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CFTC reaches $14 million settlement with bank over swap dealer standards
On November 8, the CFTC announced a $14 million settlement with a national bank to resolve allegations that the bank violated swap dealer business conduct standards in its foreign exchange trading business. Among other things, the bank allegedly failed to properly price a $4 billion foreign exchange forward contract with a counterparty when it selected a rate it “believed would be in the range of the true weighted average and thus acceptable to the counterparty,” instead of calculating a “weighted average rate based on actual spot trades.” According to the CFTC, at the time the bank did not have a system in place to accurately track trades used to fill the counterparty’s order and ensure compliance with policies and procedures regarding communicating with counterparties in a fair and balanced manner. (The bank has since cured these deficiencies.) The bank, which has neither admitted nor denied the findings, agreed to pay a $10 million civil money penalty and $4.47 million in restitution (previously paid to the counterparty) under the terms of the settlement order.
SEC charges online auction portal with violating whistleblower protection laws
On November 4, the SEC announced the filing of an amended complaint in an action against an online auction portal and its CEO (collectively, “defendants”), along with the CEO’s wife as a relief defendant. The original complaint, filed in May, alleged that defendants operated a $23 million fraudulent securities offering and misappropriated investor proceeds. The amended complaint adds, among other things, a new count for “Impeding: Rule 21F-17 of the Exchange Act,” alleging that the defendants took actions to impede individuals from communicating with the SEC and other agencies regarding misconduct at the company by conditioning the return of investor money on signing agreements with confidentiality clauses purportedly prohibiting the reporting of potential securities law violations to law enforcement agencies. The SEC seeks preliminary and permanent injunctions, disgorgement plus prejudgment interest, and penalties.
SEC seeks input on RMBS asset-level disclosure requirements
On October 30, the SEC requested public input on asset-level disclosure requirements for residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). The current requirements, which were adopted in 2014 in response to the financial crisis, require issuers to disclose a wide range of data on each mortgage loan in the underlying pool at the time of an offering and on an ongoing basis. As previously covered by InfoBytes, in September, the U.S. Treasury Department released a Housing Reform Plan, which, among other things, recommended that the SEC review the RMBS asset-level disclosure requirements to assess the number of required reporting fields and to clarify certain defined terms for SEC-registered private-label securitization offerings. In response to Treasury’s plan, Chairman Clayton requests that SEC staff assess the “RMBS asset-level disclosure requirements with an eye toward facilitating SEC-registered offerings,” and seeks public input on a variety of questions related to the topic, including (i) whether the circumstances in the RMBS market have changed since the financial crisis and the 2014 adoption of the requirements; (ii) whether one or more data points in the requirements should be revised and why; and (iii) whether any data points should be eliminated and if elimination would result in any adverse effects. The announcement does not contain a deadline for members of the public to submit their input.
SEC obtains temporary injunction against unregistered digital token offering
On October 11, the SEC announced it obtained a temporary restraining order through an emergency action filed against two offshore entities that allegedly raised more than $1.7 billion of investor funds. According to the complaint, the entities sold approximately 2.9 million digital tokens worldwide, including more than 1 billion tokens to 39 U.S. purchasers. The entities promised that the tokens would be delivered upon the launch of its own blockchain by the end of October 2019. The SEC alleges the entities violated Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act by failing to register its offers and sales of securities with the SEC. In addition to the emergency relief, the SEC is seeking a permanent injunction, disgorgement, and civil penalties against the offshore entities.
SEC settles with blockchain company for $24 million over unregistered ICO
On September 30, the SEC announced a settlement with a blockchain technology company resolving allegations that the company conducted an unregistered initial coin offering (ICO). According to the order, the company raised several billion dollars from the general public after an ICO, in which it publicly offered and sold 900 million digital assets in exchange for virtual currency, to raise capital to develop software. The SEC alleges that the company violated Section 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act because the digital assets it sold were securities under federal securities laws, and the company did not have the required registration statement filed or in effect, nor did it qualify for an exemption to the registration requirements. The order, which the company consented to without admitting nor denying the findings, imposes a $24 million civil money penalty.
