As published in the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) disciplinary actions report for April 2012, Andre Mari Gonzales of High Point, North Carolina was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. The sanction was based on findings that Gonzales failed to respond to FINRA requests for information.

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On May 02, 2012 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published that the commission deems it appropriate and in the public interest that public administrative proceedings be, and hereby are, instituted pursuant to Section 15(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 against Matthew J. Gagnon (“Gagnon”). After an investigation, the Division of Enforcement alleges that: Gagnon was the sole shareholder, officer, and director of Mazu Publishing Company. Gagnon has never been associated with a registered broker or dealer and has never been registered with the Commission as a broker or dealer or in any other capacity. Gagnon, 44 years old, is a resident of Weslaco, Texas and Portland, Oregon.

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On May 03, 2012 U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that the Honorable Ruben Castillo, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, on May 1, 2012, entered an order freezing the assets of defendants Dimitry Vishnevetsky of Chicago, Ill., and his company, Oxford Capital, LLC (OCL), a defunct Wisconsin limited liability company. The court’s order also prohibits the destruction of books and records. The court’s order stems from a CFTC civil complaint also filed on May 1, 2012, charging Vishnevetsky and OCL with fraud in connection with the operation of two commodity pools and an additional commodity trading scheme. According to the complaint, from at least the fall of 2006 through the present, the defendants fraudulently solicited and accepted at least $1.74 million from pool participants and commodity customers.

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On May 03, 2012 U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that the filing of a federal court action in Utah charging Bentley Equities, LLC, a Delaware corporation, and its principals, Christopher D. Hales and Eric A. Richardson, with fraud and misappropriation in connection with commodity futures trading. Richardson resides in Cedar Hills, Utah, and Hales is currently an inmate at the Florence, Colo., Federal Correction Complex. None of the defendants has ever been registered with the CFTC. The CFTC’s complaint, filed May 2, 2012, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, alleges that from at least April 2009 through August 2010, the defendants fraudulently solicited and accepted more than $1.1 million from approximately 38 pool participants and clients to trade commodity futures in a commodity pool account and in individual managed accounts.

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On May 03, 2012 U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that a federal court in New York ordered more than $4.6 million in restitution and a civil monetary penalty in a 2003 CFTC enforcement action against defendants Thomas Qualls and his company, International Foreign Currency, Inc., which charged the defendants with misappropriation, fraudulent solicitation, and unlawfully offering off-exchange foreign currency futures contracts. Judge Dora L. Irizarry, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, entered an order granting the CFTC summary judgment, finding that the defendants had committed fraud as alleged in the CFTC’s complaint, and requiring the defendants to pay $814,733 in restitution and a $3.84 million civil monetary penalty for operating an illegal off-exchange forex futures fraud from November 2001 to July 2003.

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On May 03, 2012 British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) published that it's executive director has issued a temporary order and notice of hearing against two Burnaby residents and an unregistered Burnaby company alleging that they were running an Internet-based Ponzi scheme. The executive director issues temporary orders in situations where the length of time required to hold a hearing could be prejudicial to the public interest. The notice of hearing says that the BCSC received two anonymous complaints stating Bossteam E-Commerce Inc. was operating a Ponzi scheme through a website registered to Yan Zhu (a.k.a Rachel Zhu), a registrant and life insurance agent, and her husband. Zhu is also director of Bossteam E-Commerce.

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As published in the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) disciplinary actions report for April 2012, Alan Ronald Taylor of Reno, Nevada has submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity.

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As published in the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) disciplinary actions report for April 2012, Matthew Christopher Valentine of Dallas, Texas has submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. Without admitting or denying the findings, Valentine consented to the described sanction and to the entry of findings that he made withdrawals totaling $540,000 from a firm customer’s securities account without the customer’s authorization or knowledge.

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As published in the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) disciplinary actions report for April 2012, Douglas Eugene Vannoy of Kingsville, Texas was barred from association with any FINRA member in any capacity. The sanction was based on findings that Vannoy opened a sole proprietorship account for his personal company in a deceased customer’s name. The customer appeared to have signed both the signature page of the account application and a notarized Sole Proprietor Affidavit for the account. The findings stated that Vannoy deposited approximately $20,750 of the customer’s personal funds and funds from the customer’s firm accounts into the account, and caused the entire amount to be paid from that account directly to his company.

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As published in the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) disciplinary actions report for April 2012, Jared Weinryt of New York, New York has submitted a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent in which he was fined $7,500, suspended from association with any FINRA member in any capacity for two months and suspended from acting in a trader capacity or performing any broker-dealer trading functions for one year. The fine must be paid either immediately upon Weinryt’s reassociation with a FINRA member firm following his two-month suspension, or prior to the filing of any application or request for relief from any statutory disqualification, whichever is earlier.

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On May 01, 2012 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published that the filing of a Complaint in federal district court against RKC Capital Management LLC, RKC Capital, LLC and Russell K. Cannon. The Complaint alleges that the defendants artificially inflated the assets of a hedge fund they managed, RKC Matador Fund LLC, to defraud Matador investors. The Complaint alleges that from at least November 2007 through July 2011, Defendants engaged in fraudulent conduct to overstate the assets under management of Matador. Defendants did this through causing the price of Matador’s largest holding, stock in Global Pari Mutuel Services, Inc., to artificially increase by “marking the close” of Global’s stock. Marking the close is a manipulative trading practice designed to cause the price of a stock to rise at the close of the market.

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On May 01, 2012 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published that the commission filed a settled civil injunctive action against two former sales people on April 30, 2012, in the investor seminar industry. Defendants Darlene Nelson Powell and Robert Eldridge consented to the entry of final judgments without admitting or denying the allegations of the Commission’s complaint. The Commission’s complaint alleges that Powell and Eldridge were independent contractors for Long Term-Short Term Inc., d/b/a BetterTrades, and sold products and services to investors who wanted to learn how to trade options and other securities. The complaint alleges that Eldridge put on a live online securities trading mentoring program under the name “Daily Cash Flow Trading Lab.”

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On May 02, 2012 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published that the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has affirmed the District Court’s grant of summary judgment against Michael Lauer, who controlled several hedge funds. The Eleventh Circuit held that the District Court “had before it overwhelming evidence of Lauer’s knowing false statements.” The Eleventh Circuit also found that the District Court did not abuse its discretion in ordering Lauer to disgorge more than $62 million. In addition, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the District Court’s decisions denying Lauer’s repeated efforts to modify the asset freeze and change venue.

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On April 30, 2012 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published that the commission deems it appropriate to issue an order of forthwith suspension of Michael J. McNerney pursuant to Rule 102(e)(2) of the Commission’s Rules of Practice [17 C.F.R. 200.102(e)(2)].1 The Commission finds that McNerney was an attorney admitted to practice in Florida.

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On May 01, 2012 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published that the commission deems it appropriate and in the public interest that public administrative and cease-and-desist proceedings be, and hereby are, instituted pursuant to Section 8A of the Securities Act of 1933, Sections 15(b) and 21C of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Section 9(b) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, against Miguel A. Ferrer and Carlos J. Ortiz.

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