1. On April 29, 2025, the SEC charged Kenneth Alexander, Robert Welsh and Caedrynn Conner for operating a Ponzi scheme that raised at least $91 million from more than 200 investors. Defendants falsely represented that investors would receive twelve guaranteed monthly payments of between 3% and 6% per month with the principal investment to be returned after 14 months. Alexander and Welsh held their firm out as a highly profitable international bond trading business with billions in assets and told investors that the monthly returns were generated from international bond trading and related activities. Alexander, Welsh, and Conner also offered investors the option to protect their investments from risk of loss through the purchase of a purported financial instrument they called a âpay order.â However, their firm had no material source of revenue, the purported monthly returns were Ponzi payments, and the protection offered by the âpay ordersâ was illusory. Alexander and Conner misappropriated millions in investor funds for personal use, such as Connerâs purchase of a $5 million home. This matter is being litigated. https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2025-71
2. On April 25, 2025, the SEC instituted administrative proceedings against Transamerica Retirement Advisors, LLC, a registered investment adviser, for breaching its fiduciary duty to certain of its advisory clients by failing to disclose conflicts of interest created by paying incentive compensation to its investment advisor representatives in connection with the rollover of retirement assets to accounts with Transamerica Retirement Advisors. TRA offered investment education and managed account services to participants of employer-sponsored retirement plans in connection with recordkeeping services provided to these plans by an affiliate of TRA. TRA paid incentive compensation to its Retirement Planning Consultants for referring employer plan participants to its investment advisor representatives in its Transamerica Advice Center to consider whether to rollover plan assets into advisory accounts. TRA began paying incentive compensation to its TAC Advisors when those participants rolled over their assets into advisory accounts. TRA was ordered to pay a civil money penalty of $2,900,000. https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/admin/2025/ia-6876.pdf
3. On April 25, 2025, the SEC filed an order setting an administrator’s bond regarding a settled administrative proceeding against Legacy Hospitality II, LLC, Legendary Capital REIT III, LLC and Corey Maple for improperly directing two Real Estate Investment Trusts to reimburse the Legacy entities for approximately $5 million in overhead expenses in a manner that was inconsistent with disclosures made to investors. Legacy was ordered to pay disgorgement of $2,283,000, prejudgment interest of $459,012 and a civil money penalty of $1,150,000. Legendary was ordered to pay disgorgement of $463,900, prejudgment interest of $85,431 and a civil money penalty of $225,000. Maple was ordered to pay a civil money penalty of $100,000. https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/admin/2025/34-102936.pdf
4. On April 22, 2025, the SEC filed an order setting an administrator’s bond regarding a settled administrative proceeding against Laurence Balter d/b/a Oracle Investment Research, a former registered investment adviser to the Oracle Mutual Fund (the âOracle Fundâ) for fraudulently allocated profitable trades to Balterâs own accounts to the detriment of several client accounts, falsely told his clients who invested in the Oracle Fund that they would not pay both advisory fees and management fees for the portions of their accounts invested in the Oracle Fund, and made trades for the Oracle Fund that deviated from two of its fundamental investment limitations. Balter was ordered to pay disgorgement of $489,921, prejudgment interest of $10,079 and a civil money penalty of $50,000. https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/admin/2025/34-102913.pdf
5. On April 22, 2025, the SEC charged Ramil Palafox for orchestrating a fraudulent scheme that raised approximately $198 million from investors worldwide and for misappropriating more than $57 million of investor funds. Palafoxâs company, PGI Global, claimed to be a crypto asset and foreign exchange trading company. Palafox offered and sold PGI Global membership packages which he claimed guaranteed investors high returns from PGI Globalâs supposed crypto asset and foreign exchange trading and offered members multi-level-marketing-like referral incentives to encourage them to recruit new investors. Palafox misappropriated more than $57 million in investor funds to buy Lamborghinis, items from luxury retailers, and for other personal expenses. He also used the majority of the remaining investor funds to pay other investors their purported returns and referral rewards in a Ponzi-like scheme. This matter is being litigated. https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2025-69