CFTC awards $7 million to whistleblower for CEA action
On September 27, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced a whistleblower award of approximately $7 million to an individual who reported information that led to a successful Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) enforcement action. The associated order notes that five claimants submitted whistleblower award applications to the CFTC in response to the covered action, but the CFTC provided the award only to claimant one, as that individual voluntarily provided the original information to the Commission. The order does not provide any other significant details about the information provided or the related enforcement action. The CFTC has awarded over $90 million to whistleblowers since the enactment of the Whistleblower Program under the Dodd-Frank Act, and their information has led to more than $730 million in sanctions to date.
SEC charges digital platform for unregistered ICO
On September 18, the SEC announced it filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against a digital platform and its owner (collectively, “defendants”) for raising over $14 million in an unregistered initial coin offering (ICO) in violation of Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933 and for acting as unregistered brokers for other digital asset offerings in violation of Section 15 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The SEC contends the defendants claimed to investors that their tokens would increase in value upon trading and that ICO token holders would be able to swap them for other tokens on the platform, at an average of a 75 percent discount. The SEC notes that the tokens had experienced “a precipitous loss in value” since issuance, averaging roughly 1/20th of the average purchase price during the offering. Moreover, the SEC alleges the defendants acted as a broker for other ICOs, raising over $650 million for their clients. The SEC’s suit seeks a permanent injunction, disgorgement of profits plus interest, and civil penalties.
SEC settles cryptocurrency fraud case for $10.1 million
On August 29, the SEC announced it had settled with a cryptocurrency company and its two founders to resolve allegations that the company defrauded investors and operated an unregistered exchange. The SEC’s complaint alleges that the defendants raised more than $13 million from investors through the sale of digital tokens without registering the offerings with the SEC. According to the complaint, the defendants misrepresented that purchasers of digital tokens would receive stock in the company, as well as obtain access to a global marketplace attracting millions of consumers, despite the fact that the latter did not exist. This led to investors allegedly losing more than two-thirds of their investments in the company, the SEC claims. The company also allegedly operated an illegal, unregistered national security exchange offering trading in a single security. The SEC’s press release states that, while the defendants neither admit nor deny the allegations, the company will pay disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and a civil penalty of approximately $8.4 million, while the two founders will each pay more than $850,000.
SEC awards $1.8 million to whistleblower
On August 29, the SEC announced that it had awarded more than $1.8 million to a whistleblower who provided “critically important” information and assistance to a “programmatically significant enforcement action.” The SEC’s order noted that without the whistleblower’s tip, the violations would have been difficult to identify because the misconduct happened abroad. The order does not provide any additional details regarding the whistleblower or the company involved in the enforcement action. Since the program’s inception in 2012, the SEC has awarded approximately $387 million to 66 whistleblowers.
Cybersecurity company settles FCPA claims for $11.7 million
On August 29, a cybersecurity company agreed to pay over $11.7 million to settle SEC claims that certain subsidiaries operating in Russia and China violated the books and records and internal accounting controls provisions of the FCPA. The alleged misconduct included certain sales employees at the Russian subsidiary who misrepresented “the need for increased discounts to meet competition,” and—instead of passing the incremental discounts on to end-user customers—created “common funds” in off-book accounts that were diverted toward “excessive” travel and entertainment involving foreign officials, which the employees allegedly claimed served business purposes. According to the SEC, the company failed to (i) properly record the expenses; or (ii) implement or maintain an effective internal accounting system to prevent the violations from occurring. During approximately the same time period, sales employees at the Chinese subsidiary also paid for domestic trips and entertainment for foreign officials while allegedly understating the amount of entertainment involved and falsifying trip agendas to the company’s legal department to obtain approval.
In entering into the administrative order, the SEC considered the company’s cooperation and compliance efforts. Without admitting or denying wrongdoing, the company agreed to pay a $6.5 million civil money penalty and more than $5.2 million in disgorgement and interest.