Tag: New York

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Article: SEC fines optionsXpress, individuals $4.8 million for naked short sales

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SEC fines optionsXpress, individuals $4.8 million for naked short sales

Reuters Staff, 10 June 2013

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A Securities and Exchange Commission judge has ordered optionsXpress, its former chief financial officer and a customer to pay a total of $4.8 million in fines and to return $4.2 million for illegally selling shares they did not hold.

The order was posted late Friday on the SEC’s website.

A lawyer for Charles Schwab Corp, which bought optionsXpress in 2011 after the alleged violations occurred, said that optionsXpress “respectfully disagrees” with the ruling and is considering an appeal.

“There was no naked short selling in this case,” Stephen Senderowitz, a lawyer representing optionsXpress, said in an email to Reuters.

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Article: HSBC pays record $1.9bn fine to settle US money-laundering accusations

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HSBC pays record $1.9bn fine to settle US money-laundering accusations

Jill Treanor and Dominic Rushe,  11 December 2012

HSBC was guilty of a “blatant failure” to implement anti-money laundering controls and wilfully flouted US sanctions, American prosecutors said, as the bank was forced to pay a record $1.9bn (£1.2bn) to settle allegations it allowed terrorists to move money around the financial system.

Hours after the bank’s chief executive, Stuart Gulliver, said he was “profoundly sorry” for the failures, assistant attorney general Lanny Breuer told a press conference in New York that Mexican drug traffickers deposited hundreds of thousands of dollars each day in HSBC accounts. At least $881m in drug trafficking money was laundered throughout the bank’s accounts. Continue reading “Article: HSBC pays record $1.9bn fine to settle US money-laundering accusations”

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Article: SEC backs investors’ claim Merrill rigged ARS market, lawyer says

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SEC backs investors’ claim Merrill rigged ARS market, lawyer says

jgoff, 08 December 2011

Auction-rate securities holders seeking to win back part of the $330 billion they’ve invested, may get help from a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission legal brief supporting claims that Merrill Lynch & Co. rigged the moribund market, a lawyer involved in the case said. Continue reading “Article: SEC backs investors’ claim Merrill rigged ARS market, lawyer says”

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Article: UPDATE 1-SEC, Connecticut charge fund manager with fraud

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UPDATE 1-SEC, Connecticut charge fund manager with fraud

Jonathan Stempel, 25 October 2010

NEW YORK, Oct 25 (Reuters) – A Connecticut hedge fund firm was sued on Monday by U.S. and state regulators for allegedly inflating the value of its holdings, allowing it to fraudulently collect millions of dollars of undeserved fees.

Southridge Capital Management LLC and its Chief Executive Stephen Hicks, 52, were sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Connecticut Banking Commissioner Howard Pitkin over their management and financial reporting of several funds.

The SEC said Hicks falsely valued Southridge’s largest holding, speech recognition company Fonix Corp, at $30 million or more based almost entirely on a 2004 transaction in which Fonix bought two companies from an entity he controlled.

It also said Hicks raised $78.9 million over the 2004 to 2007 period after falsely promising investors that more than 75 percent of assets would be put in liquid investments or cash.

Connecticut alleged the overvaluing of fund assets allowed Ridgefield-based Southridge to fraudulently collect more than $26 million in fees from 2004 to 2007. Continue reading “Article: UPDATE 1-SEC, Connecticut charge fund manager with fraud”

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Article: Goldman Sachs to pay $450,000 fine for illegal short-selling

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Goldman Sachs to pay $450,000 fine for illegal short-selling

Mark Sands, 02 June 2010

NEW YORK – Goldman Sachs has been condemned by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and NYSE Regulation for failing to implement controls to comply with regulations against ‘naked’ short-selling between September 2008 and January 2009. Goldman was also fined over allegations that it took part in illegal naked shorting. Continue reading “Article: Goldman Sachs to pay $450,000 fine for illegal short-selling”

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Article: COURTS WIELD HARSH PENALTIES FOR ABUSING THE DISCOVERY PROCESS

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COURTS WIELD HARSH PENALTIES FOR ABUSING THE DISCOVERY PROCESS

Evelyn Alfonso , 30 January 2004

A federal district court last summer issued the ultimate sanction of dismissal due to plaintiffs= abuse of the discovery process and persistent refusal to abide by the court=s discovery orders. Internet Law Library, Inc. v. Southridge Capital Management, 2003 WL 21537782 (S.D.N.Y. July 8, 2003). ITIS, Inc., formerly known as Internet Law Library, Inc., and its CEO, along with several of its shareholders, brought an action against defendant investors alleging their involvement in a scheme to defraud plaintiffs and to manipulate downward the price of ITIS stock in
violation of federal and state laws. Internet Law Library, Inc. v. Southridge Capital Management, 223 F. Supp. 2d 474, 477-78 (S.D.N.Y. 2002).

