Court Denies Motion to Reconsider Summary Judgment Against June Fujinaga

On March 4, 2016, the Honorable James C. Mahan, United States District Judge for the District of Nevada, entered an order denying a motion for reconsideration of the final judgment filed by relief defendants June Fujinaga and her… Read More

Court Approves Summary Judgment Against Stewart Merkin

On January 13, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed entry of summary judgment in favor of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on its claims of securities fraud against defendant Stewart Merkin… Read More

Cry Me a Sater…Felix Sater & Donald Trump

  In February 2015, Felix Sater proudly announced the debut of a new website.  As he puts it, it “showcases [his] accomplishments, contributions, musings, and availability.”  Though Sater describes himself as a veteran of the commercial real estate… Read More

Zhichen Zhou and Yannan Liu Charged with Insider Trading

On November 10, 2015 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced insider trading charges and an emergency asset freeze against cousins Zhichen Zhou and Yannan Liu. The SEC alleged that the Defendants traded in advance of the acquisition of… Read More

FINRA Expels Halcyon Cabot Partners

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced today that it has expelled Halcyon Cabot Partners, Ltd., and barred Chief Executive Officer Michael Morris and Chief Compliance Officer Ronald Heineman from the securities industry, for securities fraud, sales practice… Read More

Aegis Capital Corporation fined $950,000 By FINRA

Aegis Capital Corporation has been fined $950,000 by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority over allegations of improper sales of unregistered penny stocks of five issuers and anti-money laundering supervisory failures. As a result, Aegis is also required to… Read More

Disclosure Obligations in Regulation A+ Offerings

The Anti-Fraud Provisions And  Regulation A+  On March 25, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted final rules amending Regulation A. The new rules are often referred to as Regulation A+. These rules are designed to facilitate smaller companies’ access to… Read More

Regulation A+ Adds Two New Bad Actor Disqualification Triggers

The final Regulation A+ rules amend Rule 262 to include bad actor disqualification provisions as adopted under Rule 506(d) of Regulation D.  Consistent with the disqualification provisions of Rule 506(d), the final rules add two additional disqualification triggers… Read More

A Tale of Two Stings: The Amogear and CitySide Reverse Merger

Down the Rabbit Hole We Go Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts charged against five individuals whose attempt to manipulate shares of Amogear Inc. was caught in an… Read More

Brenda Hamilton Featured By Intuit About Direct Public Offerings and Going Public

Intuit Inc., a provider of small business software solutions, including QuickBooks, tackles accounting, taxes, budgets, and personal finances with TurboTax. Quicken featured an interview with  Securities Attorney Brenda Hamilton.* Brenda Hamilton practices Securities Law focusing on Direct Public Offerings… Read More

Bad Actor Waivers- Regulation A+ – Rule 506 – Going Public

On March 13, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) provided guidance addressing waivers of disqualification for bad actors under Regulation A and Rules 505 and 506 of Regulation D of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. A waiver… Read More

Does FINRA Approve Going Public Transactions? Going Public Attorneys

By The Going Public Attorneys – The Financial Institution Regulatory Authority (FINRA) plays an important role in going public transactions.  While filing a registration statement on Form S-1 will make a company reporting with the Securities and Exchange… Read More

Can I Afford To Go Public on the OTCQB? – Going Public Lawyer

Going public requirements vary for companies seeking to go public on the OTC Markets, OTC Pink, and OTCQB marketplace.  The biggest difference is that most of the time (but not always) companies who go public on the OTCQB… Read More

Medbox & The License to Swindle – Peter Berney Shells

Down the Rabbit Hole We Go We were recently asked to review a penny stock company called Medbox Inc. (MDBX).  The Medbox story has been of considerable interest over the past two years, for the most part because… Read More

Six Years Later – U.S. v Ross Mandell

In July 2009, Ross Mandell, founder of Sky Capital Holdings, Ltd., a venture capital firm and brokerage, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and charged with violating the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.  According to the… Read More

The Going Public Lawyer’s Dictionary

The Going Public Lawyer’s Dictionary was created to assist companies to become familiar with certain terms they will encounter during their going public transaction.  It is crucial that you understand and can speak the going public lingo!

