Former CFO of Publicly Traded Brazilian Company Charged in Fraud Scheme
A superseding indictment was unsealed today in the Southern District of Iowa charging the former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of publicly traded reinsurance company, IRB Brasil Resseguros SA, aka IRB Brasil RE (IRB), for fraudulently propping up its stock price by spreading false information that U.S. investment firm Berkshire Hathaway Inc. had invested in IRB.
According to court documents, Fernando...
TRO and asset freeze against alleged perpetrators of nearly $450M Ponzi Scheme
Washington D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges and an asset freeze against several Las Vegas-area individuals and companies allegedly behind a nearly half-billion dollar Ponzi scheme involving purported personal injury settlements. The SEC charged certain defendants with violations of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws, certain individual defendants with acting as unregistered brokers,...
US Leads Seizure of One of the World’s Largest Hacker Forums and Arrests Administrator
The Department of Justice today announced the seizure of the RaidForums website, a popular marketplace for cybercriminals to buy and sell hacked data, and unsealed criminal charges against RaidForums’ founder and chief administrator, Diogo Santos Coelho, 21, of Portugal. Coelho was arrested in the United Kingdom on Jan. 31, at the United States’ request and remains in custody pending the...
Woman Pleads Guilty for $43.8 Million COVID-19 Relief Fraud Scheme
An Oklahoma woman pleaded guilty in the Western District of New York for a scheme to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) of over $43.8 million in COVID-19 relief loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
According to court documents, Amanda J. Gloria, 45, of Altus, admitted that she...
District Court Orders New Jersey Company to Stop Distribution of Adulterated Pet Food Contaminated with Salmonella
A federal court this week ordered a Carneys Point, New Jersey company to stop distributing adulterated pet food in violation of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA).
In a complaint filed March 15, the United States alleged that Bravo Packing Inc., and its owners and operators, Joseph Merola and Amanda Lloyd, violated the FDCA by distributing adulterated animal...
Hadari Oshri sued for copyright infringement in 2017
AN IMPORTANT NOTE: On June 22, 2021, Hadari Oshri –Marc Lubaszka’s business partner– filed a frivolous civil harassment restraining order (CHRO) against Investor News reporter Aitana Vargas to stop the publication of her investigative series “A Special Report: The Harrowing Impunity of White-Collar crime,” and any subsequent installments or future media coverage. On August 3, 2021, Vargas filed an...
Physician convicted for unlawfully prescribing over 1 million opioid pills
A Texas physician has been convicted for unlawfully prescribing more than one million pills of the opioid hydrocodone.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, James Pierre, 52, a doctor, of Houston, unlawfully prescribed controlled substances from June 2015 through July 2016 to individuals posing as patients at West Parker Medical Clinic (West Parker), a pill-mill clinic located...
SEC Proposes Rules to Include Certain Significant Market Participants as “Dealers” or “Government Securities Dealers”
Washington D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed proposed two rules that would require market participants, such as proprietary (or principal) trading firms, who assume certain dealer functions, in particular those who as act as liquidity providers in the markets, to register with the SEC, become members of a self-regulatory organization (SRO), and comply with federal securities...
SEC Proposes Rules to Enhance Disclosure and Investor Protection Relating to Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, Shell Companies, and Projections
Washington D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed new rules and amendments to enhance disclosure and investor protection in initial public offerings by special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) and in business combination transactions involving shell companies, such as SPACs, and private operating companies.
"Nearly 90 years ago, Congress addressed certain policy issues around companies raising money from the...
Federal Court Bans Deceptive Health Claims and a Wide Range of Other Deceptive Conduct
Federal Court Rules in Favor of FTC, Halting Illegal Tactics Used to Promote Smoking Cessation, Weight-Loss, and Sexual-Performance Aids
At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, a federal district court in California ordered a stop to the illegal tactics used by marketers who deceptively promoted dissolvable oral film strips as effective smoking cessation, weight-loss, and sexual-performance aids.
The court found...