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Article: Ekso Bionics Announces Closing of $5.0 Million Registered Direct Offering

Article - Media

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.

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Comment: This appears to be a stellar example of a life-saving vital technology company being destroyed by collusion between a placement agent and naked short sellers.
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Article: Goldman Sachs ‘close to $2bn settlement’ over 1MDB scandal

Article - Media, Publications

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.

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Fined: SG Americas Securities, LLC Fined by FINRA

Fined

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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Fined: Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC Fined by FINRA (December 2019)

Fined

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC Fined by FINRA

An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured and fined $130,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it effected customer sale transactions of municipal bonds on a discretionary basis in amounts lower than the minimum denomination of the respective issues.

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Fined: First Financial Equity Corporation Fined by FINRA

Fined

First Financial Equity Corporation Fined by FINRA

An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured and fined $200,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it failed to file amended Uniform Application for Securities Industry Registration or Transfer forms (Form U4s) for 20 of its registered representatives to disclose 71 outstanding liens, outstanding judgments, bankruptcies and creditor compromises in a timely fashion or, in some cases, at all. The findings stated that the firm failed to establish and maintain a system and failed to establish, maintain and enforce written procedures that were reasonably designed to achieve compliance with FINRA’s requirement to timely file Form U4 amendments to reflect reportable financial events.

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Fined: FINRA Fines Robinhood Financial, LLC $1.25 Million for Best Execution Violations

Fined

FINRA Fines Robinhood Financial, LLC $1.25 Million for Best Execution Violations

FINRA found that for more than a year, Robinhood—which offers its customers the ability to trade in equity securities without being charged commissions—routed its customers’ non-directed equity orders to four broker-dealers, all of which paid Robinhood for that order flow. This arrangement is known in the brokerage industry as payment for order flow.

Comment: Robinhood fined and just look what they do They let you trade for FREE how? Nothing is free in this world right, well they sell your order to another firm (the get paid for it) You get your trade for free everyone happy. BUT who wants your orders? You guess it NAKED SHORT SELLING firms. They trade against you order for example if your buying 5K of shares of SRNE on firday THE order is naked shorted by Them Never making it to the market at all. If you sell it and they are short. You can bet your kidney on it they will let that 5K go to the market and help drive it lower NEVER being the buyer. Thats the game. AND ROBINHOOD is helping the crooks for profit and screwing their own CLIENT.

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Article: South Africa should restrict rand access for offending foreign banks

Article - Media, Publications

South Africa should restrict rand access for offending foreign banks

David Whitehouse, 19 December 2019

A call from South Africa’s competition regulator to be given extra-territorial powers to prosecute foreign banks whose actions affect South Africans has drawn short shrift from investors.

After an investigation into alleged collusion by 23 banks, ten of which have no presence in South Africa, to co-ordinate on spot dollar and rand prices, the Competition Commission recommended fines totalling 10% of the banks’ global revenues.

The banks involved, which include JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse, argue that the case should be dropped. The country’s Competition Tribunal in July ruled that the commission had no jurisdiction to impose the fines. Continue reading “Article: South Africa should restrict rand access for offending foreign banks”

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Article: This Top-Performing Pot Stock Was Accused of Fraud

Article - Media, Publications

This Top-Performing Pot Stock Was Accused of Fraud

Sean Williams, 19 December 2019

It’d be pretty fair to say that this is not how marijuana stock investors envisioned 2019 would go. After beginning the year on a (pardon the pun) high note, with more than a dozen pot stocks gaining in excess of 70% during the first quarter, the past 8.5 months have been nothing short of a train wreck.

To our north, Canada has struggled with the regulatory aspects of establishing a legal weed industry. Health Canada has been slow to approve cultivation, processing, and sales license applications, while Ontario, the most populous province, hasn’t approved retail store licenses in a timely manner. Meanwhile, high tax rates and a Swiss-cheese-like state-level approval process has constrained marijuana sales in legal U.S. states. In essence, the black market is thriving throughout North America.
Continue reading “Article: This Top-Performing Pot Stock Was Accused of Fraud”

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Fined: Cowen and Company, LLC Fined by FINRA

Fined

Cowen and Company, LLC Fined by FINRA

An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured, fined $120,000, of which $44,400 is payable to FINRA, 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 violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 Rule 101 of Regulation M by bidding for a covered security and purchasing a covered security during a restricted period while acting as a distribution participant participating in a distribution of securities on behalf of an issuer.

