GPB Capital Holdings, an alternative asset management firm based in New York, is the subject of investigations by FINRA, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and state regulators. GPB Capital raised approximately $1.8 billion from investors in private placement funds primarily invested in the waste management and auto dealership sectors. […]
On April 3, 2019, the Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship and Capital Markets, part of the House Committee on Financial Services, held a hearing entitled: Putting Investors First: Reviewing Proposals to Hold Executives Accountable. The hearing examined six legislative proposals that are designed to hold public company executives accountable to […]
Legislation proposed in the Maryland Senate, Senate Bill 786 – Financial Consumer Protection Act of 2019, contains a controversial fiduciary rule which defines certain investment professionals as fiduciaries. Under the bill, investment advisers, broker-dealers, broker-dealer agents, and insurance producers would be defined as fiduciaries and would be required to act […]
On March 20, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Carol Ann Pedersen, a CPA from Long Beach, California, with stealing millions of dollars from investors in a Ponzi scheme. At the time of her fraudulent scheme, Pedersen operated her own accounting firm where she provided accounting services to individuals […]
Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Volkswagen AG, its subsidiaries Volkswagen Group of America Finance, LLC and VW Credit, Inc., and it’s former CEO, Martin Winterkorn, with defrauding U.S. bond investors in connection with its clean diesel scandal. In its complaint, the SEC alleges that between April 2014 […]
By Tom Costello of Costello Law Group FINRA suspended ex LPL broker, Mark Tauzin, from the securities industry for eight months for unsuitable short-term trading of unit investment trusts (UITs). FINRA alleged the short term trading was for the purpose of generating excessive commissions. FINRA ordered Tauzin to repay clients $205,000 plus interest […]
By Tom Costello of Costello Law Group Henry Al Dean Watson, a former Hillard Lyons broker, was barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for allegedly engaging in unauthorized trades and excessive trading. Watson recently settled a customer claim relating to those allegations. Watson refused to testify in the regulatory proceeding against […]
By Tom Costello of Costello Law Group posted in Securities on Monday, April 10, 2017. Jens Pinkernell and his firm J. Pinkernell Global Wealth was suspended for five years by the Texas Securities Commissioner for over charging two clients. Pinkernell allegedly overcharged the clients approximately $47,000 over a three year period. According to the Texas Securities […]
By Tom Costello of Costello Law Group The Secretary of the Commonwealth in Massachusetts, William Galvin, charged Stephen Eubanks for engaging in a Ponzi scheme. Eubanks solicited customers to purchase shares of a fund he managed named “Eubiquity Capital Fund.” According to authorities in Massachusetts, instead of investing customer monies in the Eubiquity […]
By Tom Costello of Costello Law Group A former Morgan Stanley broker, Jeffrey Hunter Smith, was barred from the securities industry by FINRA for borrowing money from clients. Smith was registered with Morgan Stanley from 2009 to 2015. During his time there, Smith borrowed $300,000 from two clients without any written approval or […]
