In recent SEC enforcement actions, a hedge fund advisory firm and its owner were charged with misuse of investor funds; a court order was filed against Harvey, Ill., to halt a bond offering; two former brokers were charged with insider trading; and three former bank executives were charged in an accounting scheme.
Court Stops Muni Bond Sale in Chicago Suburb on Fraud Concerns
The Chicago suburb of Harvey and its comptroller, Joseph Letke, were the targets of a temporary restraining order requested by the SEC as the agency sought to stop a bond offering that the city has been marketing to potential investors, alleging the city has been misusing bond proceeds.
According to the agency, for the past several years, the city and Letke have been diverting bond proceeds for improper and undisclosed uses. The purported purpose of prior bond offerings was to fund the development and construction of a Holiday Inn hotel in Harvey. However, Harvey officials quietly diverted at least $1.7 million of bond proceeds from these offerings to pay the city's operational costs such as its payroll, and Letke received approximately $269,000 in undisclosed payments derived from bond proceeds.
Harvey's bond offerings in 2008, 2009 and 2010 were limited obligations bonds that were to be repaid from dedicated tax revenue streams such as Harvey's hotel-motel tax, sales tax, or incremental tax from the Tax Increment Financing District that the city created for the development and construction of the Holiday Inn project.
However, with Harvey and Letke diverting offering proceeds, the hotel redevelopment project turned into a fiasco for both investors and city residents. The SEC cited news reports that say the proposed Holiday Inn hotel and conference center is just a shell, with holes in the façade, a gutted interior, dangling wires and exposed studs.
While investigating Harvey's past bond offerings to investors, the SEC learned that the city intended to offer more limited obligation bonds before the end of June. The draft offering documents for these new bonds make materially misleading statements about their purpose and risks, while hiding the fact that past bond proceeds have been misused.
In response to the agency's request, Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer at an emergency hearing issued the temporary restraining order. Additionally, the court order prohibits Letke from incurring any extraordinary expenses beyond reasonable and customary personal and business expenses. An additional hearing is scheduled, and the investigation is ongoing.
Florida Hedge Fund Advisory Firm, Owner Charged With Misuse of Funds
The SEC has filed charges against West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Weston Capital Asset Management LLC and its founder and president, Albert Hallac, for shifting money from one investment to another without informing investors. Instead, investors were told via fabricated account statements that their investments were doing as well as, or even better, than ever. The firm's former general counsel, Keith Wellner, helped in the scheme.
In early 2011, Weston Capital managed more than a dozen unregistered hedge funds with combined total assets of approximately $230 million. One of the funds, Wimbledon Fund SPC, was segregated into five separate classes of investment portfolios. The Class TT Segregated Portfolio was required to invest all of its investor money in a diversified multibillion-dollar hedge fund called Tewksbury Investment Fund Ltd., which invested in short-term, low-risk interest-bearing accounts and U.S. Treasury bills.
However, Hallac and the firm, according to the agency, redeemed TT Portfolio's entire investment in the Tewksbury hedge fund — more than $17 million — and transferred the money to a consulting and investment firm known as Swartz IP Services Group Inc.
Not only did they hide the move from investors and violate the hedge fund's strategy, but $750,000 of the money eventually found its way into Hallac's pockets — as well as those of his son and Wellner. In addition, Weston Capital and Hallac also used $3.5 million of that money to pay down part of a loan from another fund managed by the firm.
Weston Capital and Hallac also solicited and received investments for the TT Portfolio during this time while knowing the funds would not be invested in Tewksbury. As soon as Swartz IP received the money transfers, it disbursed the funds primarily to a special purpose entity created to support and finance varying medically related business ventures.
Without admitting or denying the allegations, Weston Capital, Hallac and Wellner agreed to settle the SEC's charges along with Hallac's son Jeffrey Hallac, who is named as a relief defendant in the SEC's complaint for the purposes of recovering ill-gotten gains in his possession. Wellner and Jeffrey Hallac each agreed to pay $120,000 in disgorgement. The court will determine monetary sanctions for Weston Capital and Hallac at a later date.
Two More Former Brokers Charged in Insider Trading Case