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Article: Counterpoint: Short sellers like us create real value for public markets by telling Canadian investors the truth

Article - Media, Publications

Counterpoint: Short sellers like us create real value for public markets by telling Canadian investors the truth

Ben Axler, 17 December 2019

In late January 2021, GameStop experienced a once-in-a-decade squeeze that has captivated the world’s attention. It was a premeditated and programmatic exercise, orchestrated by coordinated stock and option buying across the retail and professional community, resulting in large institutional entities losing billions of dollars. Investment houses with significant short positions did not expect a stock with GameStop’s fundamental profile to increase +2,500% in price over less than three weeks; therefore, they did not have the controls in place to handle the incredible levels of stock and call option purchases. The frenzy drew comments from the White House, provoked a social media crackdown, caused brokerage units to restrict trading, and has led to a Congressional hearing on GameStop on Thursday, February 18th.
Continue reading “Article: Counterpoint: Short sellers like us create real value for public markets by telling Canadian investors the truth”

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Release: IMPORTANT INVESTOR REMINDER The Schall Law Firm Announces the Filing of a Class Action Lawsuit Against Aurora Cannabis Inc. and Encourages Investors with Losses in Excess of $100,000 to Contact the Firm

Release

IMPORTANT INVESTOR REMINDER: The Schall Law Firm Announces the Filing of a Class Action Lawsuit Against Aurora Cannabis Inc. and Encourages Investors with Losses in Excess of $100,000 to Contact the Firm

16 December 2019

The Schall Law Firm, a national shareholder rights litigation firm, announces the filing of a class action lawsuit against Aurora Cannabis Inc. (“Aurora” or “the Company”) (NYSE: ACB) for violations of §§10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Article: Murder, misinformation and money-laundering: Weapons in the arsenal of the Russian state

Article - Media, Publications

Murder, misinformation and money-laundering: Weapons in the arsenal of the Russian state

Dominic Kavakeb, 16 December 2019

Just hours before the British public was set to go to the polls to elect a new Government, Global Witness was hosting an important and timely discussion on the global influence of Putin’s Russia in the UK.

From Russian troll factories to the spread of misinformation, accusations of Russian interference in global democratic processes have increasingly come to the fore. At the same time flows of Russian money, obscured by anonymous company ownership, have been at the centre of countless money laundering scandals. And from Alexander Litvinenko to Sergei Skripal assassination attempts on Russian nationals in the UK have regularly hit the headlines. Continue reading “Article: Murder, misinformation and money-laundering: Weapons in the arsenal of the Russian state”

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Fined: Jefferies Execution Services, Inc. Fined by FINRA

Fined

Jefferies Execution Services, Inc. Fined by FINRA

An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured and fined $215,000, of which $18,800 is payable to FINRA and the remaining will be paid to other various self-regulatory organizations. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it did not establish, maintain and enforce a supervisory system or WSPs reasonably designed to monitor for potential layering or spoofing by its direct market access clients.

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Article: Wirecard — Who’s Who of Bad Boys

Article - Media

Wirecard critics targeted in London spy operation

Miariam Jackson

The Union Journal, 11 December 2019

Two specialist traders, Matt Earl and Fraser Perring, co-authored the Zatarra report and therefore are one of the eight guys surveilled over recent weeks, combined with Mr [Crispin] Odey, Brett Palos, the stepson of merchant Philip Green, along with Nick Gold, a veteran stock exchange speculator.

Wirecard executives seem to have guessed a mole was working at a senior level within the firm after Mr Earl and Mr Perring released their Zatarra Report at 2016, prompting a criminal investigation from Germany into alleged market manipulation.