Harry Stokes orchestrated a Ponzi scheme and defrauded investors out of millions of dollars, according to a complaint filed in North Carolina state court. Stokes was licensed to sell investment products and owned an insurance firm, Contemporary Benefits Design, located in Monroe, North Carolina. Stokes admitted to...
Hundreds of individuals invested over $16 million in a fruitless gold mining venture organized by Nekekim Corporation and its CEO, Kenneth Carlton, according to a complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Nekekim and Carlton defrauded investors by stating that a special “complex ore” found...
Daniel Howard Glick, formerly with Transamerica Financial Advisors, Inc., was barred from the securities industry by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in connection with claims Glick forged clients’ signature on documents in order to gain access to his clients’ assets. Glick forged clients’ signatures on...
Bret L. Boteler, the president of EnerMax, Inc., raised $17.26 million through the fraudulent offer and sale of securities to over 250 investors in more than 40 states without registering any offering, according to a complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Boteler used...
Inland Diversified Real Estate Trust Inc. has said that it has agreed to merge with Kite Reality Group Trust, a publicly traded REIT in a $2.1 billion all-stock deal. The merger is expected to close between the second or third quarter will be based on...
Plaintiffs can now bring class actions under state Blue Sky Laws against those who aided and abetted Ponzi schemes where the investment program was purported to be related to a security traded on a national stock exchange – a “covered security” under the Securities Litigation...
Colorado Financial Service Corporation (CFSC) was sanctioned by securities regulators after regulators accused CFSC of failing to conduct due diligence concerning private placements and non-traded real estate income trusts (REITs). CFSC agreed to pay a $10,000 fine levied against it by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority...
Portfolio Advisors Alliance, Inc. (Portfolio) was sanction by securities regulators, in part, due to Portfolio’s failure to perform due diligence concerning private placements, according to a settlement agreement entered into by Portfolio and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). The Peiffer Rosca securities lawyers often represent...
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) recently announced that it was fining Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. (BBH) $8 million for failing to meet its compliance obligations relating to anti-money laundering compliance. Such failures caused BBH to fail to discover suspicious activity related to low...
Timothy David Burns, an investment professional in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, was sanctioned by the Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities. Burns, owner and manager of ESG Wealth Management and ESG Family Services, consented to the sanctions levied by the Department of Banking and Securities arising out of...
