Tag Archive for SEC

The Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will tap local government units (LGUs) as part of the government’s intensified campaign against investment scams, amid the proliferation of get-rich-quick schemes in the country.

“SEC will engage LGUs in coordination with DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government) because companies, firms have to secure first business permits from LGUs before they can operate in localities,” said Armando A. Pan, Jr., officer-in-charge of the SEC Office of the Commission Secretary, in a text message on Sunday.
“So LGUs have to be watchful to ensure that businesses operating in their jurisdiction are legitimate,” Mr. Pan said.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), through its Consumers’ Protection and Advocacy Bureau, and the SEC, through its Enforcement and Investor Protection Department, has instituted measures to warn the public against pyramid

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One Lightning Corporation Under Philippines SEC Scanner

by Ramya Chandrasekaran • April 23, 2015 • 0 Comments

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the Philippines continues its fight against One Lightning Corp., a company allegedly involved in pyramiding operations.
In a recent advisory, the country’s corporate regulator reminded the public that a cease-and-desist order it issued against One Lightning is still in effect.

“The public is hereby informed that the cease-and-desist order issued by this commission against One Lighting Corporation, its officers, directors, agents, representatives, conduits, assigns and any and all persons claiming and acting for and in behalf and under their authority remains in force and in effect,” the SEC said.

The SEC earlier issued the order against One Lightning after the latter was found to be pursuing investment taking activities under the guise of the sale of its packages including recruiting, referring, or sponsoring prospective members.
Likewise, the SEC said

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SEC shuts down Achieve Community for Pyramiding

by Ramya Chandrasekaran • April 23, 2015 • 0 Comments

The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced fraud charges and an emergency asset freeze against two operators of a Colorado-based pyramid and Ponzi scheme that promises investors extraordinary returns of 700 percent through a purported “triple algorithm” and “3-D matrix.”
In the complaint the SEC alleges that Kristine L. Johnson of Aurora, Colo., and Troy A. Barnes of Riverview, Mich., have raised more than $3.8 million since April 2014 from investors they enticed into buying positions in their company Work With Troy Barnes Inc., which is doing business as “The Achieve Community.” In Internet videos and other web promotions, investors were pitched “you and anyone you know can make as much money as you want” by purchasing positions that cost $50 each, and as they progress through the matrix they would receive a $400

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SEC Files To Drop Insider-Trading Case On Herbalife

by Tina Williams • December 15, 2014 • 0 Comments

The Wall Street Journal just reported:
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday filed to dismiss insider-trading charges against a man accused of profiting from privileged information tied to Herbalife Ltd.
The SEC had charged Jordan Peixoto, of Toronto, of buying Herbalife options after hearing William Ackman ’s Pershing Square Capital Management LP was planning to make a negative public presentation about the nutritional supplements maker. Mr. Peixoto ultimately ? made $47,100 in profits.
The SEC said it is dismissing the charges because the two men who developed the information and passed it on to Mr. Peixoto aren’t available to testify at the trial, which had been set for March.
According to the agency, Mr. Peixoto was tipped off about Mr. Ackman’s planned comments by Filip Szymik, who learned the information from his roommate and longtime friend Mariusz Adamski, then an analyst with Mr. Ackman’s Pershing Square.
The two men, who were roommates in New York City at the time of the event, have since returned to their native Poland and have indicated they intend to assert their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination if compelled to testify.
Herbalife’s stock dropped 39% in the days following Mr. Ackman’s announcement.
Mr. Szymik, who didn’t trade in Herbalife securities, agreed to a $47,100 civil penalty

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SEC On Lookout for Web-Based Pyramid Schemes

by Tina Williams • December 6, 2014 • 0 Comments

The Wall Street Journal released the following article:
Illustrated by a sack full of dollar bills, the online pitch was simple: an “amazing and irresistible” opportunity to join a global direct-sales travel company, recruit others and enjoy a share of the profits.
The company, GoFunPlaces Inc., was going to go viral via Facebook and YouTube, making it easy for “Joe Average [and] Suzy Average” to earn money.

“You can win here! You can win!” a 2012 video said. “The longevity is going to be here.”

Within a year, GoFunPlaces closed its U.S. operations and faced scrutiny from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Securities and Exchange Commission over whether the company was a pyramid scheme or involved in other fraud, according to people close to the probes.
The SEC this fall shut down a company that owned half of GoFunPlaces, alleging it was a fraudulent $129 million pyramid scheme.
A lawyer representing GoFunPlaces didn’t respond to requests for comment and the company itself couldn’t be reached. GoFunPlaces hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing by the government.
Direct-sales is more popular than ever: A record 16.8 million Americans—representing about one in every seven U.S. households—worked in the industry last year, most for companies that employ networks of

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SEC Sends Accusations Of Herbalife Insider Trading

by Tina Williams • September 30, 2014 • 0 Comments

The hedge fund world occasionally crosses a legal line when gleaning information from corporate insiders. Now, a federal investigation into Herbalife and the traders who traffic in the company’s stock reveals that hedge funds themselves produce insider secrets.
Stretching the boundaries of insider trading law, the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday accused two men of possessing confidential information about a hedge fund’s plan to bet against Herbalife. One of the men, Filip Szymik, settled the case; his friend and co-defendant, Jordan Peixoto, did not.
Mr. Szymik’s problems, first detailed in a New York Times article in May, began when he learned that the billionaire William A. Ackman was planning to announce a bearish view of Herbalife, a giant diet supplements company. Mr. Szymik had an unlikely source: his roommate was a junior employee at Mr. Ackman’s hedge fund. The roommate, who did not himself trade in Herbalife, is not accused of any wrongdoing.
The S.E.C. pursued Mr. Szymik, a 29-year-old former collegiate tennis star, even though he did not trade either. Instead, according to the S.E.C., Mr. Szymik shared the insight with another friend, Mr. Peixoto, who placed his own wager against Herbalife. When Mr. Ackman announced a $1 billion bet against Herbalife, a move

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SEC Alleges Zhunrize To Be A Pyramid Scheme – Assets Frozen

by Ted Nuyten • September 24, 2014 • 0 Comments

Zhunrize, launched in 2013 is a shopping and savings portal and offers affiliates a replicated storefront, which the company has branded “ZhunCity”. The shopping portal starts at $99 and $30 a month, up to $3,000 and $100 a month.
According to a SEC Press release:
“On September 22, 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil injunctive action in the Northern District of Georgia against Zhunrize, Inc. (“Zhunrize”) and its CEO, Jeff Pan (“Pan”). In connection with the filing of this action, the Commission obtained a temporary restraining order against the defendants and an order freezing all of defendants’ assets.
The Commission alleges that Zhunrize, an Atlanta-based multi-level marketing company, and Pan have been operating a fraudulent pyramid scheme that has raised over $100 million from investors worldwide.
According to the Commission’s complaint, Zhunrize purports to be a legitimate multi-level marketing business by which members purchase online stores and then sell merchandise through them, while earning commissions on products purchased by their customers and through store sales to other members and hosting fees paid by those members.
In fact, the company is operating as a pyramid scheme because its commission structure is based on the continual recruitment of new members, with the

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by Ramya Chandrasekaran • August 20, 2015 • 0 Comments

by Ramya Chandrasekaran • April 23, 2015 • 0 Comments

by Ramya Chandrasekaran • April 23, 2015 • 0 Comments

by Tina Williams • December 15, 2014 • 0 Comments

by Tina Williams • December 6, 2014 • 0 Comments

by Tina Williams • September 30, 2014 • 0 Comments

by Ted Nuyten • September 24, 2014 • 0 Comments