“In 2002 I had a contact with the SEC, who were concerned that I was front-running,” he recalls, referring to the practice of using insider information to inform trades. “I started laughing to myself – I knew I wasn’t because I wasn’t doing the trades.” [FT]
Securities and Exchange Commission
Securities And Exchange Commission Provided Bernie Madoff With Some Much Needed Comedic Relief
By Bess Levin
So, about the 10 dudes who were arrested yesterday for running a boiler room operation in Manhattan that swindled some elderly Florida folks out of $12 million. One of the guys arrested, Steven Kimmel, (no relation to Jimmy) told investors he used to work at the Securities and Exchange Commission. Now, we’re not sure if this is BS or not and the SEC hasn’t commented. We talked to a few veteran SEC folks who said they’d never heard of Kimmel. But the FBI did note it in its press release. Continue reading »
Yet another South Florida mini-Madoff has been nabbed by the Securities and Exchange Commission for robbing unsuspecting investors out of their hard-earned cash. Luis Felipe Perez allegedly stole $40 million from 35 investors from 2006 through 2009 until his Ponzi scheme unraveled when he couldn’t find new investors.
Like the Florida grocery scam uncovered earlier this year, Perez promised investors lavish returns, as much as 120 percent, from investments in his jewelry business and pawn shops in New York. But, that’s not exactly what he did with the cash. Continue reading »
Oops. Those crazy porn-surfers at the Securities and Exchange Commission inadvertently posted a confidential earnings report from Citadel’s brokerage and market making unit on their website. The report, picked up by Bloomberg News, shows Citadel Securities posted earnings of $81.6 million on revenue of $1.01 billion last year.
The “inadvertent” leak by the SEC justifies some fears by the hedge fund community about registering and turning over proprietary information to the agency.
When combined with Citadel’s massive hedge funds, the firm said it accounts for about 8 percent of U.S. stock-market transactions and 30 percent of trading in listed equity options, according to the February letter to the SEC. Continue reading »
Mark Zaino, a former UBS trader who worked on the firm’s derivatives and municipal securities desk, pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges today in the wide-ranging investigation into sham auctions and bid rigging in financial products sold to municipalities.
Zaino is the first banker to plead guilty to charges and he has agreed to cooperate with investigators. Another banker at Bank of America, who participated in the massive bid-rigging scheme, is also providing information to the Feds about the scam. Continue reading »
If you thought the SEC’s charges against Goldman Sachs poured fuel on an already-raging populace fire, Wall Street’s involvement in a massive bid rigging scandal in the $2.8 trillion municipal bond market will fan the flames even more.
Earlier this month, we heard about an SEC investigation of conflicts of interest at big banks that bought credit default swaps on muni bonds they sold to state and local governments. But Bloomberg is out with a big investigative piece today about a massive bid-rigging scandal in the muni market that, if true, bilked 160 state agencies, local governments and non-profits out of hundreds of millions of dollars. Continue reading »
Anil Kumar, the former McKinsey & Co. consultant who pleaded guilty to passing confidential information to Raj Rajaratnam, has been ordered to pay about $2.8 million in disgorgement and penalties to settle related SEC charges against him.
Kumar pleaded guilty in January to providing Rajaratnam with information about pending mergers including a takeover of ATI Technologies by Advanced Mirco Devices in 2006. After receiving the info, Raj told Kumar: “Anil, you are a hero,” according to prosecutors.
If you’re looking for a way to commemorate Kumar, please take a moment now to rock out to his rap. Full volume, no headphones.
- Use the Bloomberg command
NH BLG_DEALBREAKER <GO>
to access Dealbreaker
