Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare a corporation; Tenet Healthcare Corporation
Violation: On December 23, 2020, Respondents publicly announced that they are abandoning Methodist’s proposed acquisition of certain healthcare facilities, assets, and operating rights from Tenet and its subsidiaries… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Hackensack Meridian Health, Inc., Englewood Healthcare Foundation
Violation: Pursuant to Commission Rule 3.21(b), a prehearing scheduling conference will be held on December 28, 2020 at 4:00 p.m., Eastern. Due to ongoing public health concerns related to COVID-19, the scheduling conference will be conducted telephonically… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: E. & J. GALLO WINERY, DRY CREEK CORPORATION, CONSTELLATION BRANDS, INC.,
Violation: The proposed acquisition would eliminate head-to-head competition between Gallo and Constellation and thereby was likely to substantially lessen competition in the United States for six types of wine-and-spirits products: entry-level on-premise sparkling wine, low-priced sparkling wine, low-priced brandy, low-priced port, low-priced sherry, and high color concentrates… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Cuba Designations; Nicaragua-related Designations
Violation: The following individuals have been added to OFAC’s SDN List… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Belarus Designations; Iraq-related Designations Removals
Violation: The following individuals have been added to OFAC’s SDN List… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Issuance of Syria Frequently Asked Questions; Syria Designations; Syria-related Designations and Designation Update
Violation: The following individuals have been added to OFAC’s SDN List… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Issuance of Venezuela-related General License 5F and Amended Frequently Asked Question; Issuance of Ukraine-related General Licenses 13P and 15J
Violation: The following individuals have been added to OFAC’s SDN List… Read More

Penalties: $740,968.00
Respondent: TIMOTHY A. SACK
Violation: Southwest Services solicited and/or accepted orders from U.S. resident non-ECP customers in connection with retail forex transactions and was or offered to be the counterparty to those transactions… Read More

Penalties: $255,850.00
Respondent: MARK N. PYATT, aka DANIEL RANDOLPH, and WINSTON REED INVESTMENTS LLC
Violation: Pyatt violated 7 U.S.C. §§ 6b(a)(1)(A)-(C) and 6b(a)(2)(A)-(C) and 17 C.F.R. § 5.2(b)(1)-(3) by misappropriating pool participants’ funds, by making material misrepresentations with scienter, and by willfully issuing false statements… Read More

Penalties: $15,000.00
Respondent: Charles A. Laverty
Violation: Registered representative borrowed $1.35 million from customers without notifying his firms or obtaining firm approval, falsified a firm compliance questionnaire and heightened supervision attestation, provided false testimony to FINRA, and willfully failed to disclose an unsatisfied judgment and tax lien on his Form U4… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Jason Howell Poff
Violation: From February 2016 through February 2018, while registered with FINRA through LPL Financial LLC, Jason Howell Poff engaged in two undisclosed and unapproved outside business activities (OBAs) through a business that he owned and operated… Read More

Penalties: $5,000.00
Respondent: Rawad Roy Alame
Violation: Between February 2019 and July 2019, while associated with Merrill Lynch, Alame participated in private securities transactions involving his management of a customer’s securities account held at another firm, without providing notice to Merrill Lynch… Read More

Penalties: $6,955.85
Respondent: Paul Lawrence Fowler
Violation: From October 2016 through September 2018, Fowler violated FINRA Rule 2010 when he executed securities transactions in his customer’s account at Wells Fargo based on instructions he received from an individual who was not a signatory to or authorized individual on the account… Read More

Penalties: $20,000.00
Respondent: David Jin Kyu Chong
Violation: During the period of July 2006 through January 2010, Chong failed to disclose to his three FINRA member firm employers that he was a beneficiary of his Firm customer’s Trust, appointed healthcare power of attorney for the same customer, and/or empowered to remove and/or appoint a successor trustee for the Trust, in violation of NASD Rule 2110 and FINRA Rule 2010… Read More

Penalties: $8,754,160.00
Respondent: Transamerica Financial Advisors, Inc.
Violation: TFA failed to reasonably supervise its representatives’ recommendations of three different products variable annuities, mutual funds, and 529 plans resulting in significant customer harm… Read More

Penalties: $10,000.00
Respondent: Jaime I. Sanchez Rivera
Violation: In June 2019, Sanchez falsified a business document, forged a third-party’s signature on the document, and later misled First Southern Securities, LLC about the purpose of the falsification. In May 2020, Sanchez falsified a second business document. Based on the foregoing, Sanchez violated FINRA Rule 2010… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Michael F. Shillin
Violation: Shillin refused to produce information or documents or give on-the-record testimony as requested by FINRA staff pursuant to FINRA Rule 8210. As a result, he violated FINRA Rules 8210 and 2010… Read More

