Mealey's Securities : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Securities

February 16, 2024
Federal Judge Preliminarily OKs Settlement Of Investors’ Case Against Drugmaker

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California issued an order granting preliminary approval of a settlement in a class complaint brought by investors who said a biopharmaceutical company misled investors through a series of material misrepresentations regarding a clinical trial for a new anemia treatment drug.
February 15, 2024
Split 11th Circuit Panel Reverses Ban On Man’s Involvement In Penny-Stock Options

ATLANTA — A federal judge in Florida correctly determined that a man was an unregistered dealer of securities and correctly ordered disgorgement against him and the company he ran in a dispute brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, but abused discretion by banning him from participating in penny-stock offerings, a partially split panel of judges in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Feb. 14.
February 15, 2024
Fund Failed To Fix Securities Claims Against Gaming Company, Leading To Dismissal

LAS VEGAS — Finding that a retirement fund failed to cure any of the errors identified in its second amended complaint despite being allowed the opportunity to file a third amended complaint, a federal judge in Nevada dismissed with prejudice a putative class complaint filed by the fund against a gaming company alleging that the company falsely inflated its share price.
February 15, 2024
Judge Dismisses Investment Firm’s Suit Against Chinese School After Stipulation

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York ordered the dismissal of a securities dispute between an investment firm and a for-profit school company in China, which the firm alleged misrepresented how it would be affected by new Chinese regulations on for-profit schools, one day after the parties in the case stipulated to the voluntary dismissal.
February 13, 2024
SEC: Mass. Federal Judge Must Deny Motion For Attorney Fees From ‘Fraudsters’

BOSTON — A federal judge in Massachusetts should deny the motion of a hedge fund manager and his fund for attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) because the manager and the fund “seek to have the government pay for the fees they incurred in getting found liable for securities fraud,” the Securities and Exchange Commission says.
February 13, 2024
Parties Stipulate To Dismissal Of Investment Firm’s Suit Against For-Profit School

NEW YORK — After a New York federal judge dismissed a putative class complaint brought by an investment firm against a for-profit school company in China alleging that it misrepresented how it would be affected by new Chinese regulations on for-profit schools, the parties on Feb. 12 filed a stipulation indicating the voluntary dismissal of the case.
February 13, 2024
1st Circuit Reverses Disgorgement Against German Man In Securities Fraud Case

BOSTON — Finding that a federal court in Massachusetts wrongly determined that it had jurisdiction over a German man accused as a relief defendant by the Securities and Exchange Commission of receiving $3.3 million from his son in ill-gotten gains because it had jurisdiction over his son as a defendant-in-interest, a First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed a disgorgement order against the man.
February 12, 2024
Judge: Investor Failed To Show Statements About Cancer Treatment Were Misleading

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted a biotechnology company’s motion to dismiss a putative class complaint brought against it by an investor who accused it of misleading investors by failing to disclose that a competitor was working on a cancer treatment similar to its own, finding that the investor did not show how the omission made the company’s statements about its own cancer treatment misleading.
February 12, 2024
SEC: Collapsed Hedge Fund’s Co-Founder To Pay $2.4M Under Settlement

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Under a settlement in which the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission instituted administrative and cease-and-desist proceedings, a co-founder of the collapsed hedge fund Platinum Partners agreed to payments totaling more than $2.4 million and a collateral industry bar to resolve allegations of violating the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.
February 12, 2024
Firm And Its Founder Settle SEC Allegations Of Scamming ‘Bitcoin Academy’ Students

WILMINGTON, Del. — Days after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint alleging that the founder of an online educational program teaching about crypto assets defrauded students by soliciting $1.2 million in investments in a separate fund he claimed to have launched before losing all the money when he was hacked, a federal judge in Delaware issued final judgment against both the founder and his firm that controlled the fund.
February 12, 2024
Magistrate Recommends Class In Fracking Securities Case But Limits Focus Period

HOUSTON — A federal magistrate judge on Feb. 9 recommended that class certification be granted in a securities fraud case against a hydraulic fracturing operator but limited the focus period of the litigation because there was no front-end price impact attributable to the alleged misrepresentations and the company had rebutted what is known as the Basic presumption.
February 09, 2024
Investor Says Bank’s Misstatements On Financial Outlook Caused Stock Loss

NEW YORK — A bank made materially false statements about its financial outlook before a 37.57% drop in stock value, a shareholder in the bank says in a putative class complaint filed in a federal court in New York.
February 08, 2024
Investors Appeal Securities Case Against Fracking Operator To 5th Circuit

