SEC Adopts Amendments to Rules Governing Beneficial Ownership Reporting
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - October 10, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today adopted rule amendments governing beneficial ownership reporting under Sections 13(d) and 13(g) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The amendments update Regulation 13D-G to require market participants to provide more timely information on their positions to meet the needs of investors in today’s financial markets. “Today’s adoption updates rules that first went into effect more than 50...
2023-10-10 1:31 PM EDT
SEC Spotlights Due Diligence During World Investor Week 2023
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - October 2, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced it will highlight the importance of investor education and protection during World Investor Week (WIW) 2023, which takes place October 2-8. Arising technologies and new digital tools are making it easier and quicker to invest. Taking time to do due diligence can help investors avoid fraud and make better informed investment decisions. This marks the seventh year of WIW, a global...
2023-10-02 11:08 AM EDT
SEC, MSRB, & FINRA to Hold Virtual Compliance Outreach Program
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 29, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission, Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB), and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) today announced that registration is open for a virtual Compliance Outreach Program for municipal market professionals. The free webcast is open to the public and will take place on Thursday, December 7, 2023, from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET. The program will provide municipal market participants an...
2023-09-29 3:11 PM EDT
SEC Charges International Accounting Firm Prager Metis with Hundreds of Auditor Independence Violations
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 29, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against accounting firm Prager Metis CPAs, LLC and its California professional services firm, Prager Metis CPAs LLP, (together, Prager) for violating auditor independence rules and for aiding and abetting their clients’ violations of federal securities laws. According to the SEC’s complaint, between approximately December 2017 and October 2020, Prager improperly included...
2023-09-29 11:40 AM EDT
SEC Charges 10 Firms with Widespread Recordkeeping Failures
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 29, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against five broker-dealers, three dually registered broker-dealers and investment advisers, and two affiliated investment advisers for widespread and longstanding failures to maintain and preserve electronic communications. The firms admitted the facts set forth in their respective SEC orders and acknowledged that their conduct violated recordkeeping provisions of the...
2023-09-29 9:24 AM EDT
SEC Charges Two Credit Rating Agencies, DBRS and KBRA, with Longstanding Recordkeeping Failures
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 29, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against credit rating agencies DBRS Inc. and Kroll Bond Rating Agency, LLC (KBRA) for longstanding failures to preserve electronic records, including off-channel communications on personal and work-issued devices. Additionally, the SEC charged DBRS with violating disclosure and internal control provisions of the federal securities laws in rating certain commercial...
2023-09-29 9:15 AM EDT
SEC Charges Newell Brands and Former CEO for Misleading Investors About Sales Performance
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 29, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Newell Brands Inc., a Georgia-based consumer products company and its former CEO, Michael Polk, with misleading investors about Newell’s core sales growth, a non-GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) financial measure the company used to explain its underlying sales trends. Both parties agreed to settle the SEC charges. The SEC’s order finds that, in 2016 and 2017, Newell...
2023-09-29 8:47 AM EDT
Albemarle Corp. to Pay SEC More Than $103 Million to Settle FCPA Violations
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 29, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Charlotte-based Albemarle Corporation, a global specialty chemicals company, agreed to pay more than $103.6 million to settle the SEC’s charges that it violated the anti-bribery, recordkeeping, and internal accounting controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). According to the SEC’s Order, despite significant red flags, Albemarle used agents from at least...
2023-09-29 8:11 AM EDT
SEC Charges Electric Vehicle Co. for Misleading Revenue Projections Ahead of SPAC Merger
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 28, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Denver-based Spruce Power Holding Corporation, the successor to XL Fleet Corp., for misleading investors about revenue projections that topped $1 billion within three years of going public. XL Fleet, which provided hybrid electric vehicle systems for commercial fleet vehicles, went public through a 2020 merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). According to the SEC’s...
2023-09-28 6:58 PM EDT
SEC Charges Exelon, its Subsidiary Commonwealth Edison, and Subsidiary's Former CEO Anne Pramaggiore with Fraud in Connection with Political Corruption Scheme
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 28, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Exelon Corporation, electric utility company Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd), which is Exelon’s subsidiary, and former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore with fraud in connection with a multi-year scheme to corruptly influence and reward then-Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives Michael Madigan. Exelon and ComEd agreed to settle the charges, with Exelon paying a civil penalty...
