Newsletter RSS

Mealey's Securities

  • May 08, 2025

    Final Approval Given To Settlement In Alleged Ponzi Scheme Involvement Suit

    PORTLAND — A federal judge in Oregon granted final approval to a $90,000 settlement between investors who lost money to an alleged Ponzi scheme and two of the entities they allege aided the scheme.

  • May 08, 2025

    Company Waives Right To Answer Petition On Whether It Can Bring Short-Swing Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A micro-robotic technology company on May 7 waived its right to respond to an investor’s petition for a writ of certiorari that asks the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether the company has Article III standing to bring a case against him for the disgorgement of short-swing profits for violating Section 16(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

  • May 08, 2025

    $46M Pharmaceutical Company Stock-Drop Suit Gets Final Approval

    TRENTON, N.J. — A $46 million settlement between current and former executives and members of the board of directors of a pharmaceutical company that went bankrupt during the proceeding and investors who alleged that the company violated federal securities law by making material misstatements that caused the price of the company’s stock to be artificially inflated has been granted final approval by a federal magistrate judge in New Jersey.

  • May 07, 2025

    Final Approval Granted To $362.5M Settlement In Securities Action Against GE

    NEW YORK — A $362.5 million settlement between General Electric Co. and investors who alleged that the company violated federal securities laws in relation to its representations regarding its power division’s factoring of long-term receivables was given final approval by a federal judge in New York.

  • May 06, 2025

    SEC Says Disgorgement, Materiality Questions Don’t Warrant High Court Review

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission on May 5 asked the U.S. Supreme Court not to grant certiorari to an investment officer and his investment firm asking the court to address questions regarding the award of disgorgement and clarity regarding materiality of alleged misrepresentations under the Investment Advisors Act of 1940, arguing that the questions don’t warrant the high court’s review.

  • May 06, 2025

    SEC Voluntarily Dismisses Case Against Crypto Asset Influencer

    AUSTIN, Texas — The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a joint stipulation dismissing its case against a crypto asset influencer for selling an unregistered security by selling crypto tokens to investors from a pool he controlled.

  • May 02, 2025

    SEC Voluntarily Dismisses Unregistered Crypto Assets Securities Offerings Suit

    SEATTLE— The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it has voluntarily dismissed a suit it brought against three entities and their founder for allegedly raising $16.5 million in unregistered crypto asset securities offerings.

  • May 02, 2025

    Investment Firm Says Shale Producers Conspired To Fix Oil Prices, Violated Laws

    CHICAGO — An investment firm has filed a putative class action against multiple oil companies in Illinois federal court alleging that they violated antitrust law and the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) by engaging in a conspiracy to coordinate, and ultimately constrain, domestic shale oil production through fixing the price of oil and crude oil futures contracts.

  • May 02, 2025

    Panel: Firm Not Required To Arbitrate With Employee’s Allegedly Defrauded Investors

    PASADENA, Calif. — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that retirees who invested in an alleged Ponzi scheme run by a securities firm’s employee were not entitled to arbitration under the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s arbitration rules because the retirees failed to demonstrate that they had transacted with the employee, affirming a lower court’s ruling.

  • May 02, 2025

    Judge Dismisses Channel- Stuffing Suit Against Driver Safety Technology Provider

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York dismissed a putative securities class action brought by investors alleging that an advanced driver-assistance systems technology company and its executives made misleading statements about the company’s minimum-order contracts that the investors claimed artificially inflated the price of the company’s stock, finding that the investors failed to allege that the company made any material misstatements that would support scheme liability.

  • April 30, 2025

    Class Certification Granted In Stock Loss Suit Over ‘Sham’ Wells Fargo Interviews

    OAKLAND, Calif. — A federal judge in California granted class certification to a group of shareholders in their suit against Wells Fargo & Co. and certain of its executives after news of the company’s practice of using fake interviews to give the impression of complying with internal diversity hiring practices led to a drop in stock value, finding that the shareholders satisfied Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23’s class certification requirements.

  • April 28, 2025

    No Basis For High Court To Hear FINRA Constitutionality Case, Authority Argues

    \WASHINGTON, D.C.— The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) on April 25 filed a brief in opposition to a brokerage firm’s petition for certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to address the authority’s constitutionality, as well as what constitutes an irreparable injury for the purpose of a preliminary injunction, arguing that there is no split among circuit courts on either question that the firm is asking the court to address.

  • April 28, 2025

    Jury Reaches Verdict In SEC’s Advisers Act Against Investment Adviser, Firm

    BOSTON — A federal jury in Massachusetts found that an investment adviser and his advisory firm had violated Section 206(2) of the Investment Advisers Act, finding the Securities and Exchange Commission proved that the adviser and firm hadn’t disclosed significant upfront commissions and other conflicts of interest.