Judge Robert L. Carter of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed the suit with prejudice as to all defendants due to plaintiffs= repeated attempts to expand and misconstrue the court=s orders on the ground that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(b)(2)(C) authorizes dismissal of a plaintiff=s complaint along with other sanctions if a party Afails to obey an order to provide or permit discovery.@ Internet Law Library, 2003 WL 21537782 at *3. While dismissal is indeed the harshest sanction available to a court, it is appropriate where a party who has disobeyed an order has done so willfully, in bad faith, or is in some way at fault. Id. The court held that plaintiffs= failure to respect the court and its orders justifies dismissal of the complaint as both a remedy and a deterrent to future misconduct. Id. at *4. Continue reading “Article: COURTS WIELD HARSH PENALTIES FOR ABUSING THE DISCOVERY PROCESS”

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Article: $300M Stock Manipulation Suit Goes Forward

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$300M Stock Manipulation Suit Goes Forward

Mark Hamblett, 30 July 2002

Internet Law Library Inc.’s allegation that it was the victim of “death spiral financing” by defendants who have a long history of stock manipulation states a claim under federal securities laws and will not be dismissed, a federal judge in New York has ruled.

Judge Robert L. Carter for the Southern District of New York rejected motions to dismiss brought by Southridge Capital Management and Cootes Drive LLC, which deny their agents violated a promise to refrain from short-selling shares of Internet Law Library immediately after agreeing to provide $28 million in financing.

Internet Law Library, now known as ITIS Inc. (OTC BB:ITII.OB – News), owns Internet sites specializing in legal research and litigation support services.

The company claims that, in spring 2000, it negotiated with Southridge for capital of up to $28 million, consisting of a $25 million equity line agreement and a $3 million convertible preferred stock purchase that ultimately triggered the lawsuit, Internet Law Library v. Southridge Capital Management, 01 Civ. 6600.

The company alleged that Southridge and its agents, Steve Hicks, Dan Pickett and Christy Constabile, promised to refrain from selling ITIS stock for one year after the closing, and also promised not to manipulate the stock to depress its price.

ITIS Chief Executive Hunter M.A. Carr repeatedly asked Southridge and its agents about his concern on short-selling, and was told several times that Southridge would not engage in the practice. Carr claimed he relied on these representations when he signed the stock purchase agreement on May 11, 2000, with Cootes Drive, a company that replaced Southridge as a signatory at the last minute.
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Article: Internet Law Library, Inc. v. Southridge Capital Management, LLC

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Internet Law Library, Inc. v. Southridge Capital Management, LLC

Smarter Legal Research, 02 February 2002

On January 12, 2001, Internet Law brought suit against Cootes Drive in the Southern District of Texas (the ” Internet Law action” ), the subject of which is a series of agreements including a Stock Purchase Agreement entered into by Cootes Drive with Internet Law and in which Cootes Drive agreed to provide capital to Internet Law through two vehicles, a $3 million convertible preferred stock purchase and a $25 million equity line agreement. The Stock Purchase Agreement specified New York as the exclusive forum for all litigation between the parties.

The gravamen of the complaint, later amended on February 12, 2001, was that Cootes Drive engaged in short-selling and market manipulation of Internet Law’s stock, artificially depressing the price of the stock to a level at which Cootes Drive would no longer be required to provide funding under the equity line pursuant to a provision in the Stock Purchase Agreement that conditioned funding on Internet Law’s stock trading above a specific price. As such, Internet Law alleges that Cootes Drive committed, inter alia, violations of securities laws, both federal and state, common law fraud and fraud in the inducement, and unlawful conspiracy. Continue reading “Article: Internet Law Library, Inc. v. Southridge Capital Management, LLC”

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