Penalties: $5,000.00
Respondent: Beth L. Klein Friedman
Violation: Between December 2015 and November 2017, Friedman circumvented Janney’s procedures that prohibited registered representatives from being named as a beneficiary of the estate of any customer outside of the representative’s immediate family… Read More

Penalties: $30,000.00
Respondent: B.C. Ziegler and Company
Violation: Between September 1, 2018 and March 11, 2019, B.C. Ziegler failed to transmit 28,226 reportable order events (ROEs) to the Order Audit Trail System (OATS). Between May 1, 2019 and August 31, 2019, B.C. Ziegler reported late to OATS 661 ROEs… Read More

Penalties: $5,000.00
Respondent: Paul Zakhary
Violation: Between January and August 2018, Zakhary made recommendations to three customers to sell variable annuities and replace them with fixed annuities. Zakhary lacked a reasonable basis for making the recommendations that the customers sell their variable annuities because he did not sufficiently understand the transactions, and as a result failed to execute 1035 exchanges… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Yousef Abbasi
Violation: From January 2016 through June 2018, Abbasi improperly used Firm funds by charging personal car rides totaling $27,177.26 to JonesTrading’s corporate account. By virtue of the foregoing, Abbasi violated FINRA Rule 2010… Read More

Penalties: $35,000,000.00
Respondent: DISCOVER BANK, THE STUDENT LOAN CORPORATION, AND DISCOVER PRODUCTS, INC
Violation: The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau) intends to initiate an administrative proceeding against Discover Bank, The Student Loan Corporation, and Discover Products, Inc. (collectively, Respondent), under 12 U.S.C. §§ 5563 and 5565, for its compliance with a 2015 Consent Order between the Bureau and Respondent and Respondent’s migration of its student loan servicing platform to a new servicing system in violation of (1) the 2015 Consent Order by misrepresenting the minimum periodic payment owed by consumers, the amount of interest paid by consumers, and other facts material to consumers concerning the servicing of their loans, and by failing to provide all redress required by the 2015 Consent Order… Read More

Penalties: $750,000.00
Respondent: Envios de Valores la Nacional Corp.
Violation: Respondent violated § 1005.34(a) by failing to honor cancellation requests and failing to provide cancellation rights. Respondent violated §§ 1005.33(g)(1) and (g)(2) by failing to develop and maintain policies and procedures for error resolution underthe Remittance Rule. Respondent violated § 1005.33(c)(1) by failing to investigate and make error determinations… Read More

Penalties: $4,750,000.00
Respondent: SANTANDER CONSUMER USA INC.
Violation: The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau) has reviewed the consumer credit furnishing practices of Santander Consumer USA Inc. (Respondent, as defined below) and has identified the following law violations: (1) Respondent furnished inaccurate information about consumers’ credit to Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRAs) that it knew or had reasonable cause to believe was inaccurate in violation of § 623(a)(1)(A) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15 U.S.C. § 1681-s2(a)(1)(A)… Read More

Penalties: $22,919,155.00
Respondent: VOYA FINANCIAL ADVISORS, INC.
Violation: These proceedings arise from Voya’s breach of its fiduciary duties to its advisory clients in connection with: (a) Voya’s mutual fund share class selection practices and the financial benefits it received for advising clients to purchase and hold mutual fund share classes that paid fees pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (“12b-1 fees”)… Read More

Penalties: $2,050,000.00
Respondent: ShipChain, Inc.,
Violation: ShipChain violated Section 5(a) of the Securities Act, which states that unless a registration statement is in effect as to a security, it shall be unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly, to make use of any means or instruments of transportation or communication in interstate commerce or of the mails to sell such security through the use or medium of any prospectus or otherwise; or to carry or cause to be carried through the mails or in interstate commerce, by any means or instruments of transportation, any such security for the purpose of sale or for delivery after sale… Read More

Penalties: $17,851,056.00
Respondent: SUPER MICRO COMPUTER, INC., & HOWARD HIDESHIMA
Violation: In the SMC Order, the Commission determined that SMC, a producer of computer servers headquartered in California, engaged in improper accounting—prematurely recognizing revenue and understating expenses from at least fiscal year (“FY”) 2015 through FY 2017… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Charles Samel
Violation: As alleged in the SEC’s complaint, Samel assisted IIG’s principals in concealing the fraudulent nature of a loan asset in the fund’s portfolio… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Brian Keat Hobbs & TH Wealth Management, LLC
Violation: According to the SEC’s complaint, from at least December 2016 through March 2019, Hobbs placed options trades using TH Wealth’s omnibus trading account, which is intended to facilitate purchases of securities for multiple client accounts… Read More