Operator of a Ponzi Scheme Uses Proceeds to Cryogenically Freeze Wife

Ponzi schemes are nothing new, but unwary investors continue to fall for them, lured by the prospect of improbably large returns. Typically, the scammer who runs the ponzi scheme makes few actual investments in the markets; they simply… Read More

Practice Areas – The Going Public Lawyers

Hamilton & Associates Law Group encompasses a wide variety of going public, corporate and securities law specialties, including, among others, continuing forensic analysis of domestic and international financial, stock trading, securities and money laundering transactions, general representation of… Read More

Avon Products Charged with Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Violations

On December 17, 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) charged Avon Products Inc. with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by failing to put controls in place to detect and prevent payments and gifts to… Read More

Zirk Englebrecht Indicted In Reverse Merger Scheme

On September 18, 2014, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced that Izak Sirk De Maison (aka Izak Zirk Engelbrecht, aka Zirk Engelbrecht).   Zirk Englebrecht, a self-described “merchant banker,” devised a scheme and artifice to defraud investors by creating… Read More

Robert Bandfield, Andrew Godfrey and Jim Can Indicted

On September 9, 2014, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York announced a multi-count indictment against six individual defendants: Robert Bandfield, a U.S. citizen; Andrew Godfrey, a citizen of Belize; Kelvin Leach, a citizen of… Read More

Panama and U.S. To Share More Than $36 Million in Forfeitures

Securities Lawyer 101 Blog In October of 2013, Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole and Panamanian Attorney General Ana Belfon signed an agreement to share more than $36 million in government forfeitures of criminal assets with the Government of… Read More

Reefer Madness – More Indicted In Pot Stock Scams

Securities Lawyer 101 Blog On August 5, 2014, the Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington announced criminal charges against Mikhail Galas, Alexander Hawatmeh, and Christopher Mrowca in connection with two heavily touted pot stocks, Growlife and… Read More

Five Charged with Attempted Manipulation of Amogear

Securities Lawyer 101 On July 14, 2014, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation today announced charges against five individuals whose attempt to manipulate shares of Boston-based Amogear Inc. was caught… Read More

Transparency Bootcamp – Custodianship Disclosures In Reverse Mergers

Securities Lawyer 101 Blog Recently custodianship and/or receivership proceedings involving publicly traded companies have been in the spotlight because of the increasing number of fraudsters seeking these appointments so that they can create their own personal inventory of… Read More

U.S. Issues Indictment Against Caribbean Money Laundering Operators

Securities Lawyer 101 Blog Joshua Vandyk, a U.S. citizen, and Eric St-Cyr and Patrick Poulin, Canadian citizens, were indicted for conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, the Department of Justice and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced on March 24,… Read More

Albert Reda Sentenced to 26 Months

Securities Lawyer 101 Blog Albert Reda, the former treasurer and chairman of the board of directors of First Global Financial Corporation, was sentenced for his role in a fraudulent kickback scheme.  After a six-day trial, Reda was convicted… Read More

John Babikian & Awesome Penny Stocks Charged in Scalping Scheme

Securities Lawyer 101 Blog On March 13, 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced fraud charges and an emergency asset freeze against a promoter behind a platform of affiliated microcap stock promotion websites. The SEC alleges that… Read More

George Louis Theodule Sentenced to 150 Months

Securities Lawyer 101 Blog On February 26, 2014, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida and Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced the unsealing of an indictment charging George Louis Theodule, former resident of Wellington, Florida…. Read More

Forensic Attorneys

Forensic Law & Dodd Frank  Since its inception, the Boca Raton, Florida law firm of Hamilton & Associates Law Group, P.A. and its founding Securities Lawyer, Brenda Hamilton has assisted whistleblowers and other clients with forensic analysis of securities… Read More