Investor's Watchdog.com: Stock, finance and investment protection for investors

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Gordon A. Driver (”Driver”) - of Las Vegas and Hamilton, Ontario - and his company Axcess Automation, LLC (”Axcess”) with securities fraud, claiming that the defendants raised $14.1 million from about 100 investors by promising weekly returns of up to 5 percent from trading in futures. (more…)

Jeff German wrote a great article for the Las Vegas Sun detailing Hans Seibt’s alleged scam to defraud the elderly.  According to the article, Seibt, who owned HSLV Development Corp., convinced people to invest in undeveloped land in Pahrump, Nevada, by promising a 12 percent return.  Many of his victims were seniors who turned over their retirement accounts and life savings. (more…)

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Las Vegas-based Gold-Quest International and its principals, David M. Greene, John Jenkins, and Michael McGee with running a Ponzi scheme and misappropriating investor funds.  A federal judge in Las Vegas has granted the SEC’s request for a temporary restraining order and an asset freeze against the defendants.  (more…)

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged a Las Vegas mortgage broker - Joseph Milanowski - with securities fraud.  According to the SEC, Malinowski — operating through a company called USA Commercial Mortgage Company dba USA Capital - raised over $150 million from 1900 investors by selling securities in the USA Capital Diversified Trust Deed Fund (the “Fund”). The SEC’s release states: (more…)

John Edwards and Urban Casavant ran CMKM Diamonds, Inc.  from January 2003 to May 2005, selling stock in the company to more than 40,000 people on the strength of press releases describing the company’s success uncovering a vast diamond field in Saskatchewan, Canada.  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says the entire operation was a scam:   (more…)

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed civil actions alleging securities fraud in five separate kickback schemes uncovered by an FBI sting operation conducted pursuant to a cooperation agreement between the FBI and the Commission. 

The FBI’s investigation revealed the following:   The defendants, based in California, Florida, New York, and Nevada, were promoting penny stock companies.  They wanted to sell large blocks of stock in those companies to a hedge fund.   The manager of the hedge fund told them that he would agree to buy the stocks only if the penny stock promoters would agree to pay him an under-the-table kickback on the purchases.  (more…)

The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed charges against Detroit-area resident Edward May and his company E-M Management Co. LLC alleging that they ran a $250 million fraud for nine years between 1998 and July 2007. According to the SEC, May and E-M defrauded 1,200 investors, many of them senior citizens by falsely representing that they had contracts to provide telecommunications services to several Las Vegas hotels.  May and E-M used “investment seminars” to attract potential investors, touting deals with such major hotel chains and casinos as Hilton, MGM Grand, Motel 6, Tropicana and Sheraton.  The SEC claims that no such deals or contracts ever existed.

The alleged scheme took in investors from several states, including Michigan, California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio and New Jersey.  The case is pending in the U.S. District (more…)