The SEC charged a San Diego County school district, Sweetwater Union High School District, and its former Chief Financial Officer, Karen Michel, with misleading investors who purchased $28 million in municipal bonds. According to the SEC’s complaint against Michel and its order against Sweetwater, in April 2018, Sweetwater and Michel […]
Author: Mark J. Astarita
SEC Surpasses $1 Billion in Awards to Whistleblowers with Two Awards Totaling $114 Million
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced awards of approximately $110 million and $4 million to two whistleblowers whose information and assistance led to successful SEC and related actions. With these awards, the SEC’s whistleblower program has now paid more than $1 billion in awards to 207 whistleblowers, including over […]
SEC Charges App Annie and its Founder with Securities Fraud
App Annie is a leading alternative data provider for the mobile app industry which claims to have data on over 8 million apps and thousands of websites. It claims to provide its customers with a complete picture of the mobile landscape needed to acquire and retain customers. Unfortunately for the […]
SEC Charges Three Media Companies with Illegal Offerings of Stock and Digital Assets
he Securities and Exchange Commission today charged New York City-based GTV Media Group Inc. and Saraca Media Group Inc., and Phoenix, Arizona-based Voice of Guo Media Inc., with conducting an illegal unregistered offering of GTV common stock. The SEC also announced charges against GTV and Saraca for conducting an illegal […]
CoinBase Plan May Be A Security
The CoinBase Wells Notice is creating quite a stir. My original comments are here, but more information has come to light. It appears from other comments that the CoinBase Lend program is not simply a loan by depositors to others. According to other posts, CoinBase is planning on pooling the […]
How One RIA Finds Solutions To Minimize Tax Issues For The Wealthy
How One RIA Finds Solutions To Minimize Tax Issues For The Wealthy: Fred Hubler of Creative Wealth Management Group in Pennsylvania said advisors need to specialize to succeed. The Securities Law Blog is a service of SECLaw.com, and Mark Astarita, a national securities lawyer with the law firm of Sallah […]
Coinbase Responds to its Wells Notice
Coinbase, the cryptocurrency platform, has received a Wells Notice from the SEC regarding its lending program. At first blush it does not appear that the program, which allows customers to lend their currency is a security, but we have not seen the SEC’s files, so anything is possible. Coinbase has […]
SEC Issues Whistleblower Awards Totaling $2.6 Million
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced awards of approximately $2.6 million to five whistleblowers who provided information and assistance in three separate enforcement proceedings. In the first order, the SEC awarded approximately $1.2 million to a whistleblower who provided valuable independent analysis based upon a complex algorithm the whistleblower […]
Advisor Charged With Targeting Elderly Clients In $8M Fraud
An investment advisor based in New York and Santa Fe, N.M., has been charged with swindling dozens of clients out of more than $8 million by recommending investments in a fund he controlled and then transferring the assets out to pay for personal expenses. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the […]
Netflix Insider Trading Ring
You cannot trade on material, non-public information, and that includes non-public information concerning the growth in your employer’s subscriber base or information contained in unpublished earnings releases. And if you do, you will undoubtedly be caught, and subjected to some very harsh penalties. Fines, a return of three times the […]