  • April 28, 2025

    Citing Presumption Of Access, 6th Circuit Vacates Order Keeping Transcripts Sealed

    CINCINNATI — A trial court’s failure to explain why it maintained the seal on certain deposition transcripts in a settled securities lawsuit is not sufficient to overcome the presumption of openness in litigation, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, reversing a ruling partly denying an intervenor newspaper’s motion to unseal the documents in the lawsuit, which was closed more than two years ago, and remanding for the lower court to make the proper determination “as to whether any parts of those transcripts meet the requirements for a seal.”

  • April 25, 2025

    SEC’s Fraud Case Against Investment Report Publisher, Adviser Entity To Continue

    LOS ANGELES — The Securities and Exchange Commission’s case alleging that a publisher of investment reports and the investment adviser entity he operated perpetrated a fraudulent scheme using the investment reports will continue after a federal judge in California found that, at this stage, the SEC sufficiently pleaded its fraud scheme and fraudulent statement claims.

  • April 24, 2025

    SEC Brings Claims Against Crypto Asset, Foreign Exchange Trading Company Founder

    ALEXANDRIA, Va.— The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint in federal court in Virginia against the founder of a now-defunct entity that the SEC says claimed to be a crypto asset and foreign exchange trading company alleging that it orchestrated an international securities fraud scheme that raised $198 million and misappropriated more than $57 million of investor funds.

  • April 23, 2025

    Judge Allows Suit Seeking Recovery Of $47M In Short-Swing Profits To Continue

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York allowed a suit brought by the entity formerly known as Bed Bath and Beyond Inc. seeking to recover more than $47 million in short-swing profits realized by an investor and his company by selling Bed Bath and Beyond common stock in violation of federal securities laws to continue, finding that at this stage in the litigation the entity has provided sufficient evidence showing the defendants qualified as statutory insiders under a beneficial ownership theory of liability, but not under a directors by deputization theory of liability.

  • April 21, 2025

    Bank Tells High Court Certification Request In Ponzi Scheme Recovery Too Late

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a brief in opposition to a petition for writ of certiorari filed in the U.S. Supreme Court by a bankruptcy trustee for an entity that pleaded guilty to charges related to its involvement in a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, a bank that allegedly aided in the Ponzi scheme argued that the bankruptcy trustee should have requested certification of Minnesota law to the Minnesota Supreme Court earlier in the process.

  • April 17, 2025

    Final Approval Granted To $4.75M Plus Bitcoin Settlement In Crypto Mining Suit

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York gave final approval to a settlement in which a cryptocurrency mining company agreed to pay $4.75 million in cash and the U.S. dollar equivalent of 25 bitcoin to settle a suit brought against it, certain executives and underwriters, by shareholders who alleged that the value of the company’s stock dropped after its initial public offering because it made misstatements and omissions in its offering statements in violation of the Securities Act of 1933.

  • April 17, 2025

    Judge Declines To Reconsider Opinion In Class Action Against Crypto Platform

    NEWARK, N.J. — A federal judge denied a cryptocurrency platform’s motion for reconsideration of his opinion and order mostly denying its motion to dismiss a putative class action brought by investors alleging that the company and several of its executives and directors misrepresented material aspects of the platform’s business, holding that he did not overlook any legal issue when issuing the opinion.

  • April 16, 2025

    Federal Judge Dismisses Securities Suit Against Cybersecurity Company

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California dismissed investors’ putative class action complaint against a cybersecurity company and its executives for allegedly violating federal securities laws by making materially false or misleading statements about the company’s financials, finding that the investors failed to state a claim.

  • April 11, 2025

    9th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Securities Case Against Gaming Company

    PASADENA, Calif. — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the dismissal of a pension fund’s suit alleging that a gaming company falsely inflated its share price, finding that the pension fund failed to adequately plead its securities claims.

  • April 10, 2025

    4th Circuit: Investors’ Securities Fraud Claims Lack Necessary Loss Causation

    RICHMOND, Va. — A panel of the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s rejection of investors’ motion to amend their putative class complaint alleging that a quantum computing company and executives made false statements about its products, leading to a stock value drop once the truth was revealed, finding that the investors had not adequately pleaded loss causation as to their security fraud claims.

  • April 09, 2025

    Federal Judge Approves Lyft Shareholder Derivative Settlement Requiring Reforms

    OAKLAND, Calif. — A federal judge in California granted final approval to a settlement in a shareholder derivative class action brought against Lyft Inc., under which the company agrees to implement several safety reforms.

  • April 09, 2025

    Federal Judge Grants Final Approval Of $433.5M Securities Fraud Settlement

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York has granted final approval of a $433.5 million settlement to end a securities fraud class action brought by investors against a Cayman Islands corporation headquartered in Hangzhou, China, and current and former executives for allegedly violating federal securities laws by making misrepresentations regarding the initial public offering of another company in which the defendant company owned a 33% equity interest and not disclosing material facts surrounding an investigation by Chinese regulators into allegedly illegal merchant exclusivity practices.