Foreign Collusion, Naked Shorting (Counterfeiting) & Money Laundering — All Illicit Wealth
PUMA Capital, LLC Fined by FINRA
An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured and fined $15,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it failed to implement policies and procedures to reasonably avoid displaying, or engaging in a pattern or practice of displaying, locking or crossing quotations in over-the-counter (OTC) equity securities.
Chelsea Morgan Securities, Inc. dba Chelsea Financial Services Fined by FINRA
A Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) was issued in which the firm was censured, fined $15,000, ordered to pay $68,899, plus interest, in restitution to customers and required to review and revise, as necessary, its supervisory system and written supervisory procedures (WSPs) regarding supervision of excessive trading. A reduced fine was imposed after considering, among other things, the firm’s revenues and financial resources, as well as its agreement to pay full restitution to the affected customers.
Investors Slam Canadian Cannabis Company Over Use of Unlicensed Facility
NICKEESHA SWABY, 04 December 2019
(CN) – A cross-border securities class action against Canadian cannabis company HEXO Corp. alleges the company inflated revenue figures, misstated inventory, and grew cannabis in an unlicensed facility leading to hundreds of millions of dollars in market capitalization loss.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for Southern New York on behalf of investors who purchased HEXO stock between Jan. 25, 2019 and Nov. 15, 2019. HEXO, based in Quebec, Canada, produces, markets and sells cannabis for recreational and medical use. The company is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and on July 16, 2019 began trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Continue reading “Article: Investors Slam Canadian Cannabis Company Over Use of Unlicensed Facility”
World’s largest pension fund halts stock lending to short sellers
Tim Kelly
Reuters, 3 December 2019
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), the world’s largest pension fund, has suspended stock lending for short selling, calling the practice inconsistent with its responsibilities as a long-term investor.
International Assets Advisory, LLC Fined by FINRA
An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured, fined $30,000 and ordered to pay $92,805.13, plus interest, in restitution to customers. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it failed to establish, maintain and enforce a supervisory system, including WSPs, reasonably designed to ensure compliance with FINRA Rule 2111 in relation to the sale of non-traditional exchange traded products (NT-ETPs).
D.A. Davidson & Co Fined by FINRA
An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured, fined $85,000 and required to provide to FINRA a plan for reviewing the securities detailed in the AWC to identify and then provide notice to the issuers of inaccuracies in the issue price certificates. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that in connection with municipal offerings, it provided inaccurate or misleading statements in its issue price certificates related to the percentage of each maturity that was sold, or was reasonably expect to be sold, to the public.
Morgan Stanley Places Four Traders on Leave in Wake of FX Probe
Aziz Abdel-Qader
Finance Magnates, 29 November 2019
Morgan Stanley has reportedly dismissed, or placed on leave, four currency traders after being caught out trying to conceal significant trading losses. The move comes amid investigations by the US bank into alleged charges that they exaggerated the performance of the FX options desk.
A Bloomberg report identified two London based traders – Scott Eisner and Rodrigo Jolig – and two senior New York-based colleagues, Thiago Melzer and Mitchell Nadel, who were running emerging-markets desk and macro trading in the Americas.
MiMedx former CEO and COO indicted for accounting fraud
Carl Surran, 26 November 2019
Former MiMedx (OTC:MDXG -1%) executives Parker Petit and William Taylor are indicted by the Department of Justice on charges of accounting fraud during 2015-16 that overstated the company’s revenues and misled investors.
The SEC separately filed a civil suit against MiMedx, Petit, Taylor and former CFO Michael Senken, accusing them of conducting a “pervasive” accounting fraud during 2013-17. Continue reading “Article: MiMedx former CEO and COO indicted for accounting fraud”
Based on our research, it is clear that IIROC’s largely non-interventionist approach and its focus on maintaining liquidity have made Canadian companies attractive targets for short campaigns. From 2015 to 2018 there was an increase in the number of short campaigns in Canada, while generally in other jurisdictions there was a decrease. Additionally, the number of short campaigns in Canada is utterly disproportionate to the size of our capital markets when compared to the United States, the European Union and Australia (as examples). The reason for this seems clear: short selling regulations in Canada are out of step with regulations in those other jurisdictions – see Schedule A attached hereto. As a result of inherent weaknesses in the Canadian short sale regulatory regime, short sellers may well be attracted to the Canadian capital markets.
