The Wall Street Legal & Regulatory Feed
Securities Industry Commentator by Bill Singer Esq
March 11, 2021
National Consumer Bankruptcy Law Firm Agrees to Pay More than $300,000 in Relief to Consumers and to a Six-Year Practice Ban in Settlement with U.S. Trustee Program (DOJ Release)Romanian National Sentenced to Four Years in Federal Prison for Role in Credit Card Skimming Scheme (DOJ Release)Georgia Man Sentenced to Three Years For Nationwide Bank Fraud and Identity Theft Scheme (DOJ Release)
Warren Law Group is a boutique securities and commercial litigation firm based in New York City. We represent clients across the country in FINRA investigation and enforcement matters, SEC regulatory matters, arbitration, corporate regulatory and compliance matters, as well as corporate securities matters and private capital raises
We are seeking a junior to mid-level litigation associate who is currently admitted in any U.S. jurisdiction with 2+ years of relevant experience. Candidates must have strong writing skills, experience drafting pleadings as well as dispositive motion practice and discovery items, and a willingness to collaborate remotely. Compensation is commensurate with the number of years of credited experience and will increase each subsequent year.
Our litigation practice is varied and interesting. We work reasonable hours while maintaining the highest standards for our work product. We take pride in being a collaborative work environment with a sense of community among our staff.
Benefits:
- Health insurance
- 401k Contributions
- Paid time off
- Professional development assistance
- Bonus Incentives based on productive time, not total time.
- Flexible work schedule and full-time remote available.
If interested, please submit a copy of your resume and a writing sample, preferably a
memorandum of law from a dispositive motion or an appellate brief you drafted and filed, to
http://www.brokeandbroker.com/5737/rollag-cowen-sdny-finra/
For those of us who practice law, there are two distinct aspects of most cases. First, we have the substantive side of the dispute -- the lurid allegations and demands for damages with lots of zeros after the dollar sign. Second, we have the procedural side of things that involves when and where to file a pleading and whether a given court has jurisdiction. More often than not, the early reports about a lawsuit involve so-called motion practice, where we watch the procedural wheels and gears of the law turn and mesh, but sometimes seize up. In a recent federal case, the often boring motion practice reveals an underlying fact pattern that's an eye opener.
National Consumer Bankruptcy Law Firm Agrees to Pay More than $300,000 in Relief to Consumers and to a Six-Year Practice Ban in Settlement with U.S. Trustee Program (DOJ Release)
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/national-consumer-bankruptcy-law-firm-agrees-pay-more-300000-relief-consumers-and-six-year
DOJ's United States Trustee Program ("USTP") has entered into a settlement via Consent Orders filed in the United States District Court for the District of Montana https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1375236/download with national consumer bankruptcy law firm Deighan Law LLC, f/k/a "Law Solutions Chicago" and doing business as "UpRight Law (UpRight)." Since 2016, UpRight has paid or been ordered to pay almost $900,000 in monetary relief, including returning fees to over 500 impacted consumers and paying court-ordered sanctions, attorney's fees, and costs. Additionally, bankruptcy courts have imposed practice bans against UpRight in at least four jurisdictions. In the settlement at issue in the DOJ Release, UpRight has paid/will pay over $300,000 in monetary relief and will be barred from representing bankruptcy clients in Montana for six years. As alleged in part in the DOJ Release:
In the current matter, the USTP alleged that UpRight engaged in misconduct and misrepresentations impacting hundreds of Montana consumers, which came to light due to investigations by the USTP in two bankruptcy cases. In one case, UpRight substantially delayed filing its client's bankruptcy case for almost a year after it misrepresented that it had a local attorney who was licensed in Montana available to file the case. UpRight's delay resulted in a creditor garnishing more than $6,000 of the debtor's wages. In the other case, UpRight obtained payment of its attorney's fees by advising the debtors to participate in an improper scheme whereby they surrendered their vehicle to an out-of-state towing company. Another bankruptcy court previously sanctioned UpRight for implementing the towing program-which it used in more than 200 cases across the country-describing it as a "scam from the start," and the towing company's owners were indicted for their role in the scheme. UpRight's advice resulted in the debtors being sued by their