Spoofing-Case Stumbles by Prosecutors May Not Save Ex-UBS Trader

U.S. prosecutors stumbled in bringing a “spoofing” case against a former UBS Group AG precious metals trader, but in the end it might not matter.

The government is prosecuting Andre Flotron in Connecticut, where the Swiss trader once worked, and not in Chicago, home to commodities markets and trading firms. The judge threw out six of the seven charges, ruling they were brought in the wrong venue and leaving just a conspiracy count. He also barred prosecutors from moving the case to Chicago, where the trades were executed, and blocked them from showing that Flotron engaged in front-running, another form of illegal trading.

Yet prosecutors retain the upper hand, market regulation experts say. Spoofing is a relatively easy form of manipulation to prove, given that it often relies on algorithmic trading, and large amounts of data are generated, they said. Flotron’s used both algorithms and manual trades so his case may be more complicated -- but just barely. read more »

Facebook's surveillance is nothing compared to Comcast, AT&T and Verizon

If you think Facebook’s “Cambridge Analytica problem” is bad, just wait until Comcast and Verizon are able to do the same thing.

In response to the Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal, Facebook took out full-page apology ads in several prominent British and US newspapers. While the company acknowledged a “breach of trust”, it also pointed out that third-party developers like Cambridge Analytica no longer get access to as much information about users under Facebook’s current terms of service.

The thing is, Facebook isn’t the only company that amasses troves of data about people and leaves it vulnerable to exploitation and misuse. As of last year, Congress extended the same data-gathering practices of tech companies like Google and Facebook to internet providers like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon.

Because service providers serve as gatekeepers to the entire internet, they can collect far more information about us, and leave us with far less power to opt out of that process. This means that the risks of allowing our internet providers to collect and monetise the same type of user data that Facebook collects – and the potential that such data will therefore be misused – are much, much worse. read more »

SEC Charges Texas Company, Principals in Multimillion Dollar Ponzi Scheme Targeting Seniors

On April 6, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged two Texas companies and their principals in a $2.4 million Ponzi scheme and in a related, $1.4 million offering fraud targeting retirees.

The SEC's complaint alleges that, from 2010 to 2017, Clifton E. Stanley ran a Ponzi scheme through his retirement planning and real estate investment business, The Lifepay Group, LLC. Stanley is alleged to have lured at least 30 elderly victims to invest approximately $2.4 million of their retirement savings with baseless promises and claims of outsized investment returns. He kept the scheme afloat for years by paying early investors with later investors' funds and by convincing investors to roll over their investments. read more »

SEC Slams PNC, Securities America, Geneos With $15M Fine Over Share Class Violations

The Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday that three investment advisory firms — PNC Investments, Securities America and Geneos Wealth Management — have agreed to collectively pay nearly $15 million for failing to disclose conflicts and putting clients into higher-cost mutual fund shares. More than $12 million will go to harmed clients.

The orders against the three advisory firms states they breached their fiduciary duties to clients and generated “millions of dollars of improper fees in the process.” read more »

Largest U.S. drug distributor accused of illegally handling cancer medication

The nation’s largest drug distributor is being accused of illegally pooling leftover cancer medication from single-dose vials and selling it to health-care providers, who treated patients with it and often billed government programs for reimbursement.

A lawsuit unsealed Wednesday in New York seeks unspecified damages from McKesson Corp., the fifth-largest U.S. public corporation of any kind.

It says a McKesson subsidiary violated the federal False Claims Act by selling the medication, providing kickbacks by offering the pooled drugs at a discount and repackaging them under non-sterile conditions. That left the drugs open to contamination that could have harmed patients, the lawsuit claims. read more »