6. On April 21, 2025, Paul Atkins was sworn into office as the 34th Chairman of the SEC. Chairman Atkins was nominated by President Donald J. Trump on January 20, 2025, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 9, 2025. https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2025-68
7. On April 21, 2025, the SEC announced an award of approximately $6 million to joint whistleblowers who provided new information that led to the opening of an examination and provided a roadmap for an enforcement action that resulted in the covered action. Payments to whistleblowers are made from an investor protection fund, established by Congress, which is financed entirely through monetary sanctions paid to the SEC by securities law violators. Whistleblowers may be eligible for an award when they voluntarily provide the SEC with original, timely, and credible information that leads to a successful enforcement action. Whistleblower awards can range from 10 to 30 percent of the money collected when the monetary sanctions exceed $1 million. https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2025-67
8. On April 15, 2025, the SEC filed an amended complaint against David Yow Shang Chiueh and his investment advisory firm, Upright Financial Corp. for misconduct and for investing more than 25 percent of Upright Growth Fundâs assets in a single company over multiple years, causing losses of $1.6 million. The amended complaint removes a charge against Chiueh for aiding and abetting Upright Investments Trustâs violation of the Investment Company Act of 1940. This matter is being litigated. https://www.sec.gov/enforcement-litigation/litigation-releases/lr-26286
9. On April 14, 2025, a recent SEC order has left 16 firms feeling âsettlorâs remorse,â after their joint motion to âmodify or amend and stay settled ordersâ related to previous off-channel communication enforcements was denied. The SEC has denied a motion raised by the firms to âmodify or amendâ the undertakings from settled cases of off-channel communication violations. The motion was raised to âequalizeâ what the firms saw as a lack of fairness between their settlements and subsequent enforcement settlements. The requested amendments included:
- Removal of a requirement that respondents engage an independent compliance consultant over approximately two years, to be replaced with a one-time internal audit
- Removal of a requirement for respondents to report employee discipline regarding off-channel communications to the SEC for a period of two years
- Remove the SECâs order that respondents comply with their undertakings
The SEC ruling found that respondents âdo not make the showing necessary to modify the Settled Orders.â The Commission has âlong emphasized the âstrong interestâ in maintaining the finality of settlements,â and responsibility lies with respondents to demonstrate âcompellingâ or âextraordinaryâ circumstances to modify a Settled Order. While the SEC has dismissed the motion as an example of âsettlorâs remorse,â it raises interesting questions about the benefits of early settlement versus more lenient later outcomes.
10. On April 11, 2025, certain democrats in the United States Senate lead by Elizabeth Warren and Charles Schumer wrote a letter to Paul Atkins, the new chairman of the SEC, asking the SEC to investigate potential violations of federal securities laws by President Trump and his affiliates. Specifically, democrats asked the SEC to determine whether President Trump, any members of his cabinet, or other donor, insiders, and Administration officials engaged in insider trading, market manipulation, or other securities laws violations on April 9, 2025, when President Trump announced that it was a âGREAT TIME TO BUYâ into the stock market. https://www.banking.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/20250411%20Letter%20to%20SEC%20re%20DJT%20Tariff%20Insider%20Trading.pdf
11. On April 9, 2025, the Senate endorsed former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins to assume the agencyâs chairmanship. The Senate Banking Committee previously voted 13-11 along party lines to forward his nomination. Atkinsâ testimony shows a very different direction of the agency than his predecessor Gary Gensler. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senate-confirms-trumps-pick-be-wall-street-regulator-2025-04-10/
12. On April 9, 2025, the SECâs Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda sent a letter to all staff announcing a shake up in the Enforcement and Examinations divisions. Specifically, enforcement staff will now be reporting to four enforcement deputy directors, based on their location. The effect would be to lump several regional offices under one deputy director. Also, it has been reported that many regional directors will be fired. Each of the SECâs ten regional offices is overseen by a regional director. Further, sources report that DOGE is reviewing the agencyâs operations and SEC staff have been advised to fully cooperate.