2023-09-28 5:16 PM EDT
SEC Charges Former Pareteum Executives with Accounting and Disclosure Fraud
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 28, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against the former Chief Financial Officer, Edward O’Donnell, and the former Chief Commercial Officer, Victor Bozzo, of New York-based telecommunications company Pareteum Corp. for engaging in fraudulent revenue recognition practices. The SEC also announced settled charges against Pareteum’s former Controller, Stanley Stefanski, for his role in the scheme. Pareteum...
2023-09-28 10:55 AM EDT
SEC Charges Former Financial Industry Analyst and Three Others with Insider Trading
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 28, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against Anthony Viggiano, a former analyst at a major investment firm and later at an international investment bank, and Christopher Salamone, Stephen A. Forlano, and Nathan Bleckley, for insider trading in advance of numerous merger and acquisition transactions. According to the SEC’s complaint, in connection with his work at two financial institutions, Viggiano learned...
2023-09-28 10:22 AM EDT
SEC Charges Three Southern California Siblings with Insider Trading
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 27, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed charges against siblings Marco A. Perez (aka Marc), Pedro Perez, Jr. (aka Peter), and Olivia P. Durbin for insider trading before the April 2021 announcement of an offer by storage company United Rentals Inc. to acquire General Finance Corp. The three defendants, all of whom reside in Southern California, realized a combined total of $650,000 in illegal profits from their trading. The...
2023-09-27 5:20 PM EDT
SEC Appoints George Botic to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 27, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the appointment of George Botic, CPA to a term as a Board Member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). “I am pleased that George will serve on the PCAOB Board,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler. “George will advance the PCAOB’s mission to build trust in the financial information that public companies disclose to investors. I also would like to thank Duane for his...
2023-09-27 5:12 PM EDT
SEC Charges Corporate Insiders for Failing to Timely Report Transactions and Holdings
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 27, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against six officers, directors, and major shareholders of public companies for failing to timely report information about their holdings and transactions in company stock. Five publicly-traded companies were also charged for contributing to the filing failures by insiders or failing to report their insiders’ filing delinquencies. The charges stem from an SEC enforcement...
2023-09-27 9:05 AM EDT
SEC Charges Hydrogen Vehicle Co. Hyzon Motors and Two Former Executives for Misleading Investors
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 26, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled fraud charges against Hyzon Motors Inc., an upstate New York-based company that builds hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), for misleading investors about its business relationships and vehicle sales before and after a July 2021 merger with a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. The SEC also charged Craig M. Knight, Hyzon’s former CEO, and...
2023-09-26 5:06 PM EDT
SEC Charges California Advisory Firm AssetMark for Failing to Disclose Multiple Financial Conflicts
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 26, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Concord, California-based registered investment adviser AssetMark Inc. has agreed to pay more than $18 million to settle charges related to undisclosed conflicts of interest involving a cash sweep program operated by its affiliated custodian and its receipt of millions of dollars in revenue sharing payments from third-party custodians. According to the SEC’s order, from at...
2023-09-26 4:14 PM EDT
New Report from the Small Business Forum Includes Recommendations to Improve Capital Raising
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 26, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today released a report to Congress summarizing policy recommendations made during the 42nd Annual Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation. The report provides a summary of the forum proceedings, including the recommendations developed by participants for changes to the capital raising framework and the Commission’s responses to those recommendations. The forum, which took...
2023-09-26 11:58 AM EDT
SEC Charges Advisory Firm Bruderman Asset Management and its Principal for Failing to Disclose Misuse of Investment Funds
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 26, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that New York-based Bruderman Asset Management LLC (BAM) and its principal, Matthew J. Bruderman, agreed to settle charges related to their failure to disclose the misuse of proceeds raised from investment advisory clients and to the firm’s failure to implement reasonably designed written policies and procedures concerning the disclosure of conflicts of interest. According to the...
2023-09-26 10:04 AM EDT
SEC Charges Cash Flow King Podcast Host with Perpetrating $11 Million Ponzi Scheme
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 25, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Matthew Motil, host of the podcast, “The Cash Flow King,” for fraudulently raising approximately $11 million from more than 50 investors in a Ponzi scheme involving notes that were purportedly backed by residential properties. According to the SEC’s complaint, Motil, of North Olmsted, Ohio, defrauded investors with promises of low-risk, high-return promissory notes purportedly...
2023-09-25 12:36 PM EDT