Penalties: $35,000.00
Respondent: Lincoln Investment
Violation: From July 2016 to December 2017, Lincoln’s supervisory system and written supervisory procedures (WSPs) were not reasonably designed to achieve compliance with the firm’s obligation to monitor transmittals of customer funds, and, as a result, in the fall of 2017, impostors stole or attempted to steal customer funds by requesting transfers from the accounts of two Lincoln customers. By virtue of the foregoing, Lincoln violated FINRA Rules 3110 and 2010… Read More

Penalties: $7,500.00
Respondent: Jay Clint Tomlinson
Violation: From October 2015 through April 2016, Tomlinson improperly exercised discretion without written authorization when placing 379 trades in the accounts of three customers, in violation of NASD Rule 2510(b) and FINRA Rule 2010… Read More

Penalties: $55,000.00
Respondent: R.F. Lafferty & Co., Inc
Violation: From July 2014 to July 2017, R.F. Lafferty failed to maintain order memoranda that accurately reflected whether trades were solicited or unsolicited for more than 56,000 trades in customer accounts during the same time period, in violation of Section 17(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act), Rule 17a-3 thereunder, and FINRA Rules 4511 and 2010. R.F… Read More

Penalties: $35,000.00
Respondent: Infinity Financial Services
Violation: Infinity Financial Failed to Conduct Reasonable Background Investigations. Infinity Financial Failed to Seek Prior Approval for a Material Change in Business… Read More

Penalties: $40,000.00
Respondent: Mizuho Securities USA LLC
Violation: From 2007 through the present, Mizuho excluded the electronic communications of certain senior management from its supervisory review process. Mizuho excluded these employees’ communications from review without assessing those employees’ relation to the securities business of the firm. As a result, Mizuho violated NASD Rules 3010 and 2110, and FINRA Rules 3110 and 2010… Read More

Penalties: $5,000.00
Respondent: Nicholas G. Baecke
Violation: Between April 2016 and September 2018, Baecker electronically forged sixteen firm customers’ signatures on life insurance applications, in violation of FINRA Rule 2010… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: James A. Conant
Violation: Between 2010 and 2018, Conant willfully failed to timely amend his Uniform Application for Securities Industry Registration or Transfer (Form U4) to disclose 13 tax liens and one judgment totaling $397,650, in violation of Article V, Section 2(c) of FINRA’s By-Laws and FINRA Rules 1122 and 2010… Read More

Penalties: $10,000.00
Respondent: Michael T. Norvet
Violation: Between July 2016 and January 2019, issuers Evolution RE Bishop’s Lodge LP (Bishop’s Lodge) and Evolution RE Hall Arts Hotel LP (Hall Arts) conducted private placements, selling units to investors, including through Titan. Between February 2017 and March 2018, Norvet was involved in managing both entities and in addition to approving the private placement memoranda (PPM), he controlled the entities’ bank  accounts and transferred more than $4.3 million from Hall Arts to Bishop’s Lodge, which was ultimately returned from Bishop’s Lodge to Hall Arts… Read More

Penalties: $20,000.00
Respondent: Timothy James Pandekakes
Violation: From January 2016 through April 2018, Pandekakes recommended four unsuitable exchanges of variable annuities, in violation of FINRA Rules 2111, 2330, and 2010… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Marisa Kathleen Quintero
Violation: From May through July, 2019, Respondent converted approximately $10,000 from a customer of a bank affiliated with the firm by making unauthorized withdrawals from the customer’s bank accounts and using the funds to pay personal expenses, in violation of FINRA Rule 2010… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Michael Edward Magill
Violation: In December 2018, while registered with Foreside, Magill participated in private investments away from his firm to three investors who were not customers of the firm… Read More

Penalties: $5,000.00
Respondent: Curtis R. Shinn
Violation: Between November 7, 2012 and January 11, 2019, while registered through Park Avenue Securities, Shinn made 25 telephone calls to Firm A’s customer service department during which he impersonated 14 of his customers or former customers. Through these impersonations, Shinn violated FINRA Rule 2010… Read More

Penalties: $95,000.00
Respondent: Direct Hedge Danmark Fondsmaeglerselskab AS
Violation: Pursuant to an offer of settlement in which Direct Hedge Danmark Fondsmaeglerselskab AS (“Direct Hedge”) neither admitted nor denied the Rule violations upon which the penalty is based, on December 9, 2020, a Panel of the Chicago Board of Trade Business Conduct Committee (“Panel”) found that, between October 2019, and April 2020, Direct Hedge submitted block trades it executed for customers in various contract months of Urea (Granular) FOB US Gulf futures, Urea (Granular) FOB Middle East futures, Urea (Granular) FOB Egypt futures and Urea (Granular) CFR Brazil futures contracts to the Exchange with inaccurate execution times and also failed to report one block trade to the Exchange within the required time period following execution… Read More

