Tag Archives: SEC

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Amish Helping Fund (AHF) reached an agreement over allegations that the nonprofit's offering memorandum contained outdated and inaccurate information, the SEC announced Wednesday. AHF sells securities to fund mortgage and construction loans to young Amish families. The nonprofit was formed in 1995 by a group of Amish elders who wanted to support the Amish lifestyle. AHF funds its loans for Amish families by selling securities in the form of investment contracts. The SEC alleged that AHF's offering memorandum, which had not been updated for 15 years, had material misrepresentations about the fund and the securities being offered.

Regulators and servicers are missing opportunities to enhance communication with consumers, the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report. The report, released June 29, examined the efforts of servicers to communicate with customers who may be eligible for an independent foreclosure review. One major problem identified with current communication materials is that they are too difficult for the general public to understand.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Monday that it obtained a temporary restraining order and asset freeze against a Utah man and company charged with operating a Ponzi scheme. The SEC's complaint names Wayne L. Palmer and his firm, National Note of Utah, LC, both based in West Jordan, Utah. According to the complaint, Palmer told investors that he would use their money to buy mortgage notes and real estate assets or to make real estate loans and promise them returns of 12 percent annually.

A civil litigation case brought on by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against two former portfolio managers with Bear Stearns received approval from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The court approved the settlement on June 18, 2012, and Ralph R. Cioffi and Matthew M. Tannin were ordered to pay a total of $1.05 million in disgorgement and civil penalties, the SEC announced Monday. The SEC's complaint, which was first filed June 19, 2008, alleged that the Bear Stearns funds collapsed in June 2007 due to risky subprime mortgage-backed securities.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) appointed Thomas J. Butler as the director of the agency's new Office of Credit Ratings.

The Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) announced Thursday that a former investment fund manager pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges. SIGTARP issued a release stating that former fund manager John Farahi pleaded guilty on Thursday to four felony counts-mail fraud, loan fraud, selling unregistered securities, and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Farahi admitted to cheating investors out of millions of dollars by falsely promising to purchase corporate bonds backed by TARP.

The Systemic Risk Council, a volunteer group led by former FDIC chair Sheila Bair, will meet in June to monitor and encourage regulatory reform of U.S. capital markets focused on systemic risk. The council, formed by CFA Institute and The Pew Charitable Trusts, is an assembly of experts in investments, capital markets, and securities regulation.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a complaint against the former CEO and CFO of Franklin Bank for using loan modification programs to cover its non-performing loans. Franklin CEO Anthony J. Nocella and CFO J. Russell McCann applied loan modification programs during the third and fourth quarters of 2007, masking how many of Franklin's loans were actually non-performing and artificially boosting its net income and earnings, the SEC stated Friday in a release. By the end of September 2007, the two hid more than $11 million in non-performing single family residential loans and $13.5 million in non-performing residential construction loans.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says it has filed a subpoena enforcement action with a California federal court against Wells Fargo & Company because the bank has failed to produce documents requested by the SEC. According to the filing, the SEC is investigating possible fraud in connection with Wells Fargo's sale of nearly $60 billion in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) to investors between September 2006 and early 2008.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged three former senior executives of Thornburg Mortgage for hiding the company's true financial state in an annual report. The plan backfired and caused a 90 percent value loss for the company in two weeks. The SEC alleges Thornburg's chief executive officer, chief financial officer, and chief accounting officer overstated the company's income by more than $400 million and falsely recorded a profit for the 2007 fourth quarter at the start of the financial crises.