Foreign Collusion, Naked Shorting (Counterfeiting) & Money Laundering — All Illicit Wealth
27 January 2020
Pawar Law Group announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of shareholders who purchased shares of Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (PTLA) from November 5, 2019 through January 9, 2020, inclusive (the “Class Period”). The lawsuit seeks to recover damages for Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc. investors under the federal securities laws.
For traders who spoofed market years ago, a new ruling spells trouble
Bloomberg, 25 May 2020
US prosecutors are starting to build cases against traders suspected of manipulating markets as long as a decade ago, after an obscure legal ruling extended the statute of limitations for spoofing cases.
In October, the judge presiding over the impending trial of two former metals traders ruled that the US government can pursue charges of wire fraud as well as spoofing against the pair. The decision addressed a long-running legal debate about whether the placing of electronic market orders with the intention of cancelling them constituted a form of “false representation” and therefore fraud.
James Adam Paquette Barred by FINRA
The NAC dismissed Paquette’s appeal of an OHO decision. Paquette failed to provide the required information and as a result his appeal was considered abandoned, therefore he is barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities.
Rigged financial markets and hopeless under-regulation on Wall Street are not new problems. In this book, Susanne Trimbath gives a sobering account of naked short selling, the failure to settle, and her efforts over decades, trying to get this fixed.
Twenty-five years ago, Trimbath was working “backstage at Wall Street” when a group of corporate trust specialists told her about a problem in shareholder voting rights. When she went to senior management at Depository Trust Company (DTC), then and still the largest securities depository in the world, they brushed it off saying, “You can’t balance the world.”
Citadel Securities Pays $97m to Settle with China Regulators
Aziz Abdel-Qader
FinanceMagnates, 20 January 2020
Citadel Securities, one of the largest market makers in US stocks and options, has agreed to pay 670 million yuan ($97 million) to resolve a probe by China’s regulator into alleged trading rules violations. The Chinese securities regulator launched the five-year investigation in 2015 following a stock plunge that erased nearly $3.9 billion in the mainland metal market.
Comment: In the USA they are angels. How much did they steal?
Who Needs New Year’s Resolutions After 43%
Returns? Andrew Left Does.
Alicia McElhaney, 07 January 2020
In 2019, short-seller Andrew Left’s Citron Capital returned a searing 43.3 percent, net of fees. But instead of wallowing in glory, Left plans to make some changes to his investment style in 2020. Foremost, Left intends to zero in on small-cap stocks rather than betting on (or against) major names like Shopify and Tesla, he told Institutional Investor Tuesday.
“My job is not to be right; my job is to generate returns,” Left said. “I’m not doing that by shorting high-concept big stocks.” Left shared the firm’s 2019 performance in an investor letter Monday, where he also reflected on recent big bets and what’s ahead. He learned two major lessons in 2019, according to the letter. The first: “Always go back to Citron’s proficiency – exposing fraud.”
Continue reading “Article: Who Needs New Year’s Resolutions After 43% Returns? Andrew Left Does.”
Paul William Petrillo Barred by FINRA
An AWC was issued in which Petrillo was barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. Without admitting or denying the findings, Petrillo consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he placed discretionary orders to purchase or sell securities in customers’ outside securities accounts without notifying his member firm of his authority to do so or the executing firm of his association with his firm. The findings stated that Petrillo also opened a family trust securities account over which he had trading authority away from his firm but did not notify it of the account’s existence.
‘We are on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance’
State Street, 17 January 2020
BlackRock’s move to put climate change centre stage won’t be a huge shock to Australian companies, which are used to industry super funds flexing their muscles. Continue reading “Article: ‘We are on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance’”
Wedbush Securities Inc. Fined by FINRA
An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured and fined $90,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it misreported its short positions in equity securities that must be reported pursuant to FINRA Rule 4560 by overstating its short positions and the number of accounts with short positions.
Royal Alliance Associates, Inc. fined by FINRA
An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured, fined $400,000 and required to certify to FINRA that it has established and implemented policies, procedures and internal controls reasonably designed to address and remediate the issues identified in the AWC.
16 January 2020
Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, announces it is investigating potential securities claims on behalf of shareholders of Opera Limited (NASDAQ: OPRA) resulting from allegations that Opera may have issued materially misleading business information to the investing public.
An Offer of Settlement was issued in which Gil was barred from association with any FINRA member in all capacities. Without admitting or denying the allegations, Gil consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he converted approximately $2,500 from an 82-year-old widow and former bank customer to whom he was providing financial advice away from his member firm. The findings stated that Gil used the customer’s credit cards without her authorization to charge personal expenses. These included spa massages, sporting goods, airline baggage fees and foreign currency cash advances, as well as expenses incurred during an overseas trip to Madrid, Spain, including at a hotel, perfume store, museum and flamenco show.
Swiss franc climbs after US adds it to ‘manipulation’ watchlist
Sam Jones in Zurich and Eva Szalay in London , 15 January 2020
The Swiss franc nudged up to a near three-year high against the euro on Tuesday as markets anticipated the move would limit the Swiss National Bank’s appetite for aggressive action to try to hold down its currency in future.
“The report is a warning shot to the SNB,” said George Saravelos, global co-head of currency research at Deutsche Bank, adding that the franc is likely to push higher from here. It now trades around CHF1.08 against the euro.
The US called on Bern on Monday to “more forcefully support domestic economic activity” by spending money and reducing the country’s already low tax burden, in what was an unusual swipe at a sovereign nation’s financial affairs. “Despite borrowing costs for the Swiss government being among the lowest in the world, fiscal policy remains underutilised, even within the constraints of Switzerland’s existing fiscal rules,” the US Treasury said in its assessment.
The SNB said on Tuesday that its interventions were transparent, and “motivated purely by monetary policy . . . aimed at addressing the negative consequence for inflation and the economy through a highly valued franc.”
“They are not aimed at giving Switzerland advantages by undervaluing the Swiss franc,” it added.
Prudential Investment Management Services LLC Fined by FINRA
An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured, fined $1,000,000 and required to retain one or more qualified independent consultants not unacceptable to FINRA to conduct a comprehensive review of the adequacy of its compliance with FINRA rules in connection with the violations described in the AWC. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it disseminated inaccurate information about group variable annuities expense ratios and inaccurate historical performance information about investment options offered in those annuities.
Citigroup Global Markets Inc. Fined by FINRA
An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured, fined $225,000 and required to revise its supervisory system and WSPs. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it effected a short sale for its own account without borrowing the security or entering into a bona fide arrangement to borrow the security, and without documenting its compliance with the locate requirement for short sale transactions.
THE DOLLAR HAS NO INTRINSIC VALUE : DO YOUR ASSETS?