Penalties: $75,000.00
Respondent: Xu Peng
Violation: On July 24, 2020, the Chief Regulatory Officer of the CME Group’s Designated Contract Markets charged Xu Peng with violating CME Rule 534 based on allegations that between August 27, 2018, and May 15, 2019, Peng placed buy and sell orders in the same product and expiration month, where he knew or reasonably should have known that the purpose of the orders was to avoid taking a bona fide market position exposed to market risk in the British Pound, Canadian Dollar, Euro FX, Japanese Yen, New Zealand Dollar, Swiss Franc, and Euro/British Pound futures markets… Read More

Penalties: $60,000.00
Respondent: Mateusz Swierczynski
Violation: On August 3, 2020, the Chief Regulatory Officer of the CME Group’s Designated Contract Markets charged Mateusz Świerczyński with violating CME Rule 575.A. based on allegations that between August 1, 2018, and December 1, 2018, Świerczyński entered and canceled orders in the September 2018-October 2018, October 2018-November 2018, November 2018-January 2019, and the January 2019-March 2019 Feeder Cattle futures spread markets without the intent to trade… Read More

Penalties: $200,000.00
Respondent: Po Kang Ting
Violation: On April 17, 2020, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (“CME”) Chief Regulatory Officer issued charges against non-member Po Kang Ting for violating CME Rules 432.B.1, 432.G., 432.T and 576 based on allegations that on one or more occasions between April 12, 2018, and April 20, 2018, Ting, a financial advisor based in Taiwan, used round-turn transactions in various E-Mini S&P options markets to transfer equity between accounts belonging to three of his customers… Read More

Penalties: $20,000.00
Respondent: StoneX Financial Inc. f/k/a INTL FCStone Financial Inc
Violation: Pursuant to an offer of settlement in which StoneX Financial Inc. f/k/a INTL FCStone Financial Inc. (“StoneX”) neither admitted nor denied the rule violation upon which the penalty is based, on December 9, 2020, a Panel of the Chicago Board of Trade Business Conduct Committee (“Panel”) found that on October 29, 2019, and October 30, 2019, StoneX, acting in its capacity as a clearing firm, transferred positions between customer accounts with different beneficial ownership and without appropriate Exchange approval… Read More

Penalties: $35,000.00
Respondent: Zeng Fang
Violation: On July 24, 2020, the Chief Regulatory Officer of the CME Group’s Designated Contract Markets charged Zeng Fang with violating CME Rules 432.L.1. and 539 based on allegations that between September 14, 2018, and May 14, 2019, Fang prearranged or pre-negotiated the purchase or sale of British Pound, Swiss Franc, Canadian Dollar, and New Zealand Dollar futures contracts and failed to appear for a scheduled staff interview in connection with the investigation… Read More

Penalties: $5,000.00
Respondent: Jeffrey M. Lake
Violation: Pursuant to an offer of settlement in which Jeffrey M. Lake neither admitted nor denied the rule violations upon which the penalty is based, on December 9, 2020, a Panel of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (“CME”) Business Conduct Committee (“Panel”) found that on August 10, 2020, Lake held an intraday position of 960.558 contracts in August 2020 Lean Hog futures, which exceeded the intraday position limit by 10.558 contracts or 1.11%. The Panel concluded that this activity violated CME Rule 562… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Complete Merchant Solutions LLC, Jack Wilson
Violation: Failing to Clearly and Conspicuously disclose all products and services that are sold in conjunction with the offered product or service… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Facebook, Inc.
Violation: Through its course of conduct, Facebook has excluded competition and willfully maintained its monopoly in personal social networking through means other than competing on the merits… Read More

Penalties: $4,250,000.00
Respondent: Appfolio, Inco.
Violation: The Complaint charges that Defendant participated in unfair or deceptive acts or practices in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. § 45, and the FCRA, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681– 1681x, in the sale of Consumer Reports… Read More

Penalties: $1,500,000.00
Respondent: Jack Wilson
Violation: The complaint charged the Defendants participated in unfair acts or practices in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 45(a), bu processing or arranging for processing of charges to consumers’ credit and debit cards on behalf of Defendants’ Clients… Read More

