The Wolf of Wall Street Agrees to Fork Over Some of His Book Royalties

It’s a start: After a decade as a deadbeat who failed to repay victims of his boiler room fraud, Jordan Belfort agreed to fork over almost $19,500 in royalties from a sequel to his "Wolf of Wall Street" memoir, which was turned into a movie.

But, it’s a long way from the $97 million prosecutors say he still owes.

Belfort led a penny-stock scam on Long Island and was glorified on screen in 2013 by Leonardo DiCaprio. After being convicted of fraud, Belfort was ordered in 2003 to pay $110.4 million in restitution and other penalties. He turned over about $12.8 million at that time, mainly from property he relinquished, according to prosecutors. From 2007 to 2009 he repaid victims about $700,000 and nothing in 2010, prosecutors said. read more »

SEC Charges Technology Fund Adviser, Founder in Fraudulent Scheme

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged the founder of San Francisco-based venture capital funds and his investment advisory firm with overcharging investors to fund personal projects, including sending millions of dollars to his own virtual reality production company.

The SEC’s complaint alleges that Michael B. Rothenberg, 34, marketed his advisory firm, Rothenberg Ventures LLC, as uniquely positioned to identify millennial entrepreneurs and invest in “frontier technology” companies. According to SEC filings, Rothenberg’s funds had nearly 200 investors and more than $64 million in assets. The SEC’s complaint alleges that over a three-year period, Rothenberg and his firm misappropriated millions of dollars from the funds, including an estimated $7 million of excess fees, which Rothenberg used to support personal business ventures he claimed were self-funded and to pay for private parties and events at high-end resorts and Bay Area sporting arenas.

“Venture capital investors provide important funding for start-ups but there are risks, including potential harm to investors from unscrupulous managers who defraud them, as we allege Rothenberg did in this case,” said C. Dabney O’Riordan, Co-Chief of the Enforcement Division’s Asset Management Unit. read more »

Merrill Lynch Settles SEC Charges of Undisclosed Conflict in Advisory Decision

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith has agreed to pay approximately $8.9 million to settle charges that it failed to disclose a conflict of interest arising out of its own business interests in deciding whether to continue to offer clients products managed by an outside third-party advisory firm. 

The SEC’s order finds that the conflict of interest arose in Merrill Lynch’s handling of third-party products managed by a U.S. subsidiary of a foreign multinational bank, in which more than 1,500 of Merrill’s retail advisory accounts had invested approximately $575 million. According to the order, Merrill put new investments into these products on hold due to pending management changes at the third party, and Merrill’s governance committee planned to vote on a recommendation to terminate the products and offer alternatives to investors. According to the order, the third-party manager sought to prevent termination and contacted senior Merrill executives, including making an appeal to consider the companies’ broader business relationship. Following those communications, and in a break from ordinary practices, the governance committee did not vote and chose to defer action on termination. The governance committee later lifted the hold and opened the third-party products to new Merrill accounts. The SEC’s order found that Merrill failed to disclose to its clients the conflicts of interest in Merrill’s decision-making process.

“By failing to disclose its own business interests in deciding whether certain products should remain available to investment advisory clients, Merrill Lynch deprived its clients of unbiased financial advice,” said Marc P. Berger, Director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office.  “Retail clients must feel confident that their advisors are eliminating or disclosing such conflicts and fulfilling their fiduciary duties.” read more »

FINRA fines Interactive Brokers $5.5 million for short selling violations

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has fined a unit of Interactive Brokers Group Inc (IBKR.O) $5.5 million for violating several naked short selling rules over a period of at least three years.

The unit, Interactive Brokers LLC’s, supervisory system, including its written supervisory procedures, was not reasonably designed to achieve compliance with the federal requirements from July 2012 through June 2015, said FINRA.

FINRA, Wall Street’s self-regulator, also said the company repeatedly ignored “red flags,” including internal audit findings and multiple internal warnings from its staff. read more »