SEC Press Release 2018-83 The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it has charged New York-based investment adviser Premium Point Investments LP with inflating the value of private funds it advised by hundreds of millions of dollars. The SEC also charged Premium Point’s CEO and chief investment officer Anilesh Ahuja as well as Amin Majidi, a former partner and portfolio manager at the firm, and former trader Jeremy Shor. According to the SEC’s complaint, the scheme ran from at least September 2015 through March 2016 and »

SEC Files Charges in International Manipulation Scheme FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 2018-85 The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged four individuals for their roles in a fraudulent scheme that generated nearly $34 million from unlawful stock sales and caused significant harm to retail investors. According to the SEC’s complaint, the defendants manipulated the market for and illegally sold the stock of microcap issuer Biozoom Inc. As part of the alleged scheme, the defendants hid their ownership and sales »

FINRA Sanctions Fifth Third Securities, Inc., $6 Million for Cost and Fee Disclosure Failures and Unsuitable Recommendations Related to Variable Annuity Exchanges WASHINGTON — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced today it has fined Fifth Third Securities, Inc., $4 million and required the firm to pay approximately $2 million in restitution to customers for failing to appropriately consider and accurately describe the costs and benefits of variable annuity (VA) exchanges, and for recommending exchanges without a »

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is publishing this Investor Bulletin to educate investors about the use of margin accounts to buy securities, including the related risks. The Difference Between Cash and Margin Accounts A “cash account” is a type of brokerage account in which the investor must pay the full amount for securities purchased.  An investor using a cash account is not allowed to borrow funds from his or her broker-dealer in order to pay for transactions in the account. A “margin account” is a »

(Updated with additional comments from company executives on a conference call.)   First-quarter profit at Morgan Stanley’s wealth management division rose 19% to a record $1.2 billion in the first quarter as the company continued to reap the benefits of emphasizing fee-based assets and lending. Revenue at the wealth unit rose 8% to $4.4 billion from $4.1 billion a year ago, representing 39% of its parent company’s $11.1 billion in revenue for the quarter. The division’s pretax net income from continuing operations of $3.4 »