On September 15, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced whistleblower awards of roughly $110 million and $4 million to two whistleblowers. With these awards, the SEC has issued more than $1 billion to 207 whistleblowers, ten years after the SECs Whistleblower Program became effective. The program has issued…
On September 1, 2021, Robinhood ($Hood) filed its first amendment to its Form S-1 Registration Statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The public filing, which amends the registration statement that Robinhood filed in connection with its July 2021 initial public offering (IPO), discloses that the SEC’s Division…
On September 1, 2021, Robinhood ($Hood) filed Amendment No 1 to its Form S-1 Registration Statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Form S-1 is the registration statement that Robinhood filed in connection with its July 2021 initial public offering (IPO). Robinhood’s latest public filing discloses that Robinhood…
On August 27, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced whistleblower awards of roughly $2.6 million to five whistleblowers in three separate regulatory enforcement proceedings. In total, over $16 million has been awarded to SEC whistleblowers this month. In the first regulatory enforcement proceeding, a whistleblower was awarded approximately…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) has barred stockbroker Donald Fowler from the securities industry. Mr. Fowler consented to the suspension after FINRA alleged that from December 2014 through December 2018, while associated with Worden Capital Management LLC, Mr. Fowler churned and excessively traded four customers’ accounts in violation of…
**Update: September 9, 2022** On September 6, 2022, a group of Oppenheimer customers were awarded over $36 million by a FINRA arbitration panel as compensation for their investment losses in Horizon Private Equity, III, LLC. (“Horizon”). Horizon is an alleged Ponzi scheme operated by John Woods, a broker who was…
On August 10, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced whistleblower awards of nearly $6 million to two whistleblowers who provided information and assistance to the SEC in separate enforcement proceedings. The latest awards come after the SEC revealed on August 6, 2021, an award of more than $3.5…
On August 2, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced whistleblower awards of more than $4 million to four whistleblowers who provided information and assistance to the SEC in two separate enforcement proceedings. In the first enforcement proceeding, a whistleblower was awarded more than $2 million for providing the…
On July 21, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced an award of nearly $3 million to a whistleblower who alerted the SEC to previously unknown conduct that led to a successful SEC enforcement action. According to Emily Pasquinelli, Acting Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, the…
On July 19, 2021, UBS Financial Services Inc. (“UBS”) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) settled charges related to UBS’s failure to adopt and implement written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent unsuitable investments in volatility-linked-exchange-traded products (“ETPs”) between January 2016 and January 2018. As a result of…