Spotlight

Washington D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission this week charged Impact Theory, LLC, a media and entertainment company headquartered in Los Angeles, with conducting an unregistered offering of crypto asset securities in the form of purported non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Impact Theory raised approximately $30 million from hundreds of investors, including investors across the United States, through the offering. According...

Bumble Raises $2.15 Billion in IPO at $7 Billion Post-Money Valuation Bumble Inc, a dating app operator backed by buyout firm Blackstone Group Inc, sold shares in its initial public offering (IPO) on Wednesday at $43 apiece above its target range, to raise $2.2 billion. The IPO gave the Austin, Texas-based company a market capitalization of more than $7 billion. Bumble...

A federal jury in the Western District of North Carolina convicted two men this week for the submission of fraudulent loan applications seeking more than $1.7 million in forgivable Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. According to evidence presented during a six-day trial, Izzat...

Six Texas men were sentenced a few days ago for their roles in a conspiracy to fraudulently obtain more than $20 million in forgivable Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans that the Small Business Administration (SBA) guaranteed under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Hamza Abbas, 31, Ammas Uddin, 31, and Arham Uddin, 27, all of Richmond, were...

Bitcoin Attempts Price Recovery After a Derivatives-Led Slide to Sub-$56K Fears about a supply glut from the Mt. Gox settlement are unfounded, one analyst said. Bitcoin is looking to regain its footing, having reached five-week lows early Friday in a move market participants said was driven by derivatives. The top cryptocurrency had recovered to $57,200 at press time from the low of...

AN IMPORTANT NOTE: On June 22, 2021, Hadari Oshri –Marc Lubaszka’s business partner– filed a 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 anti-SLAPP...

Marc Lubaszka, the ultimate white-collar conman on the run: From a Hollywood Hills mansion to Venezuela's illegal gold mines and back Disabled veteran Steve Gern: “It’s been nearly ten years of desperation” Around 2012, tens of investors across the country experienced nearly $2 million in combined losses with unregistered gold broker Marc Lubaszka. The SEC, the FBI and other law enforcement...

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...

Washington D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Richmond, California resident Tilila Walker Sumchai with raising approximately $11.8 million from more than 1,000 investors through a fraudulent securities offering targeting members of the Tongan American community across the United States. According to the SEC’s complaint, from approximately January 2021 through October 2021, Sumchai convinced retail investors to acquire...

Wall Street has a new obsession: special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). SPACs are an alternative to the traditional way businesses raise money known as initial public offerings (IPOs). Since January 1, 2021 SPACs have raised over $88 billion, making up 83 percent of public offerings this year and raising more money than they did in all of 2020. As investment banks and professional investors celebrate this booming...