NEW ORLEANS — Shareholders who had their securities lawsuit against a hydraulic fracturing operator dismissed in Texas federal court for failure to state a claim have filed a notice of appeal in the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
February 08, 2024
U.S. High Court: Retaliatory Intent Not Required For SOX Whistleblower Provision

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A whistleblower who invokes the anti-retaliation provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) must show that his or her protected activity contributed to an undesirable personnel action but does not need to show that the “employer acted with ‘retaliatory intent,’” a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled Feb. 8.
February 06, 2024
SEC Requests Monetary Remedies From Man It Said Sold Securities Without License

DALLAS — The Securities and Exchange Commission moved for final judgment and monetary remedies against a man who it says solicited millions of dollars in investments without being registered as a broker.
February 06, 2024
Federal Judge Finds Investor Filed Claims Against FDIC In Wrong Court, Transfers

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A federal judge in California transferred to a federal court in New York an investor’s complaint seeking relief from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC-R) as the receiver of securities in a collapsed bank, finding that the investor filed the complaint in the incorrect court.
February 05, 2024
Federal Judge Issues Judgment Against Former-CEOs That SEC Says Bankrupted Company

FRESNO, Calif. — A federal judge in California entered judgment against two former co-CEOs of a bankrupt software company the Securities and Exchange Commission said falsified documents and made misleading statements to investors about the company’s financial prospects while raising nearly $70 million in investments.
February 05, 2024
SEC Says CEO Of ‘Bitcoin Academy’ Used Firm He Ran To Swindle Students

WILMINGTON, Del. — In a Feb. 2 complaint filed in a federal court in Delaware, the Securities and Exchange Commission says the founder of an online educational program teaching students about crypto asset training defrauded students by soliciting $1.2 million in investments in a fund he claimed to have launched, before losing all the money when he was hacked, and the commission said in a press release issued the same day the complaint was filed that the man and the firm controlling the fund agreed to settle the claims.
February 02, 2024
2nd Circuit Says Trust Indenture Act Inapplicable To Suit Over FriendFinder Shares

NEW YORK — A panel of the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of a federal judge in New York to dismiss a suit filed by two investment firms accusing the founder of a social networking website of attempting to force the firms to sell their stake in the company at a discount, with the panel finding that the firms were incorrect to suggest that the Trust Indenture Act afforded them protections.
February 02, 2024
Federal Judge Approves Class Settlement Of Energy Drink Securities Dispute

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — After conducting a fairness hearing, a federal judge in Florida on Feb. 1 approved a $7.9 million class action settlement in a case brought by shareholders who claimed that energy drink manufacturer Celsius Holdings Inc. fraudulently accounted for stock options to former employees.
February 02, 2024
Judgment Issued Against ‘Bitcoin Beautee’ After Settling SEC’s Ponzi Scheme Claims

BALTIMORE — Days after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against a Maryland woman and an Australian man accusing them of orchestrating a cryptocurrency scheme that defrauded investors out of billions of dollars, a federal judge in Maryland issued a judgment against the woman, noting that she consented to the judgment and waived her right to appeal.
February 01, 2024
Delaware Chancellor Rules Musk’s Tesla Pay Package Was Unfair To Shareholders

DOVER, Del. — More than a year after the conclusion of a five-day trial, a judge in the Delaware Court of Chancery determined that Elon Musk is not entitled to a nearly $56 billion pay package from Tesla Inc., agreeing with an investor in the auto manufacturer who brought a shareholder derivative complaint alleging that the process by which the terms of the package were drafted was not fair.
February 01, 2024
Notice Of Appeal Is Filed In Securities Suit Involving Reinsurer’s Loss Ratios

PHILADELPHIA — Shareholders have filed a notice of appeal to the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals over summary judgment and other rulings in a suit over allegations that a reinsurer and some of its former executives violated federal securities laws.
January 31, 2024
Investors Do Not Show Company Misled About Equipment Testing, Federal Judge Rules

SAN FRANCISCO — Finding that investors failed to show that a technology company made false or misleading statements about its testing of manufacturing equipment it would use to create a new type of battery, a federal judge in California on Jan. 30 dismissed the investors’ putative class complaint without prejudice.
January 31, 2024
SEC Says In Complaint Crypto Ponzi Scheme Swindled Investors Out Of $1.7B

BALTIMORE — A Maryland woman and an Australian man ran a cryptocurrency-based Ponzi scheme that bilked investors around the world out of $1.7 billion, the Securities and Exchange Commission says in a complaint filed in a Maryland federal court.