automobile lender for conversion of its collateral.In the settlement, UpRight does not contest the USTP's allegations that it engaged in misconduct in the course of its dealings with Montana consumers, including misrepresenting that it had a sufficient number of local Montana-licensed attorneys available to provide adequate bankruptcy representation, misrepresenting to clients the scope of legal services to be provided and the cost of those services, failing to timely provide its clients with written retainer agreements that clearly and conspicuously explained the legal services to be provided and the cost of those services, failing to discuss non-bankruptcy alternatives, failing to adequately supervise the firm's non-attorney staff (some of whom engaged in the unauthorized practice of law), providing erroneous legal advice, and failing to adequately supervise its Montana "partner" attorneys. This misconduct contributed to UpRight's substantial delay in filing bankruptcy cases for Montana consumers. In addition, UpRight filed bankruptcy cases for only 109 of the 473 Montana clients from whom the firm collected at least a partial fee.To resolve the USTP's allegations of misconduct, UpRight has refunded or will refund more than $300,000 in fees paid by Montana consumers for whom UpRight never filed a bankruptcy case. UpRight also agreed to pay a civil penalty of $10,309 and to return all fees, totaling $3,770, to the debtors in the two cases in which the USTP brought its enforcement actions. Additionally, UpRight will be barred from accepting bankruptcy clients or providing bankruptcy services to consumers in Montana, effective July 2, 2018, through July 2, 2024.While the agreement resolves disputes with the USTP in the two underlying bankruptcy cases, it does not impact the rights of the debtors in those cases or any other parties or government agencies not participating in the settlement, including other Montana consumers, nor does it impact the USTP's rights to litigate enforcement actions against UpRight in other jurisdictions or to seek redress in other Montana cases. The two underlying cases are captioned In re Dailey, Case No. 15-61088-7 (Bankr. D. Mont.), and In re Emerson, Case No. 16-60056-7 (Bankr. D. Mont.).
Romanian National Sentenced to Four Years in Federal Prison for Role in Credit Card Skimming Scheme (DOJ Release)
https://www.justice.gov/usao-or/pr/romanian-national-sentenced-four-years-federal-prison-role-credit-card-skimming-scheme
https://www.justice.gov/usao-or/pr/romanian-national-sentenced-four-years-federal-prison-role-credit-card-skimming-scheme
In 2019, an eleven-count Indictment was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon charging Ciprian Simion, 35, and Gabriel Tigmarau, 51, with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, counterfeit access device fraud, illegal possession of device-making equipment, bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft. On July 29, 2020, Simion pleaded guilty to one count each of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. On November 4, 2020, Tigmarau pleaded guilty to the same charges. Tigmaru was sentenced on February 17, 2021 to 42 months in federal prison and five years' supervised release. Simion was sentenced to 48 in prison plus five years of supervised release, and he was ordered to pay over $27,000 in restitution. As alleged in part in the DOJ Release:
[S]imion is an experienced credit card skimmer. In April 2018, he was arrested in New York City after using fake ATM cards and pins to withdraw cash from an ATM. After his arrest, Simion consented to a search of his hotel room where officers found nearly 100 forged debit cards and three forgery devices. He was later indicted by a New York grand jury on more than 200 counts related to his fraud activity. The New York court issued a warrant for his arrest in August 2018.At some point after being charged in New York, Simion relocated to Oregon. His precise movements in the months leading to his arrest in Oregon are unknown. On or about March 16, 2019, Simion and an accomplice, Gabriel Tigmarau, 51, also of Romania, installed a credit card skimmer on a Rivermark Community Credit Union ATM in Newberg, Oregon. Simion and Tigmarau later removed the device to obtain stolen account information and pins, damaging the ATM in the process. Around the same time, the pair installed skimming devices on several other area ATMs.Simion and Tigmarau used the stolen account information to produce counterfeit credit and debit cards and withdraw cash from local ATMs. On April 27, 2019, officers from the Portland Police Bureau arrested Simion and Tigmarau after they were caught tampering with an IBEW Credit Union ATM on SE Washington Street in Portland. Officers seized several counterfeit bank cards and a skimming device from the pair. While in Oregon, Simion stole at least 354 account numbers.
