Month: June 2017

US IPO reform: Stagefright

Banking News – US IPO reform: Stagefright
&nbspThe SEC is single-minded to make IPOs fantastic again
Fiscal Times – Fiscal Air force – https://www.ft.com/content/273dc926-5db0-11e7-b553-e2df1b0c3220

SEC Files Fraud Charges in Bitcoin and Office Space Investment Schemes

Banking News – SEC Files Fraud Charges in Bitcoin and Office Space Investment Schemes
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The Securities and Chat Fee today filed fraud charges against the underground founder of a alleged Bitcoin platform and a chain of co-working spaces located in former bars and restaurants, alleging that he bilked investors in both companies while hiding his tie given his tartan past with regulators in the U.K. 

The SEC alleges that Renwick Haddow, a U.K. citizen living in New York, made a broker-dealer and did not catalog the firm with the SEC as vital under the federal securities laws.  Haddow allegedly used sales representatives to cold call the makings investors and sell securities in Bitcoin Store Inc. and Bar Works Inc.

According to the SEC’s protest, donation equipment open to investors in both companies touted the backgrounds of senior executives who do not appear to exist.  The equipment also misrepresented other key facts about both companies’ operations.  Haddow allegedly diverted more than 80 percent of the in funds raised by the broker-dealer for the Bitcoin Store, and sent more than $4 million from the Bar Works bank fiscal proclamation to one or more fiscal proclamation in Mauritius and $1 million to one or more fiscal proclamation in Morocco.

“As alleged in our protest, Haddow made two trendy companies and misled investors into believing that highly-certified executives were leading them to quick profitability.  In reality, Haddow top secret the companies from behind the scenes and they were far from profitable,” said Andrew M. Calamari, Boss of the SEC’s New York Regional Office.

The SEC alleges that equipment provided to Bitcoin Store investors claimed it was “an simple-to-use and secure way of holding and trading Bitcoin” and had generated several million dollars in yucky sales.  In fact, the SEC alleges that Bitcoin Store has never had any operations nor generated the yucky sales it touted.  In 2015, for example, Bitcoin Store’s bank fiscal proclamation allegedly expected less than $250,000 in incoming transfers, none of which appear to reflect revenue from customers.  According to the SEC’s protest, the corporate address used for Bitcoin Store was Haddow’s housing address minus the apartment construction number.

According to the SEC’s protest, Bar Works claimed to bring “real life to the bendable working scene by adding full-service workspaces to former bar and restaurant premises in central city locations.”  Bar Works primarily sold leases coupled with sub-leases that collectively functioned like investment notes.  The company also allegedly sold leases for more workspaces than in fact existed in at least two locations.  Among fake claims made to investors, who invested more than $37 million in the Bar Works scheme, were that a place was profitable within months of opening and that Bar Works had engaged an auditor. 

In a analogous action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern Constituency of New York today announced criminal charges against Haddow. 

The SEC’s protest filed in federal constituency court in Manhattan charges Haddow, Bitcoin Store, Bar Works, and another Haddow-top secret company called Bar Works 7th Avenue, Inc. with violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Chat Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5.  The protest further alleges that Haddow is liable for aiding and abetting Bitcoin Store, Bar Works, and Bar Works 7th Avenue’s violations and as a control person for the registration violations of his brokerage firm InCrowd Equity Inc. 

The SEC has obtained an urgent circumstances asset freeze against all defendants and relief defendants in the case.

The SEC’s investigation is being conducted by Maureen P. King, Preethi Krishnamurthy, Neil Hendelman, and Sandeep Satwalekar.  The case is being supervised by Lara Shalov Mehraban.  The legal action will be handled by Ms. Krishnamurthy, Ms. King, and Christopher J. Dunnigan.  The SEC appreciates the help of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern Constituency of New York and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.    

SEC.gov Updates: Press Releases – https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2017-123

SEC Charges Information Technology Company and Former Executives With Accounting Fraud

Banking News – SEC Charges In rank Equipment Company and Former Executives With Accounting Fraud
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The Securities and Chat Fee has charged Chicago-area in rank equipment company Quadrant 4 System Corp. (QFOR) and two former top executives in an accounting fraud scheme that misled investors and allowed the former executives to siphon millions from the firm for their private benefit.

The SEC’s protest, filed days gone by in the U.S. Constituency Court for the Northern Constituency of Illinois, alleges that former chief executive officer Nandu Thondavadi and former chief fiscal officer Dhru Desai stole more than $4 million from Schaumburg, Illinois-based QFOR over a nearly five-year period. The former executives also are alleged to have caused QFOR to play down its liabilities and inflate its revenues and assets, evading analysis by lying to the company’s auditors and as long as them with forged and doctored ID.

According to the SEC’s protest, the alleged scheme nonstop until November 2016, when Thondavadi and Desai were arrested and brutally charged with fraud.  QFOR announced their resignations in December 2016 and told that the company’s fiscal reports could no longer be relied upon and vital a paraphrase.

“As alleged in our protest, Thondavadi and Desai perpetrated a multi-faceted scheme to mislead investors about QFOR’s fiscal shape up and secretly enrich themselves,” said David Glockner, Boss of the SEC’s Chicago Regional Office.

The SEC’s protest charges QFOR with filing fake and ambiguous weekly, annual, and other reports, failing to make and keep right books and records, and domestic accounting control failures.  Subject to court praise, and without admitting or denying the allegations, QFOR consented to an order to everlastingly enjoin the company from further antifraud, exposure, books and records, and domestic control violations.  The court will set up at a later date whether disgorgement or a fiscal penalty should be imposed against QFOR.

