Perceptive Advisors LLC: $1.5M Fine
Administrative Order by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing a fine of $1.5 million on Perceptive Advisors LLC for regulatory breaches involving entities in the Cayman Islands and United States.
Bloom Protocol LLC: $300K Fine (‘Unregistered Crypto Offering’)
Administrative Order by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing a fine of $300,000 on Bloom Protocol LLC, of Delaware, for an unregistered offering of crypto tokens that, inter alia, involved Gibraltar-domiciled Bloom Limited.
Corona Associates Capital Management LLC et al: $80K Fines
Administrative Order by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing fines totaling $80,000 on Corona Associates Capital Management LLC, of California; Julian Scurci, of Palo Alto, California, and Giovanni Sergio Scurci, a.k.a. John Scurci, of Riviera Beach, Florida, for alleged "material misrepresentations" involving Antilles Capital Master Fund LP and Antilles Capital Fund (BVI) Ltd., both of the British Virgin Islands, and Dorado Capital Partners LP, of California.
Starberry Ltd.: $1.4M Disgorgement
Administrative Order by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission imposing a penalty of $1,376,207 on Starberry Limited, of Cyprus, for operating as a "futures commission merchant" without being registered.
Geluk Capital Management Ltd. et al: $93K Penalties
Administrative Order by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing penalties totaling $92,688 on Geluk Capital Management Ltd., of the Bahamas, and Douglas Gerald Fathers, of New Jersey, for alleged "misrepresentations".
Petroteq Energy, Inc. et al: Fines
Administrative Order by the U.S. Securities and exchange Commission imposing fines of $1 million and $450,000, respectively, on Petroteq Energy, Inc., of Canada, and Aleksandr Blyumkin, of California.
Tenaris SA: $25M Fine
Administrative Order by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing a fine of $25 million on Tenaris S.A., described as "a global manufacturer and supplier of steel pipe products and related services, headquartered in Luxembourg", for "violations of the anti-bribery, books and records, and internal accounting controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 by Tenaris, as a result of a bribe scheme involving agents and employees of its Brazilian subsidiary to obtain and retain business from a Brazil state-owned entity Petróleo Brasileiro S.A.".
Wells Fargo Clearing Services LLC: $7M Fine
Administrative Order by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing a fine of $7 million on Wells Fargo Clearing Services LLC for "failure to timely file certain suspicious activity reports between April 2017 and October 2021" involving wire transfers "to or from certain foreign countries determined to be at a high risk or moderate risk for money laundering, terrorist financing or other illegal monetary movements", including "Costa Rica, Turkey, Honduras, the British Virgin Islands, Antigua, Cayman Islands, Ukraine, and Guernsey".
Thomas Plaut: Industry Ban
Administrative Order by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing an industry ban on Thomas F. Plaut, described as "the sole owner, Chairman, and CEO of Worldwide Markets Ltd., a British Virgin Islands company with its principal place of business in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey".
SEC v. StraightPath Venture Partners LLC et al: TRO Motion (‘Securities Fraud’)
Plaintiff's emergency application for an order to show cause, temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, asset freeze, receiver, and other relief in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. StraightPath Venture Partners LLC, StraightPath Management LLC, Brian K. Martinsen, Michael A. Castillero, Francine A. Lanaia, and Eric D. Lachow at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Stericycle, Inc.: $24M Penalty
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing a penalty of $23,987,520 on Stericycle, Inc., described as a Delaware-domiciled "world-wide provider of medical waste and other services" for "violations of the anti-bribery, books and records, and internal accounting controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977" involving "wholly-owned subsidiaries in Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina".
John Gunn: Suspension
Administrative Order by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing a suspension on John William Gunn, described as a citizen of the United Kingdom residing in Hong Kong.
Global Investment Strategy UK Ltd.: US Industry Ban
Administrative Order by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing an industry ban on Global Investment Strategy UK Ltd., described as "a financial services firm registered with and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority of the United Kingdom, and is a member of the London Stock Exchange".
ED&F Man Capital Markets Ltd.: $3.25M Fine
Administrative Order by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission imposing a fine of $3.25 million on ED&F Man Capital Markets Ltd., described as a London-based "swap dealer" whose "swaps business is focused on metals and foreign currencies, for regulatory breaches.
BlockFi Lending LLC: $50M Fine
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it has imposed a fine of $50 million on BlockFi Lending LLC, a New Jersey-based crypto lender, for regulatory breaches, including "material misrepresentation" and operating as "an Unregistered Investment Company".
Ran Armon: Industry Ban
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing an industry ban on Ran Armon, described as a citizen and resident of Canada, for an alleged fraud.
Kunal Bansal et al: $100K Fine
Administrative Order by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission imposing a fine of $100,000 on Kunal Bansal, Vinit Agarwal, Aralia Securities Ltd., described as "a "family office" investment entity, based in Hong Kong", and Vintage Bullion DMCC, described as "a commodities-trading company, based in Dubai, UAE".
