An Angry Fraud
I've gotten some feedback on my post about the impact of fines on company value. In response I am doing some deep dive data science to compare financial company revenues versus fines, which means Google keeps thinking I'm a robot based on how rapidly I am searching company's income statements--or maybe Google knows something I don't? Or maybe Google just needs more traffic lights identified in case it goes to the supermarket or go full Skynet? Anyone's guess there.
Most companies fined by the SEC, DoJ, FINRA, CFPB, OCC, Fed, FDIC, or the yellow Teletubby--she's tough as nails that one--are easily located. A few, not so much. I do my best, by which I mean I try different search terms. And sometimes I get a little window into the soul of humanity.
[...] the Honorable Jose Martinez of the Southern District of Florida found U.S. Pension Trust Corp., U.S. College Trust Corp., Iliana Maceiras, Leonardo Maceiras Jr., and Nildo Verdeja liable for violating Sections 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 [...]
The judge ordered the companies to disgorge $62.6 million in investor contributions they fraudulently raised between 1995 and 2008, and pay a $50 million civil penalty. The opinion ordered each of the individuals to pay disgorgement of between $674,567 and $1,093,364, representing their salaries during that time, and pay a $200,000 civil penalty.
That's not the part that got me to stop copy-pasting revenue numbers and snort iced tea out my nose. There is, sadly, nothing surprising about the SEC penalty or the complaint that states:
[...] on each initial annual plan contribution, USPT has siphoned off as much as 70% to pay commissions to sales agents, 10% to itself as "net profit," and 5% to pay insurance premiums to a USPT affiliate [...]
Nor is it funny that the company is named U.S. Pension Trust and also at the same time U.S. College Trust in order to confuse possible customers, who were mostly in Latin America, about their reputable nature.
That's all as common as email from a Nigerian prince or unclaimed Walmart gift card. But then I found this link, which, it seems is someone running a scheme where they make public documents available as ebooks for cash money. You can get the same SEC docket I copied from for $14.95 because maybe that's what you want and just woke from a coma that started before slightly before Harry met Sally.
The "Book" and associated review is here.
Anyway, here's what the lone "book" review has to say:
Amazing that these people are trying to sell this as a book when its actually available for free on the SEC website!!!! bunch of scumbags.
Roger Cruz, a accountant that seems to just rehash information he finds in the already digested books so he easily presents it to the courts in a unfavorable light.
Amie Berlin: prosecutor (or whatever she calls her self) for the SEC enforcement who actually fumbled through the whole court proceedings constantly barraged by Judge Martinez about procedure etc,. actually amazing she has a job with this entity. Speaks volume for the federal government and the rest of the SEC .
Finally Judge Martinez (who physical slept though the trial) and had his Minions actually decide the whole case for him
Someone--who could it be?--was close enough to the 5 day trail to see the Judge allegedly napping, found this other person trying to scam money off of the court record, and then thought to themselves, "I must write a terrible review of this. It would be wrong to let someone get ripped off by unscrupulous..."
Now that's funny. Also the capital "Minions." That's also funny.