PDF (164 Pages): Paper Analysis of the Short Selling Landscape of Canada
Coda Markets, Inc. fka PDQ ATS, Inc. Fined by FINRA
An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured, fined $90,000 and required to review and revise its systems and written procedures regarding the supervision of its Order Audit Trail System (OATS™) reporting to ensure that the systems and procedures are reasonably designed to achieve compliance with FINRA Rule 7450 and to implement and test all coding changes necessary to remediate the violations identified in the AWC. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it failed to report Reportable Order Events (ROEs) to OATS and reported ROEs that contained inaccurate, incomplete or improperly formatted data.
NYLIFE Securities LLC Fined by FINRA
An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured, fined $250,000, ordered to pay $76,643.47, plus interest, in restitution to customers for realized losses, ordered to offer rescission to customers for unrealized losses totaling approximately $250,000, plus interest, and ordered to certify in writing that it has reviewed its systems for enforcing its written procedures governing the suitability of recommendations to purchase mutual funds, and that it has established and implemented systems for enforcing those procedures that are reasonably designed to achieve compliance with FINRA Rule 3110. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it failed to enforce its written procedures for supervising the suitability of sales of higher-risk mutual funds that were subject to significant volatility.
These Are the Banks that Own the New York Fed and Its Money Button
Pam Martens, Russ Martens
Wall Street on Parade, 20 November 2019
The New York Fed has now pumped out upwards of $3 trillion in a period of 63 days to unnamed trading houses on Wall Street to ease a liquidity crisis that has yet to be credibly explained. In addition, it has launched a new asset purchase program, buying up $60 billion each month in U.S. Treasury bills. Based on the continuing escalation of its plans, it appears to be testing the limits of what the public will tolerate. We thought it was time to answer the question: who exactly owns the New York Fed and its magical money spigot that can pump trillions of dollars into Wall Street at the press of a button.
5 Law Firms Launch Investigations into Aurora Cannabis Inc. for Securities Violations
Steven Lachard, 19 November 2019
Last week, Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NYSE:ACB) (TSX:ACB) shares fell following weak fiscal second-quarter earnings from Canopy Growth Corp. (NYSE:CGC) (TSX:WEED), as well as weaker fiscal first-quarter numbers of its own. According to the Motley Fool, this drop in share price made it “one of the worst-performing mid-cap stocks currently listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) this calendar year.” To add insult to injury, at least five different law firms have now launched investigations into Aurora Cannabis for a variety of allegations including securities fraud and more.
Continue reading “Article: 5 Law Firms Launch Investigations into Aurora Cannabis Inc. for Securities Violations”
Who’s Been Swimming Naked? We’re About to Find Out (It’s Time to Raise Capital)
David Spreng
Runway Growth, 18 November 2019
Every growth company on the planet should seriously consider raising additional capital now. The U.S. economy and capital markets are showing near-record valuations, performance and strength across the board. However, we are keenly aware of economist Herb Stein’s maxim, “If something can’t go on forever, it won’t.” Growth capital is readily available today—but likely won’t be for many companies in the near future.
US charges another former JP Morgan exec with market manipulation
Reuters . New York, 17 November 2019
The Department of Justice has charged another former JPMorgan Chase and Co executive with alleged racketeering and manipulating precious metals prices between 2008 and 2016, the latest in a string of similar prosecutions.
The indictment against Jeffrey Ruffo, who is also charged with other federal crimes including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, is the result of an ‘ongoing investigation’, federal prosecutors said in a statement. Ruffo is the sixth person to be charged with alleged fraud in connection to JPMorgan’s precious metals desk.
The case relates to spoofing, which involves placing bids to buy or offers to sell contracts with the intent to cancel them before execution, allowing spoofers to influence prices. In recent years there has a been a surge in spoofing related prosecutions in the United States by the Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Ruffo could not immediately be reached for comment.
A JPMorgan spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for a comment. The US bank has said in recent regulatory filings that it is cooperating with various investigations relating to its metals trading practices.
According to the indictment, Ruffo worked at JPMorgan from 2008 to 2017 as a salesperson serving hedge funds investing in precious metals and he encouraged JPMorgan traders to place deceptive orders to create price advantages for his clients.
The indictment also alleged that Ruffo and his former colleagues defrauded JPMorgan’s clients who had invested in ‘barrier options’ by pushing option prices to levels that benefited the bank.
An option is a financial instrument that gives buyers the right to buy or sell an underlying asset at an agreed price and at a fixed time. Its value is tied to the value of the asset.
THE DOLLAR HAS NO INTRINSIC VALUE : DO YOUR ASSETS?