Nicholas Abbate: $30K Fine
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing a fine of $30,000 on Nicholas Abbate, a resident of Staten Island, New York, for "his role in assisting others in a course of business that operated as a fraud or deceit upon clients and investors", including a mutual fund in the Cayman Islands that is not identified in the order but which OffshoreAlert believes is the Income Collecting 1-3 Months T-Bills Mutual Fund.
Wedbush Securities Inc.: $1.2M Penalties
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing penalties totaling $1.2 million on Wedbush Securities Inc. for the "unregistered offers and sales of large blocks of low-priced securities by an offshore customer", namely Silverton SA, now known as Wintercap SA, described as "a purported Swiss asset manager", and failure to file suspicious activity reports.
WEX Inc.: $350K Fine
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing a fine of $350,000 on WEX Inc., described as "a Maine-based reporting company that describes itself as a financial technology service provider" for failing "properly to devise and maintain a sufficient system of internal accounting controls at its Brazilian subsidiary, UNIK S.A.", that led to "errors in WEX Brazil’s financial statements back to fiscal year 2013 totaling approximately $85.5 million, mostly relating to the overstatement of unbilled receivables. This amount included about $8 million in suspected theft or unauthorized transactions by former WEX Brazil employees".
Mashreqbank PSC: $100M Fine
Consent Order in which Mashreqbank PSC, of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, agreed to pay a fine of $100 million to the New York State Department of Financial Services for regulatory breaches involving "USD transactions of the Bank relating to Sudan".
VTB Capital Plc: $6.4M Penalties
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing penalties totaling $6.4 million on VTB Capital Plc regarding "material omissions and misleading statements in a 2016 bond offering for which VTB Capital Plc, a London-based investment bank, acted with Credit Suisse Group AG as joint-lead manager".
Credit Suisse Group AG: $99M Penalties
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing penalties totaling $99 million on Credit Suisse Group AG, of Switzerland, regarding "an offering fraud and violations of the internal accounting controls and books and records provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ... in connection with three interconnected transactions involving, among others, United Kingdom-based Credit Suisse entities and Mozambican state-owned entities".
Tether Holdings Ltd. et al: $41M Fine
Administrative Order by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission imposing a fine of $41 million on Tether Holdings Limited, Tether Operations Limited, and Tether International Limited, all of the British Virgin Islands, and Tether Limited, of Hong Kong, for alleged fraud with its "virtual currency stablecoin".
Bitfinex: $1.5M Fine
Administrative Order by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission imposing a fine of $1.5 million on iFinex Inc., BFXNA Inc., and BFXWW Inc., all of the British Virgin Islands, a crypto group collectively doing business as Bitfinex, for regulatory breaches.
Robert Press: $5.4M Penalties
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing penalties totaling $5.4 million on Robert D. Press to settle allegations of fraud involving TCA Fund Management Group Corp., of Florida, and four TCA fund entities in the Cayman Islands.
Donna Silverman: $50K Fine
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing a fine of $50,000 on Donna M. Silverman to settle allegations of fraud involving TCA Fund Management Group Corp., of Florida, and TCA Global Credit Fund GP Ltd., of the Cayman Islands.
WPP Plc: $22M Penalties
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing penalties totaling $22.5 million on WPP Plc, described as "the world's largest advertising group" that is domiciled in Jersey, in the Channel Islands; headquartered in London and New York City, and whose shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange for alleged violations of "the anti-bribery, books and records, and international accounting controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act" involving its subsidiaries in Brazil, China, India, and Peru.
Helikon Investments Ltd.: $778K Penalties
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing penalties totaling $778,244 on Helikon Investments Ltd., described as a United Kingdom company that is registered with the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority, to settle allegations that it "sold short American depositary shares and then, within the rule's five-day restricted period, purchased ADSs of the same issuer in an offering, thereby violating Rule 105", profiting "by $669,002 from the transaction".
Ronald Haller: Industry Ban
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing an industry ban on Ronald P. Haller, 67, of Ontario, Canada, after. he pleaded guilty to fraud in Canada.
Murchinson Ltd. et al: $9M Settlement
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission stating that Murchinson Ltd., of Toronto, Canada; Marc Bistricer, and Paul Zogala, described as citizens and residents of Canada, have agreed to pay penalties totaling $9 million to settle a regulatory investigation that, inter alia, involved an unidentified Bermuda "hedge fund".
Pearson Plc: $1M Fine
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing a fine of $1 million on Pearson Plc, described as a British publicly-listed "multinational educational publishing and services company", for "material misstatements and omissions regarding a 2018 cyber intrusion that affected several million rows of student data across 13,000 school, district, and university AIMSweb 1.0 customer accounts in the United States".
FinCEN v. BitMEX et al: $100M Fine
Public Notice by FinCEN that it has imposed a fine of $100 million on HDR Global Trading Limited, of the Seychelles; 100x Holdings Limited, ABS Global Trading Limited, of Delaware; Shine Effort Inc. Limited, of Hong Kong, and HDR Global Services (Bermuda) Limited, of Bermuda, d.b.a. BitMEX, described as "a convertible virtual currency derivatives exchange".