Georgia Man Sentenced to Three Years For Nationwide Bank Fraud and Identity Theft Scheme (DOJ Release)
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr/georgia-man-sentenced-three-years-nationwide-bank-fraud-and-identity-theft-scheme
Sean Christopher Williams, 40, pled guilty to one count of bank fraud and attempt, and one count of aggravated identity theft in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania; and he was sentenced to three years in prison plus five years of supervised release, and he was ordered to pay $185,920 in restitution. As alleged in part in the DOJ Release:
[W]illiams used stolen identities to open fraudulent accounts at multiple banks, but he left the accounts unfunded. Williams then repeatedly transferred "funds" from one fraudulent account to another, knowing that the transferring account did not have any funds to support the transfer. Williams quickly used the receiving account to pay a variety of financial accounts in his name, including credit cards and student loans, before the receiving bank determined no funds were incoming. This scheme resulted in more than $185,000 in losses to the banks and impacted around 35 individual victims whose names and social security numbers were attached to the fraudulent accounts.
Protecting Investors From
Misconduct / FINRA Adopts Rules to Address Brokers With a
Significant History of Misconduct
Effective Dates (FINRA Regulatory Notice 21-09)
https://www.finra.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/Regulatory-Notice-21-09.pdf
https://www.finra.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/Regulatory-Notice-21-09.pdf
As set forth in part under the "Executive Summary" [Ed: footnotes omitted]:
FINRA has adopted new rules to address brokers with a significant history of misconduct and the broker-dealers that employ them. The new rules:
- allow a Hearing Officer to impose conditions or restrictions on the
activities of a Respondent member firm or Respondent associated
person, and require the member firm employing a Respondent associated
person to adopt heightened supervisory procedures for such an
associated person, when a disciplinary matter is appealed to the National
Adjudicatory Council (NAC) or called for NAC review;
- require member firms to adopt heightened supervisory procedures for
statutorily disqualified associated persons during the period a statutory
disqualification eligibility request is under review by FINRA;
- require disclosure through FINRA BrokerCheck® of the status of a member
firm as a "taping firm" under FINRA Rule 3170 (Tape Recording of
Registered Persons by Certain Firms); and
- require a member firm to submit a written request to FINRA's Department of Member Regulation, through the Membership Application Group, seeking a materiality consultation and approval of a continuing membership application, if required, when a natural person seeking to become an owner, control person, principal or registered person of the member firm has, in the prior five years, one or more "final criminal matters" or two or more "specified risk events."
The amendments to the FINRA Rule 9200 Series (Disciplinary Proceedings), the FINRA Rule 9300 Series (Review of Disciplinary Proceeding by National Adjudicatory Council and FINRA Board; Application for SEC Review), and FINRA Rule 9556 (Failure to Comply with Temporary and Permanent Cease and Desist Orders, or Orders that Impose Conditions or Restrictions) become effective April 15, 2021.The amendments to FINRA Rule 8312 (FINRA BrokerCheck Disclosure) become effective May 1, 2021.The amendments to the FINRA Rule 9520 Series (Eligibility Proceedings) and Funding Portal Rule 900 (Code of Procedure) become effective June 1, 2021.The amendments to the FINRA Rule 1000 Series (Member Application and Associated Person Registration), the Capital Acquisition Broker Rule 100 Series (Member Application and Associated Person Registration) become effective September 1, 2021.
http://www.brokeandbroker.com/5739/liverpool-tillery-exploitation/
I had another article prepared to run this morning. It had to deal with a FINRA regulatory settlement. There were some interesting aspects to the case but I opted to shelve the publication of that piece for another day. Why? Because my blood boiled after I read about the sentences handed out in a case of financial exploitation of an elderly widow. Now, mind you, my blood does tend to boil easily, and there are those who have become all too desensitized to my frequent rants and jeremiads. Hey, what can I say -- I'm passionate about what I do for a living. So . . . do me a favor, tell me if you too don't find your blood boiling after reading about today's apparent miscarriage of justice.
FINRA Suffers Stunning Rebuke by SEC in Tysk Appeal (BrokeAndBroker.com Blog)
http://www.brokeandbroker.com/5738/finra-sec-tysk/
This rambling, shambling tale begins with a 2008 customer complaint, which morphed into a 2010 FINRA Arbitration against Ameriprise and a stockbroker. Responding to allegations of discovery shenanigans during that arbitration, in 2014, FINRA suspended the stockbroker for three months and fined him $50,000, but, on appeal in 2016, FINRA increased the stockbroker's suspension to one year. On further appeal in 2017, the SEC remanded the regulatory case back to FINRA. In 2019, FINRA smugly declined to budge. Suffice it to say, in 2021, the SEC was not amused with FINRA's lack of reconsideration.