Articles Posted in SEC

On September 27th, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced affinity fraud charges against a Miami payday lender, Sky Group USA LLC (“Sky Group”), and its CEO, Efrain Betancourt. [1] The SEC’s complaint lists eight violations of federal securities law centering on allegations of material misrepresentations and omissions regarding Sky Group’s use of investor…

In an order issued on September 24th, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) settled with Thomas Powell, Stefan Toth, and two entities they owned, Homebound Resources LLC (“Homebound”) and Resolute Capital Partners LTD LLC (“RCP”) on several charges of investment and securities fraud relating to oil and gas securities offerings. [1] The SEC’s order…

On Tuesday, September 14th, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced its first enforcement action against an alternative data provider, charging the company App Annie Inc. with securities fraud. App Annie and Bertrand Schmitt, its co-founder and former CEO and Chairman, have agreed to pay more than $10 million in a settlement with the SEC…

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ponzi schemes have continued to pose a serious threat to unsuspecting investors here in Florida and around the world. On August 9, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a complaint in federal court against Johanna Garcia, of Broward County, and two companies she owns, MJ Capital…

Should a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (“SPAC”) be classified as an investment company? This is the question currently plaguing the SPAC industry, creating a divisive split between a long list of America’s biggest law firms on one side, and two preeminent securities law professors interested in investor protection on the other. Robert Jackson, a professor…

Instances of fraudsters disguising themselves as investment advisers and brokers are on the rise, prompting the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA), the FBI Criminal Investigative Division, and FINRA, each to release investor alerts and warnings. While these regulatory agencies have identified multiple concerning fraudulent schemes, each type is…

The recent announcement of securities fraud charges against Trevor Milton, the former CEO of Nikola Corporation, may prove to be the first in a line of similar cases involving electric vehicle (“EV”) companies, and more broadly, companies that go public via SPACs. This situation highlights the importance of careful investment decision making, particularly in the…

As the popularity of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing booms, the SEC continues to make its support clear. In fact, this past Wednesday, July 28th, SEC Chair Gary Gensler spoke at length on the regulator’s ESG and climate risk disclosure plans as part of a Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) event. The PRI is…

On June 30, 2021, FINRA ordered an approximately $70 Million financial penalty against Robinhood Financial LLC, the highest such penalty ever levied by the regulatory organization.[1] Through its investigation of the firm, FINRA charged Robinhood with numerous violations which had resulted in significant losses to their customers. While Robinhood neither confirmed nor denied the validity…

In the span of the last two months, a digital piece of art sold for nearly $70 million, Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, sold his first tweet for $2.8 million, and a digital Lebron James basketball card went for $208,000. What do these three massive sales have in common? Each transaction was for a non-fungible…