According to a Wall Street Journal article, global auditing companies Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers are still working in Russia for Russian companies including state-owned companies there. While it is unclear as to why these companies may remain working in Russia while the Treasury Department sanctions are in place, the...
Crypto thieves stealing record amounts
The amount of money being stolen is spiking according to reports. since August, there have been over 37 hacks in 38 weeks that have taken $2.9 billion in cryptocurrencies. Last week a hacker a stablecoin project called Beanstalk and wiped out all of the ether held by the fund. The estimated profit...
Former Domino’s Pizza corporate accountant to pay nearly $2 million Penalty for insider trading says the SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced a Court-approved settlement requiring a Michigan-based former accountant at Domino's Pizza Inc. to pay nearly $2 million for insider trading the company stock. The SEC's Complaint https://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2022/34-94769.pdf said that Bernard L. Compton used confidential financial data that he obtained through his role as an...
Stock market “spoofing” frequency is spiking and the SEC and CFTC straining to keep up–former BofA treasury note trader admits spoofing and Global AG’s David Skudder charged with spoofing by CFTC
A former Bank of America Corporation trader pleaded guilty to spoofing admitting to entering phony order to try to influence the stock market for U.S. Treasuries. Tyler Forbes who traded the secondary market for U.S. Treasury notes entered large "spoof" orders seeking to move the market ahead of genuine orders that he...
SEC uncovers $194 Million penny stock schemes spanning nine countries charging 14 persons and various companies.
The Securities & Exchange Commission announced charges against 16 defendants located in the Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Bulgaria, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Monaco, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom for their participation in a massive multi-year fraudulent penny stock scheme generating over $194 million in illegal proceeds. In addition parallel, criminal actions...
SEC charges technology company NSB, Inc. exec with impeding whistleblower communications with agency
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged David Hansen, co-founder and former Chief Information Officer of NS8 Inc for impeding an individual from communicating with the SEC about potential securities violations. https://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2022/34-94703.pdf Hansen will pay $97,523 for violating an SEC whistleblower protection rule. The SEC found that Hansen willfully violated...
Ex Oppenheimer quant analyst charged with front running/insider trading that netted $8.5 million
According to the Wall Street Journal, a former quantitative analyst for a global asset manager was charged with securities fraud by operating a front-running scheme using his ex-wife's personal brokerage account to buy or sell stock in advance of large pending purchase or sale orders by his employer on behalf of...
New HHS-OIG Advisory Opinion Highlights Kickback Risks – And Whistleblower Opportunities – When Pharmaceutical Companies Provide Free Genetic Testing
On April 11, 2022, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued an advisory opinion, Advisory Opinion 22-06, highlighting the risks pharmaceutical companies may encounter if they try to incorporate free genetic testing into their marketing plans. Indirectly, the opinion also shows how whistleblowers can identify...
Russian Oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev charged with violating US sanctions with American Jack Hanick’s help
Russian Oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev has been charged with violations of U.S. sanctions and false statements relating to his support for the Russian occupation of Donetsk according to the Department of Justice. To avoid the sanctions, Malofeyev allegedly hired an American Jack Hanick to help him create television networks in Russia and Greece...
SEC probes Amazon over the use of sellers’ data for private labels-WSJ
The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating how Amazon is handling disclosures of its employee's use of data from sellers on its e-commerce platform. According to the Wall Street Journal, the SEC Enforcement Division has requested emails and communications from several senior Amazon executives. The Journal investigation revealed that employees routinely used...
