On March 28, 2019, the SEC filed charges against the former chief operating officer (COO) of a Commission-registered investment adviser for aiding and abetting the advisory firm’s actions to overbill its clients as part of a fraudulent scheme to improperly inflate his own pay.  According to the SEC’s complaint, between 2011 and December 2018, former COO Richard T. Diver, … Read More

On March 28, 2019, the SEC revoked the registration of a Seattle area-based registered investment adviser and barred its principal from the securities industry for stealing money from a private fund the adviser managed. According to the SEC’s order, Dennis Gibb, the owner of Sweetwater Investments Inc., stole more than $3 million from Sweetwater Income Flood LP, a private … Read More

On March 15, 2019, the SEC charged Talimco LLC, a registered investment adviser, and Grant Gardner Rogers, the former chief operating officer of the firm, with manipulating the auction of a commercial real estate asset on behalf of one client for the benefit of another.   According to the SEC’s order, in or about April 2015 while selling a … Read More

On March 7, 2019, the SEC announced an enforcement action against Ascension, an SEC-registered investment adviser, and its founder, sole owner, and sole operator, Gooder. For as long as a decade, Ascension and Gooder failed to comply with Advisers Act Section 206(4) and Rule 206(4)-7 thereunder (the “Compliance Rule”) and Rule 206(4)-2 thereunder (the “Custody Rule”), and … Read More

On March 5, 2019, the SEC announced that BB&T Securities has agreed to return more than $5 million to retail investors and pay a $500,000 penalty to settle charges that a firm it acquired misled its advisory clients into believing they were receiving full service brokerage services in-house at a discount while significantly less expensive options were … Read More

On February 26, 2019, the SEC announced fraud charges and an asset freeze against the operators of a South Florida-based investment fund scheme, one of whom has a prior felony conviction and is on parole after nearly 20 years in prison. The SEC filed an emergency action in federal district court against Castleberry Financial Services Group LLC, president … Read More

On February 13, 2019, the SEC filed insider trading charges against a former senior attorney at Apple whose duties included executing the company’s insider trading compliance efforts.  The SEC’s complaint alleges that Gene Daniel Levoff, an attorney who previously served as Apple’s global head of corporate law and corporate secretary, received confidential information about Apple’s quarterly earnings announcements in his … Read More

On February 1, 2019, the SEC settled an enforcement action against Kenneth Grace, the CEO of Goldsky Asset Management, LLC, a defunct investment adviser. The SEC’s complaint alleged that, while acting as an investment adviser, Grace employed acts, practices, and courses of business which were fraudulent, deceptive, or manipulative, and made untrue statement of material facts and … Read More

On January 29, 2019, the SEC’s Boston Regional Office issued a deficiency letter to a SEC registered investment adviser in connection with a routine examination. The following are the noteworthy findings: The Staff determined based on the compliance program documentation and interviews with the CCO, that the CCO may not have a full understanding of … Read More

On January 25, 2019, President Trump signed a short-term spending bill into law that reopened the SEC until February 15th.  SEC examiners were called back to work on January 28th and immediately continued with their examinations.   Mission Critical received two phone calls from its clients on January 28th regarding correspondences they received from SEC examiners.  As of … Read More