The SEC has been known to attempt to regulate by litigation, a tactic that causes significant problems for their targets, and undermines the integrity of the SEC’s mission. Insider Trading of a Competitor’s Stock? Last week the SEC charged a former employee of Medivation Inc. with insider trading in advance […]
Author: Mark J. Astarita
New Whistleblower Awards
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced awards of nearly $6 million to two whistleblowers who provided information and assistance in separate enforcement proceedings. In the first order, the SEC awarded more than $3.5 million to a whistleblower who reported valuable new information that caused the SEC to expand an existing […]
Poloniex Settles Charges for Operating Unregistered Digital Asset Exchange
Poloniex was a web-based trading platform for digital assets, some of which the SEC claimed were investment contracts, and therefore securities. The SEC also claimed that the trading platform was an exchange under the securities laws. The SEC filed charges which Poloniex settled. The order confirming the settlement finds that […]
SEC Charges International Microcap Fraud Scheme Participants
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced an emergency action charging nine individuals, including a public company chairman, for their participation in long-running fraudulent schemes that collectively generated hundreds of millions of dollars from unlawful stock sales and caused significant harm to retail investors in the United States and around […]
Handling Clients Who Bring Their Own ‘Hot’ Investment Ideas
Michael Kitces and client communication expert Carl Richards discuss the reasons advisors are so often skeptical of new investment opportunities, how they can communicate with clients as their views evolve, and how advisors who may have previously been too dismissive of a client’s interest in a new investment can rebuild […]
SEC Awards $3.5 Million to Whistleblowers in Two Enforcement Actions
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced awards totaling more than $3.5 million to three individuals in two separate enforcement proceedings. In the first order, the SEC awarded approximately $2 million to a whistleblower whose information and assistance led to a successful SEC enforcement action. The whistleblower alerted SEC staff […]
SEC Issues Whistleblower Awards Totaling More Than $4 Million
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced awards of more than $4 million to four whistleblowers who provided information and assistance in two separate enforcement proceedings. In the first order, the SEC awarded more than $2 million to a whistleblower who provided valuable information that resulted in SEC staff initiating an […]
SEC Awards Nearly $3 Million to Whistleblower
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced an award of nearly $3 million to a whistleblower whose information and assistance led to a successful SEC enforcement action. “The whistleblower alerted the SEC to previously unknown conduct and then provided substantial additional assistance, which conserved a considerable amount of SEC resources,” […]
SEC Charges Portfolio Manager with Using Forged Document to Offer Securities
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Thomas Nicholas Salzano, 2:21-cv-12189 (D.N.J. filed June 7, 2021) The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Thomas Nicholas Salzano, of Secaucus, New Jersey, with using a sham loan document containing a forged signature in a fraudulent attempt to entice a $150,000 investment in a real estate […]
SEC Obtains $7 Million Judgment and Bar for CEO and Board Chairman
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Suneet Singal, First Capital Real Estate Investments, LLC, First Capital Real Estate Advisors LP, and First Capital Real Estate Trust Inc., No. 19-cv-11452 (S.D.N.Y. filed December 13, 2019) On July 13, 2021, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York entered […]






