary asset freeze, against Digital Licensing Inc., which did business as “DEBT Box,” as well as eighteen individual defendants. The SEC alleged that the defendants perpetrated a fraudulent securities scheme involving the...Read More

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently filed settled charges against a Boca Raton, Florida based fund administrator, Theorem Fund Services LLC (TFS), for its failure to respond to red flags regarding a fraudulent scheme perpetrated against a private fund and its investors. Per the SEC’s administrative order, TFS rendered administration services to a fund managed...Read More

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit in late July against Mina Tadrus and Tadrus Capital LLC (“Defendants”) for allegedly defrauding investors in an algorithmic trading scheme. In its lawsuit, the SEC contends that at least since September 2020, the Defendants offered and sold investments in Tadrus Capital Fund LP, a supposed pooled investment...Read More

In my practice as a SEC defense attorney, I receive calls all the time from individuals who have just received a SEC Subpoena in connection with a SEC investigation and are seeking legal advice and counsel.  Quite often, I’m asked: Why did I receive a SEC Subpoena?  What is the SEC investigating?  And, perhaps most...Read More

A word of strong caution: do not take lightly compliance with an SEC Subpoena issued in connection with an SEC investigation.  The SEC expects timely and full compliance and, in situations where an individual or entity decides to challenge, slow play, or just plain refuse to comply with the SEC subpoena, the SEC Enforcement Division...Read More

Defending Against Fraudulent Stock Selling Charges The SEC filed an enforcement action against two individuals, Joseph Padilla and Kevin Dills, alleging they perpetrated an illegal scheme to sell shares in numerous microcap companies to the investing public.  The SEC further alleged that Dills joined Padilla’s scheme to defraud by using the stock of a company...Read More

SEC Investigation Attorney David Chase The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has very little tolerance (none) for financial advisors stealing customer funds, let alone those from vulnerable, elderly investors.  Yet that is precisely what Douglas McKelvey, a former securities industry fiduciary, is alleged to have done in a recently filed SEC enforcement complaint.   To compound...Read More

Over the last few years, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has increasingly been focusing its enforcement efforts on prosecuting those in the securities markets that are in the business of buying convertible notes from microcap issuers, converting them into shares typically at a significant discount and then selling for a handsome profit. The SEC’s...Read More

Help from a Insider Trading Attorney While the SEC’s Enforcement Program’s priorities change over time (for example its relatively recent crackdown in the digital assets space), the one constant is its commitment to aggressively investigate and prosecute insider trading.  This is clearly evidenced by the spate of insider trading cases recently announced by the SEC....Read More