Word: sec
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Charging AMI with fraud, the SEC claims that purchasers were duped into believing the bonds were risk-free. The SEC alleges that AMI misrepresented the financial condition of the churches involved, a number of which were so distressed that it was unlikely they'd ever be able to return investments. The suit also claims that AMI guaranteed customers that their money was insured, when in fact the firm had only $2 million to cover more than 100 times that amount in bond sales...
Unfortunately, many of those who participated in the AMI offering were elderly churchgoers who had drawn funds from retirement savings. Remarked SEC attorney Spencer Barasch: "These people relied greatly on the expertise of AMI, and they will suffer." But not if their dollars went to help fund the Rev. Jerry Falwell's Old Time Gospel Hour, a television show that accounted for $13 million in bonds issued via an AMI subsidiary. Falwell, who has not been charged with any wrongdoing, promised to return "100% of principal" to investors...
...charges brought last week by the Securities and Exchange Commission against investors Martin Revson and Edward Downe Jr. and others accused of making at least $13 million on inside information -- most of the trades by corporate officers are technically legal and carried out with the full knowledge of the SEC. But a recent spate of dubious transactions by corporate higher-ups has investors crying foul. Says Morris Levy, a Long Island, N.Y., securities attorney: "Shareholders are being blindsided by corporate insiders because the SEC is turning a blind eye and letting them run wild with impunity...
Like outside investors, corporate insiders are barred by securities laws from trading on information, such as earnings results and product announcements, before it is publicly released. To guard against abuses, top officers are subject to special regulation. They must, for example, report each of their trades to the SEC by the 10th of the following month. And they are subject to stiff fines and penalties for late filings...
Still, improper trades by corporate insiders are hard to police. Poor record keeping and lax enforcement by the SEC, for example, have typically made such cases difficult to detect and prosecute. Unless there is unshakable evidence to the contrary, insiders can easily explain away questionable deals as simply being fortuitous. And often even the most flagrant-appearing trades can fall within legal bounds. The Bioscience transactions, now challenged by shareholders as improper, apparently satisfied SEC guidelines. Explains Robert Gabele, president of Invest/Net, a Fort Lauderdale research firm that tracks insider trades: "Many corporate insider trades are not illegal, just unethical...