13. On April 9, 2025, President Trump issued a memorandum for the heads of executive departments and agencies, including the SEC, directing the repeal of unlawful regulations. The President stated: âIn recent years, the Supreme Court has issued a series of decisions that recognize appropriate constitutional boundaries on the power of unelected bureaucrats and that restore checks on unlawful agency actions. Yet, despite these critical course corrections, unlawful regulations â often promulgated in reliance on now-superseded Supreme Court decisions â remain on the books.â https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/directing-the-repeal-of-unlawful-regulations/
14. On April 4, 2025 the SEC filed an order of stipulation to dismiss charges against Silver Point Capital, L.P. for failing to establish, implement, and enforce written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent the misuse of material nonpublic information (MNPI) relating to its participation on creditorsâ committees. The SEC did not specify why they were dismissing the enforcement action. The SECâs decision to exercise its discretion to dismiss this action is unusual. However, since the President Trumpâs election, dismals are slowly becoming more frequent. https://www.sec.gov/enforcement-litigation/litigation-releases/lr-26281
15. On April 3, 2025 the SEC instituted an order to terminate a fair fund that was set up in connection with an administrative proceeding against Aventura Capital Management, LLC, a registered investment adviser, for failing to adequately to disclose its mutual fund share class selection practices and the resulting conflicts of interest to its advisory clients. Aventura Capital selected share classes that paid fees to its affiliate, registered broker-dealer Aventura Securities, LLC, pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 instead of available lower-cost share classes of the same funds that did not charge those fees. As set forth in the order, although eligible to do so, Aventura Capital did not self-report its affiliate’s receipt of 12b-1 fees to the SEC pursuant to the Division of Enforcement’s Share Class Selection Disclosure Initiative. The order also finds that Aventura Capital failed to disclose that it selected higher-cost share classes of money market funds used as cash sweep vehicles for advisory clients, which also paid compensation to Aventura Securities, instead of available lower-cost share classes of the same funds that did not. Aventura Capital was ordered to pay disgorgement of $623,324, prejudgment interest of $90,432 and a civil money penalty of $225,000. http://sec.gov/files/litigation/admin/2025/34-102767.pdf
16. On April 2, 2025, the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a $93 million judgment by the SEC against Commonwealth Financial Network, a dually registered investment adviser and broker-dealer, and sent the case back to the trial court. The appeals court panel said the trial court must âconsider and address the numerous shortcomings in the SECâs causation evidence.â The appellate court panelâs ruling specifically singled out the role that âsophisticatedâ advisors, including some who had previously testified, played in helping Commonwealth clients make investment decisions, suggesting that the investors had not needed to rely exclusively on the firmâs disclosures for their decision-making. â[W]e hold that a reasonable jury could conclude, on the facts of this case, that additional disclosures with more precise descriptions, added to the already-disclosed conflicts of interest, would not have so âsignificantly altered the âtotal mixâ of information made available,ââ the court wrote, quoting a precedential case. The appeals court identified âfundamental legal errorsâ made by the trial court regarding whether the SEC proved a causal relationship between Commonwealthâs profits and alleged violations. The ruling âhighlights the importance of the materiality standard and the necessary proof of causation and damages in cases involving conflicts of interest and disclosures,â Olga Greenberg, a partner who led the firmâs team representing Commonwealth, said in a statement. Commonwealth, who is being acquired by LPL Financial, won the reversal in a case over alleged failures to adequately disclose revenue sharing payments. https://www.sec.gov/enforcement-litigation/litigation-releases/lr-25968
17. On April 2, 2025, the SEC told staff it plans to restructure the Division of Enforcement and Division of Examinations by having them report to new deputy directors, the latest in a series of changes at the SEC under the Trump administration. Acting SEC Chairman Mark Uyeda said in a memo that enforcement staff will report to deputy directors for the West, Northeast or Southeast as well as a deputy director for specialized units. The SEC currently has one deputy director for the enforcement division and 10 regional offices where enforcement and exam staff report up to a director of each office.
18. On April 1, 2025, fifteen Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee sent a letter to Acting SEC Chairman Mark Uyeda requesting the SEC to withdraw certain final and proposed rules including Short Position and Short Activity Reporting by Institutional Investment Managers; Conflicts of Interest Associated with the Use of Predictive Data Analytics by Broker Dealers and Investment Advisers; Outsourcing by Investment Advisers; and Enhanced Disclosures by Certain Investment Advisers and Investment Companies about Environmental, Social, and Governance Investment Practices. https://financialservices.house.gov/uploadedfiles/2025-03-31_letter_to_sec.pdf
19. On April 1, 2025, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) arrived onsite at the SEC in an effort to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse. SEC staff were instructed to treat them as internal employees. âIn compliance with the presidentâs Executive Order establishing DOGE, the SEC is beginning to onboard members of the team,â an SEC agency spokesperson said. The SEC has designated an internal team to work with DOGE. The group includes the offices of the chief operating officer, the general counsel, human resources and enforcement. The SEC is already anticipating a smaller footprint. Roughly 700 staffers, or 15% of its workforce, have accepted buyout and deferred-resignation offers. The agency also intends to eliminate the leases for three of its ten regional offices. The heads at each of regional offices have also been cut.