Securities Industry Commentator by Bill Singer Esq

April 18, 2018

Chicago Investment Advisor Sentenced to More Than 12 Years in Federal Prison for Misappropriating $5.2 Million in Client Funds (DOJ Press Release)
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/chicago-investment-advisor-sentenced-more-12-years-federal-prison-misappropriating-52
Investment advisor Daniel Glick owned and operated Financial Management Strategies Inc., Glick Accounting Services Inc., and Glick & Associates Ltd., through which he purportedly provided accounting, tax, investment, and financial services. From 2011 to 2017, federal prosecutors alleged that Glick furnished forged checks and other phony documents to financial institutions, lied to clients about the use and safety of their investments, and misappropriated client funds to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to two business associates, and to make Ponzi-type payments to clients. Glick purportedly stole over $5 million largely from elderly clients and used some of the stolen funds to pay personal and business expenses, including the purchase of a Mercedes-Benz automobile and payment of his mortgage. After pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud, Glick was sentenced to 151 months in prison and ordered to pay $5.2 million in restitution. 

Former Equipment Rental Company Executive Sentenced to Two Years Imprisonment for Failing to Pay Millions in Disgorgement to SEC (SEC Litigation Release No. 24115 )
https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2018/lr24115.htm
In Securities and Exchange Commission v. John N. Milne, (08-CV-505, United States District Court for the District of Connecticut), in 2008, the SEC charged John N. Milne, former Chairman of United Rentals, Inc ("URI")., and others with fraud for engaging in a series of fraudulent transactions designed to meet URI's forecasts and analyst expectations. Milne was also indicted in a parallel federal criminal action. Pursuant to a guilty plea and settlement, a judgment was entered against Milne in the SEC's action ordering him, in part, to pay $6.25 million disgorgement and interest, on which he paid $1 million to the SEC. In his criminal case, the Court ordered him to pay the remaining $5.25 million to the SEC as a condition of his supervised release.  In 2018, the Court found that Milne had the ability to pay more than the $500,000 that he had to date, as evidenced by his expenditures on luxury services, personal items, and travel. Despite being given the opportunity to make further payments, Milne failed and was sentenced to two years imprisonment for violating the conditions of his supervised release by failing to pay court-ordered disgorgement in a civil action brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

(BrokeAndBroker.com Blog)
http://www.brokeandbroker.com/3928/finra-bullet-fee/
I'm not sure whether it's fact or fiction, but I've heard that in Iran and China there's a "bullet fee," which is a bill sent by the government to the families of executed prisoners. Be that as it may, there is a practice among some employers to try and charge former employees for advice and counsel rendered during so-called exit interviews, particularly when a lawyer from the General Counsel's office is sitting in on the proceedings and urges you to pay a past-due bill or reimburse the firm for a disputed charge. Sometimes that in-house lawyer's advice is presented with the intent to smooth things along and avoid litigation -- you may even appreciate the counsel. Other times, the advice is a not-so-subtle threat tantamount to we can do it the easy way or we can do it the hard way. In a recent FINRA arbitration pitting a former employer against a former employee, we are presented with an interesting issue about the employer Claimant's effort to obtain reimbursement, in part, for advice provided by its in-house counsel to an employee who eventually became the Respondent. 

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-chief-financial-officer-pleads-guilty-manhattan-federal-court-defrauding-former
Randy Wang pled guilty to an Information in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York charging him with one count of wire fraud in connection with defrauding his former employer, a company that manages a global airline alliance comprising about 13 international airlines and their affiliates. Wang pled guilty to incurring over  $2.2 million in unauthorized charges unrelated to his job on the company's credit card account. Among the alleged charges were 443 laptop computers, 241 mobile electronic devices, 24 tablet computers, and numerous other electronics.  READ the FULL TEXT Information. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/press-release/file/1053556/download

https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/essex-county-new-jersey-man-admits-bribing-letter-carriers-deliver-parcels-containing
I mean, c'mon, how could you not want to read about this case with a headline like that? Glenn Blackstone pled guilty to an Information in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey to one count of giving bribes and one count of conspiracy to distribute marijuana. Blackstone admitted to conspiring to obtain marijuana from California to sell in New Jersey, and paying cash bribes to two U.S. Postal Service mail carriers to intercept and deliver parcels to him, These parcels had fictitious names and addresses on them and were not addressed directly to Blackstone.READ the FULL TEXT Information.. https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/press-release/file/1053631/download