Penalties: $40,000.00
Respondent: Wilfredo Felix
Violation: FINRA staff sent Felix the Second 8210 Request via certified mail, return receipt requested, to his CRD address of record and via email to his business email address; The Second 8210 Request advised Felix that as a result of his failure to respond to the Initial 8210 Request, “you may be in violation of FINRA Rule 8210… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Gregory Walter McCloskey
Violation: McCloskey falsely responded to four questions on a PAQ that his employing firm submitted to FINRA. McCloskey misled FINRA on the PAQ by falsely attesting that while associated with a member firm he had not: (i) received any complaints against him from a customer during the past 12 months; (ii) utilized a third-party communication system, such as a third-party email address to communicate with customers; (iii) engaged in any PSTs; and (iv) prepared and distributed personalized account statements, consolidated statements or performance reports separate and apart from the account statements prepared and distributed by his member firm… Read More

Penalties: $10,000.00
Respondent: Kim Millman
Violation: Between September 2014 and December 2019, Millman willfully failed to timely amend her Uniform Application for Securities Industry Registration or Transfer (Form U4) to disclose six tax liens and two civil judgments. As a result, Millman violated Article V, Section 2(c) of FINRA’s By-Laws and FINRA Rules 1122 and 2010… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Robert Halldin
Violation: After receiving a request for on-the-record testimony issued by FINRA staff under FINRA Rule 8210, Halldin refused to appear for testimony… Read More

Penalties: $5,000.00
Respondent: Stephen Anthony Nappo
Violation: In July 2017, Nappo participated in a private securities transaction without providing prior written notice to his firm, in violation of FINRA Rules 3280 and 2010… Read More

Penalties: $650,000.00
Respondent: Barclays Capital Inc.
Violation: From January 2017 through April 2019, Barclays had systemic TRACE reporting issues that caused numerous violations of FINRA Rules 6730 and 2010. Barclays: (i) failed to timely report transactions in TRACE-eligible corporate Bonds and TRACE-eligible Agency Debt Securities, (ii) over-reported treasury transactions to TRACE, and (iii) reported the incorrect time of execution for corporate transactions to TRACE. In addition, the firm violated Exchange Act Rule 2010 by failing to show the correct time of execution on the memoranda of hundreds of brokerage orders. The firm also failed to establish a supervisory system reasonably designed to achieve compliance with TRACE reporting rules in violation of FINRA Rules 3110 and 2010… Read More

Penalties: $55,000.00
Respondent: Joseph Gunnar & Co. LLC
Violation: From May 10, 2017 through June I, 2018, the firm failed to establish and implement an anti-money laundering (AML) program reasonably designed to detect and cause the reporting of potentially suspicious activity relating to transactions involving low-priced securities… Read More

Penalties: $5,000.00
Respondent: Great American Investors, Inc.
Violation: GAI failed to conduct annual (on a calendar-year basis) independent testing of the firm’s anti-money laundering (AML) compliance program three times over a five-year time period, in violation of FINRA Rules 3310(c) and 2010… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: BounceBack, Inc
Violation: Falsely representing that nonpayment would lead to criminal prosecution. Distributing written communications thata falsely represented to be issued by state official or agency. Using False representions and deceptive means to collect a debt… Read More

Penalties: $204,000.00
Respondent: RAB Performance Recoveries, LLC
Violation: In the Subject States where Respondent operated, it falsely implied that it had a legally enforceable claim for payment and threatened to take action that could not legally be taken by sending consumers demand letters threatening litigation and filing debt-collection lawsuits without the licensure required to recover through the judicial process under applicable state law… Read More

Penalties: $600,000.00
Respondent: Alder Holdings, LLC
Violation: The Complaint alleges violations of FCRA § 615, 15 U.S.C. § 1681m, and Regulation V’s rule regarding Duties of Users Regarding Risk-Based Pricing (Risk-Based Pricing Rule), 12 C.F.R. § 1022.70 et seq., in connection with the defendants’ selling of home-security and alarm system monitoring services… Read More

Penalties: $17,123,305.00
Respondent: Mr. Cooper and Nationstar Mortgage LLC.
Violation: The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (“Bureau”) commenced this civil action on December 7, 2020 to obtain injunctive and monetary relief and civil penalties from Defendant Nationstar Mortgage LLC, d/b/a Mr. Cooper. The Complaint alleges violations of (1) Sections 1031 and 1036 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (“CFPA”), 12 U.S.C. §§ 5531, 5536; (2) Sections 6 and 19 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (“RESPA”), 12 U.S.C. §§ 2605, 2617, and the regulations promulgated thereunder at Regulation X, 12 C.F.R. § 1024 et seq… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: RAB Performance Recoveries, LLC
Violation: The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau) intends to initiate an administrative proceeding against RAB Performance Recoveries, LLC, (Respondent) under 12 U.S.C. §§ 5563 and 5565, for its unlicensed threats to sue and collections lawsuits in violation of § 1692e(5), 10 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq., and §§ 1031 and 1036 of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010, 12 U.S.C. §§ 5531, 5536… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: J. Jeremy Barbera, Carl Smith
Violation: According to the SEC’s complaint, between at least December 2015 and December 2019, Barbera, a New York City resident, and Nanobeak, a private Delaware company located in New York City, made false and misleading statements about the company’s business while soliciting, and selling Nanobeak securities to, investors and potential investors… Read More

