Foreign Collusion, Naked Shorting (Counterfeiting) & Money Laundering — All Illicit Wealth
Apex Clearing Corporation Fined by FINRA
An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured, fined $250,000 and required to provide a written certification within 90 days that it has completed a review of its systems and procedures regarding SEC Rule 10b-16(a)(1), and as of the date of the certification, the firm’s policies, systems and procedures are reasonably designed to achieve compliance with the rule.
Wilson-Davis & Co., Inc. Fined by FINRA
The firm, Barkley and Snow appealed a National Adjudicatory Counsel (NAC) decision to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The NAC had affirmed the findings and modified the sanctions imposed by the Office of Hearing Officers (OHO). The firm was fined $1,100,000, ordered to pay disgorgement in the amount of $51,624, plus prejudgment interest and required to retain an independent consultant to recommend changes to its WSPs.
Cambridge Investment Research, Inc. Fined by FINRA
An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured and fined $150,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it failed to reasonably supervise short-term trading of UITs and mutual fund Class A shares.
TD Ameritrade, Inc. Fined by FINRA
An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured and fined $250,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it created inaccurate order memoranda on options orders for customers whose orders should have been coded as Professional Customers. The findings stated that these orders were entered through the firm’s internal trading platform and routed to option exchanges through third party broker-dealers.
Microventure Marketplace Inc. Fined by FINRA
An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured and fined $40,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it failed to file the private placement memorandum with FINRA in connection with those offerings. The findings stated that the firm also made one late private placement filing.
FINRA sanctions Citi, JPMorgan, LPL Financial, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, and Merrill Lynch
Mario Nikolova
Finance Feeds, 26 December 2019
The United States Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) today announces that it has sanctioned Citigroup Global Markets Inc.; J.P. Morgan Securities LLC; LPL Financial LLC; Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC; and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, over the firms’ failure to reasonably supervise compliance with FINRA’s “Know Your Customer” rule.
In settling this matter, the five firms paid combined fines totaling $1.4 million, and agreed to review their policies, systems, and procedures to ensure that they are reasonably designed to supervise custodial accounts and to achieve compliance with FINRA Rule 2090. The firms neither admitted nor denied the charges, but consented to the entry of FINRA’s findings.
Credit Suisse to Pay $6.5 Mln for Direct Market-Access Violations
Regulators on Monday fined Credit Suisse Securities $6.5 million and censured it for failing to control and have procedures for monitoring over $300 million of trading orders it allowed broker-dealers and other institutional clients to enter directly to it on U.S. securities exchanges over four years.
The U.S. unit of the Swiss bank executed over 300 billion shares for its direct market-access (DMA) clients from mid-2010 through mid-2014 without designing surveillance procedures to detect whether the orders were erroneous and potentially manipulative, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said in a letter of acceptance, waiver and consent signed by Credit Suisse.
U.S. broker sanctioned for failing to guard against market manipulation
James Langton, 23 December 2019
Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC has been sanctioned by the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and a trio of U.S. exchanges for supervisory violations that allowed possible market manipulation.
The firm has been fined a combined US$6.5 million for a variety of violations that stemmed from providing direct market access that allowed certain clients to engage in potentially manipulative trading activity, including spoofing, layering and wash trading. Continue reading “Article: U.S. broker sanctioned for failing to guard against market manipulation”
FINRA, Exchanges Blast Credit Suisse Over Failure to Prevent Market Manipulation
Jeff Berman, 23 December 2019
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Nasdaq, the New York Stock Exchange and Cboe Global Markets all censured Credit Suisse Securities and fined the firm $6.5 million for supervisory and Securities Exchange Act of 1934/Market Access Rule violations after repeated failures to prevent market manipulation, FINRA said Monday.
Credit Suisse signed a letter of acceptance, waiver and consent on Nov. 18 in which it agreed to the censure and $6.5 million fine, of which $566,583 is to be paid to FINRA for violating multiple rules. FINRA accepted the letter Nov. 19.
A Credit Suisse spokesman on Monday said only that the firm was “pleased to have resolved these matters with FINRA and these exchanges.” Continue reading “Article: FINRA, Exchanges Blast Credit Suisse Over Failure to Prevent Market Manipulation”
FINRA and major Exchanges impose $6.5m fine on Credit Suisse Securities over supervisory violations
Maria Nikolova
FinanceFeeds, 23 December 2019
FINRA and the Exchanges found that for a period of four years, Credit Suisse did not establish a supervisory system reasonably designed to monitor for potential spoofing, layering, wash sales and pre-arranged trading by its DMA clients.
Lek Securities Corporation Fined by FINRA
An Offer of Settlement was issued in which the firm was suspended from selling or accepting for deposit any low-priced security until it certifies to FINRA® that it has implemented the recommendations of an independent consultant, fined $200,000 and required to retain one or more qualified independent consultants to conduct a comprehensive review of its supervisory system and its compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) and Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933 obligations in connection with stock trading in low-priced securities.
Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Fined by FINRA
An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured, fined $85,000 and required to revise its WSPs. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it failed to record Not Held terms and conditions on its order memoranda for institutional customers of one of the firm’s trading desks and for those orders it transmitted reports to the Order Audit Trail System (OATS™) that failed to contain the Not Held special handling code.
Ekso Bionics Announces Closing of $5.0 Million Registered Direct Offering
GlobeNewswire, 20 December 2019
Ekso Bionics Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: EKSO) (the “Company”), an industry leader in exoskeleton technology for medical and industrial use, today announced the closing of its previously announced registered direct offering of 11,111,116 shares of its common stock and warrants to purchase up to 8,333,337 shares of its common stock, at a combined purchase price of $0.45 per share and associated warrant, for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $5.0 million.
Goldman Sachs ‘close to $2bn settlement’ over 1MDB scandal
Kalyeena Makortoff, 19 December 2019
Goldman Sachs is close to reaching a settlement of nearly $2bn (£1.5bn) with the US Department of Justice over the 1MDB corruption scandal, according to a report.
The Wall Street bank is said to be formulating a deal under which its Asian subsidiary, rather than the parent company, would pay a multibillion-dollar fine and admit guilt for having allegedly turned a blind eye while $4.5bn was looted from its client, Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB.
The deal would also involve oversight from an independent monitor that would help reform the bank’s compliance rules, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The settlement package would end the US justice department’s investigation into Goldman Sachs’ role as an underwriter and arranger of bond sales for the wealth fund, totalling $6.5bn.
About $4.5bn was allegedly looted from 1MDB in a fraud said to have involved the former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak, the Malaysian financier Jho Low, and his associates. The funds were allegedly used to buy everything from yachts to artwork, and fund the production of Hollywood films including The Wolf of Wall Street.
Razak is facing criminal charges in Malaysia but has pleaded not guilty. Low is facing charges in both Malaysia and the US, and has also denied wrongdoing.
Goldman Sachs, meanwhile, said it was lied to about how the proceeds of the three bond sales it conducted on the fund’s behalf between 2012 and 2013 were used.
In November, the Malaysian prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, confirmed he had rejected a separate offer from Goldman Sachs worth less than $2bn. “We are not satisfied with that amount so we are still talking to them … If they respond reasonably, we might not insist on getting that $7.5bn,” he told the FT.
SG Americas Securities, LLC Fined by FINRA
An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured and fined $30,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that employees on one of its trading desks entered invalid locate codes into the firm’s order management systems in connection with short sales involving exchange traded fund (ETF) shares.
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