International Hedge Fund Managers, International Money Managers, and International Financial Analysts Can Receive Large Financial Rewards For Properly Exposing International Hedge Fund Fraud

International Hedge Fund Managers, International Money Managers, International Hedge Fund Advisers, and International Financial Analysts Are A Select Group of Financial Services Professionals That May Have Original Information of International Financial Fraud and International Investment Fraud From Their Own Independent Analysis That Can Be The Basis Of An International SEC Whistleblower Reward Lawsuit - by International Hedge Fund Fraud Whistleblower Lawyer Jason S. Coomer

International Hedge Fund Managers, International Money Managers, and International Financial Analysts are a select group of international professional services that often have original information from their own independent analysis of securities violations.  Because of the financial and investment expertise, the SEC has decided to offer large financial rewards to hedge fund managers, financial analysts, and other financial services professionals that properly identify and expose financial fraud, investment fraud, and securities fraud.  Under the SEC Whistleblower Reward Program new rules have expanded the definition of original information to encourage hedge fund managers, financial analysts, and money managers to become whistleblowers.  The new law and SEC rules include increased economic incentives and protections that are meant to encourage hedge fund managers, financial analysts, and money managers to blow the whistle on significant fraud schemes.


SEC CHARGES SECURITIES PROFESSIONALS AND TRADERS IN INTERNATIONAL HEDGE FUND PORTFOLIO PUMPING SCHEME

On Feb. 24, 2011, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged two securities professionals, a hedge fund trader, and two firms involved in a scheme that manipulated several U.S. microcap stocks and generated more than $63 million in illicit proceeds through stock sales, commissions and sales credits.

The SEC alleges that Florian Homm of Spain and Todd M. Ficeto of Malibu, Calif., conducted the scheme through their Beverly Hills, Calif.-based broker-dealer Hunter World Markets Inc. (HWM) with the assistance of Homm’s close associate Colin Heatherington, a trader who lives in Canada. They brought microcap companies public through reverse mergers and manipulated upwards the stock prices of these thinly-traded stocks before selling their shares at inflated prices to eight offshore hedge funds controlled by Homm. Their manipulation of the stock prices allowed Homm to materially overstate by at least $440 million the hedge funds’ performance and net asset values (NAVs) in a fraudulent practice known as “portfolio pumping.”

The SEC additionally brought administrative proceedings against HWM’s trader and chief compliance officer, who each agreed to settle the SEC’s charges against them.
“Ficeto and Homm repeatedly abused their positions as securities industry professionals to commit a wide-ranging, cross-border fraudulent scheme,” said Rosalind R. Tyson, Director of the SEC’s Los Angeles Regional Office. “By manipulating U.S. stocks through a U.S. broker-dealer, they defrauded investors in offshore hedge funds and reaped millions of dollars from their illicit activities.”

SEC CHARGES U.S. PERPETRATORS IN $35 MILLION INTERNATIONAL BOILER ROOM SCHEME

Nicholas Louis Geranio, et al.: Lit. Rel. No. 22370 / May 16, 2012- The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that the SEC filed an action today against SEC recidivist Nicholas Louis Geranio, Keith Michael Field, The Good One, Inc. and Kaleidoscope Real Estate, Inc. for their roles in a $35 million scheme to manipulate the market and to profit from the issuance and sale of certain U.S. companies’ (“Issuers’”) stock through offshore boiler rooms. The scheme ran from approximately April 2007 to October 2009.   

According to the SEC’s complaint, the scheme worked as follows:  Geranio organized eight U.S. Issuers, installed management (including Field), and entered into consulting agreements with them through his alter-ego entities The Good One and Kaleidoscope.  Geranio then allegedly set up a common system to raise money through the Issuers’ sale of Regulation S shares to offshore investors by boiler rooms that Geranio recruited.  Field allegedly drafted materially misleading business plans, marketing materials, and website material for the Issuers, which the offshore boiler rooms provided to investors as part of their fraudulent solicitation efforts.   

For more information on this topic, please feel free to go to the following web page: International Hedge Fund Managers, International Money Managers, International Hedge Fund Advisers, and International Financial Analysts Are A Select Group of Financial Services Professionals That May Have Original Information of International Financial Fraud and International Investment Fraud From Their Own Independent Analysis That Can Be The Basis Of An International SEC Whistleblower Reward Lawsuit by International Hedge Fund Fraud Whistleblower Lawyer, International Financial Analyst Whistleblower Lawyer, and International Financial Services Professional Whistleblower Lawyer Jason S. Coomer