Penalties: $250,000.00
Respondent: Tierion, Inc.,
Violation: Tierion violated Section 5(a) of the Securities Act, which states that unless a registration statement is in effect as to a security, it shall be unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly, to make use of any means or instruments of transportation or communication in interstate commerce or of the mails to sell such security through the use or medium of any prospectus or otherwise; or to carry or cause to be carried through the mails or in interstate commerce, by any means or instruments of transportation, any such security for the purpose of sale or for delivery after sale… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: MUSTAFA ABDEL WADOOD
Violation: These proceedings arise out of the misappropriation of fund assets from one private equity fund client of the Abraaj Group (“Abraaj”) and an offering fraud against investors in another Abraaj fund, including actual and potential U.S.-based investors in the fund. From at least 2015 to 2018… Read More

Penalties: $37,500.00
Respondent: Dike Boone Nerren
Violation: According to the SEC’s complaint, between 2015 and 2017 Nerren raised approximately $1.4 million through Sapient Fund II, LLC and Vintage Place Fund, LP… Read More

Penalties: $800,000.00
Respondent: CORMARK SECURITIES INC.,
Violation: Cormark caused the Executing Broker’s violations of Rule 200(g) of Regulation SHO. Cormark entered inaccurate information concerning the order markings of the Hedge Fund’s sale orders into ITG Canada’s execution management system, and the Executing Broker relied on that information in mismarking the Hedge Fund’s sale orders as “long” sales… Read More

Penalties: $18,252,341.00
Respondent: PRUCO SECURITIES, LLC
Violation: These proceedings arise from Pruco’s breaches of fiduciary duty to its advisory clients that participated in Pruco’s wrap fee programs. Pruco breached its fiduciary duty to its advisory clients by: (a) failing to conduct stated monitoring of client accounts to determine whether the wrap fee programs continued to be suitable for clients… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: MUNISH SOOD
Violation: The counts of the criminal information to which Sood pleaded guilty alleged, among other things, that Sood, with the assistance of others, offered and paid bribes to multiple NCAA men’s college basketball coaches and other individuals in exchange for these coaches and individuals to exercise their influence over student athletes to pursuade and pressure these prospective clients to retain his services… Read More

Penalties: $2,975,992.00
Respondent: Roger E. Dobrovodsky, Robert Todd Seth, Matthew L. Walker & CapSource, Inc.
Violation: According to the SEC’s complaints, from approximately January 2015 through May 2019, CapSource, Byrne, and Herlean, acting as unregistered brokers, offered and sold over $151 million of securities in unregistered offerings to finance various real estate projects, including $28 million for entities related to Zipprich’s drug rehabilitation business, America’s Rehab Campuses, LLC (ARC)… Read More

Penalties: $200,000.00
Respondent: PAUL D. BROWN & FIRST MIDSTATE INC
Violation: FMI and its owner and president, Paul D. Brown (“Brown”), failed to provide to issuers certain material information about FMI’s underwriting practices… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: MUNISH SOOD
Violation: The counts of the criminal information to which Sood pleaded guilty alleged, among other things, that Sood, with the assistance of others, offered and paid bribes to multiple NCAA men’s college basketball coaches and other individuals in exchange for these coaches and individuals to exercise their influence over student athletes to pursuade and pressure these prospective clients to retain his services… Read More

Penalties: $2,022,000.00
Respondent: Edward W. Moore & RPM International Inc
Violation: The SEC’s complaint alleged that, in violation of generally accepted accounting principles and the securities laws, RPM failed to timely disclose a material loss contingency, or record an accrual, for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Lantson E. Eldred, Esq.,
Violation: The Commission’s Second Amended Complaint alleged, among other things, that from 2014 to at least 2017, Eldred and one of his co-defendants, Peter H. Pocklington (“Pocklington”), raised over $14 million from more than 260 investors on behalf of the Eye Machine, LLC, a company ostensibly created to develop a medical device to treat macular degeneration… Read More

Penalties: $192,768.00
Respondent: Ronnie Lee Moss, Jr
Violation: According to the SEC’s complaint, from January 2014 to March 2018, Moss and his companies sold investments in multiple oil-and-gas limited partnerships to 95 investors nationwide… Read More

Penalties: $200,000.00
Respondent: ITG CANADA CORP. n/k/a Virtu ITG Canada Corp
Violation: In the case of approximately 80 orders that ITG Canada had routed to the Executing Broker as “long” sales, ITG Canada received information that Cormark’s customer had failed to deliver shares by the scheduled settlement date… Read More

Penalties: $210,000.00
Respondent: RAMACHANDRA “RAM” MUKUNDA, & INDIA GLOBALIZATION CAPITAL, INC
Violation: These proceedings arise out of India Globalization Capital’s announcement on March 26, 2018, that its first cannabis-based product, called Hyalolex, a formulation aimed at Alzheimer’s Disease symptom relief, “will be on the shelves in April… Read More

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