Thondavadi and Desai are charged with manifold violations, counting fraud, falsifying books and records, lying to auditors, falsely certifying QFOR’s filings, and aiding and abetting QFOR’s alleged violations.

In a analogous action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern Constituency of Illinois today announced bonus criminal charges against Thondavadi and Desai, counting charges that Thondavadi and Desai attempted to obstruct the SEC’s investigation, lied to the SEC under oath, and paid two those to lie to the SEC in the course of its investigation.

The SEC’s protest seeks injunctions and return of allegedly ill-gotten gains plus appeal and penalties against the company and the former executives as well as officer-and-boss bars against Thondavadi and Desai.

The SEC’s investigation, which is long-lasting, is being conducted by Meredith J. Laval, Robin Andrews, and Rebecca Hollenbeck of the Chicago Regional Office.  Michael Foster, Mr. Andrews, and Ms. Laval will lead the legal action.  The case is being supervised by Amy S. Cotter and Robert J. Burson. 

The SEC appreciates the help of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern Constituency of Illinois and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Chicago Field Office. 

SEC.gov Updates: Press Releases – https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2017-122

Week in Review, July 1

Banking News – Week in Review, July 1
&nbspUS banks pass test; Google, Takata, Fox and M&A also in the news
Fiscal Times – Fiscal Air force – https://www.ft.com/content/6152e6de-5da4-11e7-9bc8-8055f264aa8b

You already bank the pot industry. You just don’t know it

Banking News – You already bank the pot diligence. You just don’t know it
&nbspIt may be a larger challenge than fiscal institutions realize to avoid the cannabis sector, which includes a whole host of at the bottom of businesses from agricultural supply sellers to real estate developers.
Union Banking – http://www.americanbanker.com/opinion/you-already-bank-the-pot-diligence-you-just-dont-know-it

You already bank the pot industry. You just don’t know it

Banking News – You already bank the pot diligence. You just don’t know it
&nbspIt may be a larger challenge than fiscal institutions realize to avoid the cannabis sector, which includes a whole host of at the bottom of businesses from agricultural supply sellers to real estate developers.
Union Banking – http://www.americanbanker.com/opinion/you-already-bank-the-pot-diligence-you-just-dont-know-it

You already bank the pot industry. You just don’t know it

Banking News – You already bank the pot diligence. You just don’t know it
&nbspIt may be a larger challenge than fiscal institutions realize to avoid the cannabis sector, which includes a whole host of at the bottom of businesses from agricultural supply sellers to real estate developers.
Union Banking – http://www.americanbanker.com/opinion/you-already-bank-the-pot-diligence-you-just-dont-know-it

You already bank the pot industry. You just don’t know it

Banking News – You already bank the pot diligence. You just don’t know it
&nbspIt may be a larger challenge than fiscal institutions realize to avoid the cannabis sector, which includes a whole host of at the bottom of businesses from agricultural supply sellers to real estate developers.
Union Banking – http://www.americanbanker.com/opinion/you-already-bank-the-pot-diligence-you-just-dont-know-it

‘Hogs get slaughtered’: Comments of week

Banking News – ‘Hogs get slaughtered’: Observations of week
&nbspReaders criticized a credit union securitization bid, weighed in on scaling back the CFPB’s protest list, debated the need for banks to examine gender-based salary comparisons, and more.
Union Banking – http://www.americanbanker.com/slideshow/hogs-get-slaughtered-observations-of-week

‘Hogs get slaughtered’: Comments of week

Banking News – ‘Hogs get slaughtered’: Observations of week
&nbspReaders criticized a credit union securitization bid, weighed in on scaling back the CFPB’s protest list, debated the need for banks to examine gender-based salary comparisons, and more.
Union Banking – http://www.americanbanker.com/slideshow/hogs-get-slaughtered-observations-of-week

‘Hogs get slaughtered’: Comments of week

Banking News – ‘Hogs get slaughtered’: Observations of week
&nbspReaders criticized a credit union securitization bid, weighed in on scaling back the CFPB’s protest list, debated the need for banks to examine gender-based salary comparisons, and more.
Union Banking – http://www.americanbanker.com/slideshow/hogs-get-slaughtered-observations-of-week

Bank stocks surge; Capital One left out

Banking News – Bank stocks surge; Capital One left out
&nbspInvestors drive up bank stocks on the promise of fatter dividends; Capital One bucks the trend on concerns over credit cards and auto loans.
Union Banking – http://www.americanbanker.com/morning-scan/bank-stocks-surge-capital-one-left-out

‘Hogs get slaughtered’: Comments of week

Banking News – ‘Hogs get slaughtered’: Observations of week
&nbspReaders criticized a credit union securitization bid, weighed in on scaling back the CFPB’s protest list, debated the need for banks to examine gender-based salary comparisons, and more.
Union Banking – http://www.americanbanker.com/slideshow/hogs-get-slaughtered-observations-of-week

Bank stocks surge; Capital One left out

Banking News – Bank stocks surge; Capital One left out
&nbspInvestors drive up bank stocks on the promise of fatter dividends; Capital One bucks the trend on concerns over credit cards and auto loans.
Union Banking – http://www.americanbanker.com/morning-scan/bank-stocks-surge-capital-one-left-out

Bank stocks surge; Capital One left out

Banking News – Bank stocks surge; Capital One left out
&nbspInvestors drive up bank stocks on the promise of fatter dividends; Capital One bucks the trend on concerns over credit cards and auto loans.
Union Banking – http://www.americanbanker.com/morning-scan/bank-stocks-surge-capital-one-left-out