The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reports that Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Financial Services LLC (ICBCFS), a New York-based, wholly owned subsidiary of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd., will pay more than $42 million to settle charges that it improperly administered “pre-released” American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). Separately, ICBCFS has pled guilty… Read More >>
Wedbush Securities Settles ADR Case with SEC
Broker-dealer Wedbush Securities Inc. has settled with the SEC for $8.1 million over charges that the firm improperly handled pre-released American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) from November 2011 through September 2013. Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, the firm has agreed to the SEC’s order, which alleges that Wedbush “improperly obtained pre-released ADRs from depositary banks… Read More >>
KPMG Settles SEC Misconduct Charges for $50M
KPMG, a major auditor serving Wall Street, has settled with the SEC for $50 million over multiple misconduct charges, including the allegation that former employees used “stolen information” from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to find out which past audits would be re-visited by the PCAOB. The PCAOB, created via the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of… Read More >>
Hedge Fund Settles Charges of Deficient Valuation Policies
Hedge fund Deer Park Road Management Company has paid a $5 million penalty to settle charges from an SEC investigation that alleges its policies and procedures governing the valuation of fund assets had “compliance deficiencies.” In addition, the firm’s chief investment officer Scott E. Burg has paid a $250,000 penalty as part of the settlement… Read More >>
SEC Alleges Firm Had a Crypto-Pyramid Scheme
The SEC has filed a civil injunctive action against the alleged perpetrator of a multimillion-dollar pyramid scheme. The SEC claims that, from January 2017 through March 2018, San Clemente, Calif., resident Daniel Pacheco enticed would-be cryptocurrency investors by selling so-called instructional packages that provided e-commerce “lessons,” raising more than $26 million in the process. In… Read More >>
ETFs Added to U.K.’s Investment Association Sectors
ETFs To Be Compared Against IA’s 37 Fund Sectors The U.K. industry group Investment Association (IA) has agreed to let exchange traded funds (ETFs) join the IA sectors, officials say. The IA represents U.K. asset managers and supports British savers, investors and businesses, officials say. The association has 250 members that oversee £7.7 trillion of… Read More >>
FinCEN Refocuses on Virtual Currencies
Without much fanfare, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the Treasury Department, issued a guidance on convertible virtual currencies (CVC) such as Bitcoin to help “financial institutions, law enforcement, and regulators” get a grip on the “multiple variations of businesses dealing in CVCs.” The guidance is a reminder to firms of their… Read More >>
CFTC & SEC Spotlight Crypto-Fraud Websites
Although crypto currencies may yield many surprising benefits, one of the oldest rules of commerce still applies to investing and trading in digital assets — if it seems to be too good to be true, it might be. That is the essence of a guidance, “Investor Alert: Watch Out for Fraudulent Digital Asset and ‘Crypto’… Read More >>
SEC Explores Impacts of Digital Assets at Forum
The SEC is shining more light on distributed ledger technology (DLT) and digital assets via a forum on May 31 hosted by the regulator’s Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (FinHub), an effort to actively engage with innovators, developers, and entrepreneurs. The event is an acknowledgment of the importance of DLT and digital assets… Read More >>
SEC Raises Key SRO Fee by 59 Percent
Without much fanfare, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced earlier this month via an Information Notice that it had to raise certain fees controlled by the SEC by 59 percent. “The fees that FINRA controls are staying flat,” a FINRA spokesperson tells FTF News. “Effective April 16, 2019, the Section 31 fee rate applicable… Read More >>
