Tag: fraud

Written by FinCrime

‘Perfect storm of investor risk’: SEC enforcement chief pushes back on crypto industry’s ‘regulation by enforcement’ chorus

Reported by LEO SCHWARTZ On Friday, Gurbir Grewal, the SEC’s director of enforcement, pushed back against criticism from industry participants that his agency is engaging in “regulation by enforcement,” arguing that crypto represents a “perfect storm of investor risk” that needs to be addressed through existing securities law. null At an event in Midtown Manhattan hosted […]

Written by FinCrime

Insider Trading and Market Manipulation Trends and Priorities from the NYC Bar’s White-Collar Crime Institute

Reported by Jacqueline Chervak, Edward Imperatore, and Brian Kidd On May 24, 2023, Edward A. Imperatore, a partner in Morrison Foerster’s Investigations + White-Collar Defense group and former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, moderated a panel, entitled “Market Abuse and Trading Related Prosecutions – Recent Developments and What Comes Next,” […]

Written by FinCrime

Real estate investor Matt Onofrio accused of bank fraud

Reported by TRD staff Summary of original article featured below Former Wisconsin nurse anesthetist, Matt Onofrio, who turned to real estate after quitting his job in 2020, is now facing charges of bank fraud in Minnesota. Onofrio stands accused of orchestrating multiple fraudulent real estate deals, convincing buyers to purchase properties at inflated prices while […]

Written by FinCrime

Company Insiders Made Billions Before SPAC Bust

Reported by Tom McGinty, Shane Shifflett and Amrith Ramkumar (Summary of original report featured below) The SPAC boom has resulted in significant losses for investors, while insiders in the companies that went public through SPACs made profitable trades. Executives and early investors sold shares worth $22 billion at opportune moments before share prices plummeted. Among […]

Written by FinCrime

Lebanon’s central bank governor set to end his tenure a wanted man

Reported by Maya Gebeily Once celebrated as a financial wizard, Lebanese central bank governor Riad Salameh is spending his final weeks in office a wanted man, faced with French and German arrest warrants that have been prompted by long-running corruption probes. The warrants are the latest twist in cross-border investigations into whether Salameh, the governor for three […]

Written by FinCrime

Feds Allege $60M Industry Ponzi Scheme and Shut Down WeedGenics

Reported by Sue Dehnam Two individuals behind the company WeedGenics are accused of running a Ponzi scheme and spending tens of millions of dollars on luxury cars, residential upgrades, and adult entertainment. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) obtained an emergency order on May 23 to suspend what they allege is an ongoing fraud and Ponzi-like […]

Written by FinCrime

Emails, Chat Logs, Code and a Notebook: The Mountain of FTX Evidence

Reported by David Yaffe-Bellany and Matthew Goldstein (Summary of original article featured below) Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have amassed a vast and diverse array of evidence in the criminal case against Sam Bankman-Fried, the former cryptocurrency executive. The evidence includes computer code, millions of pages of emails, Slack messages, and a handwritten diary belonging to […]

Written by FinCrime

Banks Now Targets of US Drive to Uncover Pandemic Loan Fraud

Reported by Ben Penn Below is a summary of the original article The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is shifting its focus to financial institutions in its efforts to hold lenders accountable for fraudulent loans made under federal COVID-19 relief programs. The DOJ’s COVID-19 fraud enforcement task force will undertake lengthy investigations involving document review […]