Penalties: $170,000,000.00
Respondent: BlueCrest Capital Management Limited
Violation: BlueCrest willfully violated Sections 17(a)(2) and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act, which prohibit any person in the offer or sale of securities from obtaining money or property by means of any untrue statement of material fact or any omission to state a material fact necessary in order to make statements not misleading, and from engaging in any practice or course of business which operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit in the offer or sale of securities, respectively… Read More

Penalties: $50,295,232.00
Respondent: Golden California Regional Center, LLC and Bethany Liou
Violation: According to the Order, beginning in July 2016, the Respondents offered securities under the Immigrant Investor Program (“EB-5 securities”) in the form of limited partnership interests in the GCRC Cupertino Fund (the “Cupertino Fund”), raising funds from at least 90 investors to partially finance the acquisition, development, and operation of a mixed-use residential, commercial, and hotel development in Cupertino, California (the “Cupertino-based project”)… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Sequential Brands Group, Inc.
Violation: Sequential allegedly continued to improperly account for goodwill in the next three quarters, before belatedly impairing all of its goodwill-totaling $304 million-in the fourth quarter of 2017… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Christopher Clark and William Wright
Violation: William D. Wright learned non-public information about the acquisition of CEB while serving as a senior accounting officer of the company… Read More

Penalties: $287,558.00
Respondent: Ravi Iyer
Violation: From December 2016 to September 2018, Iyer acted as an unregistered broker in violation of Section 15(a) of the Exchange Act. Iyer personally invested in Global Credit Recovery, LLC (“GCR”), an entity offering investments in purported portfolios of charged-off consumer debt and shortly thereafter, invited his friends, family, and colleagues to invest money as well. In exchange for actively managing the investment relationship with GCR, Iyer charged those who did invest (“Investors”) 1% of their account balances each time they took a distribution from their investment… Read More

Penalties: $8,000,000.00
Respondent: Ice Data Pricing & Reference Data LLC.
Violation: PRD willfully violated Section 206(4) of the Advisers Act and Rule 206(4)-7 thereunder, which require registered investment advisers to, among other things, adopt and implement written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent violation of the Advisers Act and the rules adopted thereunder… Read More

Penalties: $9,500,000.00
Respondent: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V.
Violation: On September 28, 2020, the Commission issued an Order Instituting Cease-and-Desist Proceedings Pursuant to Section 21C of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Making Findings, and Imposing Remedial Sanctions and a Cease-and-Desist Order (the “Order”) against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (the “Respondent”) for disclosure violations by the Respondent concerning its public descriptions in early 2016 of an internal inquiry of the emissions control systems of certain of its light-duty diesel vehicles in the wake of the Volkswagen AG “Dieselgate” scandal… Read More

Penalties: $200,000,000.00
Respondent: General Electric Company
Violation: GE violated Section 17(a)(2) and (3) of the Securities Act, which prohibit any person from directly or indirectly obtaining money or property by means of any untrue statement of a material fact or any omission to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, or engaging in any transaction, practice, or course of business which operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon the purchaser, in the offer or sales of securities… Read More

Penalties: $25,000.00
Respondent: Applied BioSciences Corp
Violation: As alleged in the Commission’s complaint, filed on May 14, 2020, Applied BioSciences fraudulently stated in a March 31, 2020 press release that it had begun offering and shipping finger-prick COVID19 tests to the general public that could be used for “Homes, Schools, Hospitals, Law Enforcement, Military, Public Servants or anyone wanting immediate and private results.”… Read More

Penalties: $17,000,000.00
Respondent: Covia Holdings Corp. and Bison Merger Sub I, LLC
Violation: Fairmount and Covia violated Sections 17(a)(2) and 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act, which make it unlawful for any person in the offer or sale of any securities by the use of any means or instruments of transportation or communication in interstate commerce or by use of the mails, directly or indirectly, to obtain money or property by means of any untrue statement of a material fact or any omission to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading; or to engage in any transaction, practice, or course of business which operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon the purchaser… Read More

Penalties: N/A
Respondent: Amir Bruno Elmaani
Violation: In the fall of 2017, Elmaani offered and sold tens of millions of digital tokens called Pearl tokens in connection with his venture, Oyster Protocol.According to the complaint, the Pearl tokens were securities, but Elmaani’s offer and sale of Pearl tokens was not registered with the Commission… Read More

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