Poloniex LLC: $10.3M Penalties
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing penalties totaling $10.3 million on Poloniex, LLC, of Delaware, for operating "a digital asset trading platform" without registering "as a national securities exchange".
DeFi Money Market et al: $13M Penalties
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing penalties on Blockchain Credit Partners, d.b.a. DeFi Money Market, of the Cayman Islands; Gregory Keough, and Derek Acree, both of Florida, for an alleged fraud that involved selling "more than $30 million of securities in unregistered offerings by using smart contracts and "decentralized finance" technology to sell digital tokens".
Coinschedule Ltd.: $201K Penalties
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing penalties totaling $201,688 on Blotics Ltd., formerly doing business as Coinschedule Ltd., described as a United Kingdom-domiciled company that "owned and operated a once-popular website platform, www.coinschedule.com, that publicized current and upcoming offerings for different digital tokens and was accessible in the United States from 2016 to August 2019", for promoting a security without disclosing that it received compensation for doing so.
Momentus Inc. et al: $8M Penalties
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing penalties of $8 million on Momentus Inc., Stable Road Acquisition Corp., SRC-NI Holdings LLC, and Brian Kabot for alleged securities fraud involving, inter alia, Mikhail Kokorich, described as "a Russian citizen residing in Switzerland".
PLS, CPA et al: Penalties
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing penalties on PLS, CPA, Chang G. Park, Joseph Yongyun Lee, and Juchi Lee, all accountants, for "improper professional conduct" involving, inter alia, Interactive Multi-Media Auction Corporation, described as "a British Virgin Islands corporation with its principal place of business in the United Kingdom" and "formerly headquartered in Hong Kong".
CFTC v. Credit Suisse International et al: $1.5M Fine
Administrative Order by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission imposing a fine of $1.5 million on Credit Suisse International, of London, England; Credit Suisse Securities Europe Limited, of London, England, and Credit Suisse Capital LLC, of New York, NY, for regulatory breaches, specifically submitting "inaccurate daily valuation data for the majority of their equity swap transactions".
Amec Foster Wheeler Ltd.: $22.7M Penalties
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing penalties totaling $22.7 million on Amec Foster Wheeler Limited, described as a Switzerland-domiciled parent of a group "with a significant presence in the United Kingdom", regarding "a bribery scheme to obtain an oil and gas engineering and design contract in Brazil" involving Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras.
Gil Beserglik et al: Industry Bans
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing industry bans on Gil Beserglik, 64, a citizen of Israel; Raz Beserglik, 35, a citizen of Israel, and Kai Christian Petersen, 53, a citizen of Germany, regarding their involvement in binary options brokers.
S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC: $9M Fine
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing a fine of $9 million on S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC for regulatory breaches involving Credit Suisse AG, of Switzerland.
Peter DeCaprio: $75K Fine
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing sanctions, including a fine of $75,000, on Peter J. Decaprio, of Boston, Massachusetts, for regulatory breaches involving, inter alia, an "unregistered fund" in the British Virgin Islands.
SEC v. Matthew Ledvina: Final Judgment (‘Securities Fraud’)
Final Judgment in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Matthew Ledvina at the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
OANDA Corp.: $200K Settlement
Decision by the National Futures Association that OANDA Corporation, described as a "forex dealer member, futures commission merchant, retail foreign exchange dealer and forex firm headquartered in Toronto, Canada", has "agreed to pay a fine of $200,000" to settle a regulatory investigation.
Coinbase Inc.: $6.5M Fine
Administrative Order by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission imposing a fine of $6.5 million on Coinbase, Inc., described as a San Francisco-based "digital asset company", for "recklessly delivering false, misleading or inaccurate reports concerning transactions in digital assets, including Bitcoin, on the electronic trading platform it operated, GDAX".
David Hu: Industry Ban
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing an industry ban on David Hu for securities fraud involving International Investment Group LLC and funds in the Cayman Islands and Curaçao.
Wireline, Inc.: $650K Fine
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing a fine of $650,000 on Wireline, Inc., described as a Delaware-domiciled "early-stage project focused on the development of a decentralized, blockchain based platform", for an unregistered securities offering and alleged fraud involving, inter alia, Wireline Developer Fund Ltd., a.k.a. Wireline Development Fund, of the Cayman Islands. Editor's Note: Research by OffshoreAlert showed that, in the Cayman Islands General Registry, the directors of Wireline Developer Fund Ltd. are identified as Lucas Geiger and Rich Burdon.
Deutsche Bank AG: $43M Penalty
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing a penalty of $43.3 million on Deutsche Bank AG for regulatory breaches involving, inter alia, entities in Abu Dhabi, British Virgin Islands, China, Italy, and Saudi Arabia.
Tierion, Inc.: $250K Fine
Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposing a fine of $250,000 on Tierion, Inc. for regulatory breaches involving the sale of digital tokens by its "Cayman Islands-subsidiary, Tierion International Ltd.". Editor's Note: Research by OffshoreAlert in the Cayman Islands General Registry showed that the directors of Tierion International Ltd. are Casey McDonald and Wayne Vaughan.