SEC Charges "Self-Styled" Entrepreneur with Fraudulent Securities Offering

SEC Charges Self-Styled Entrepreneur with Offering Fraud

On December 21, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Diana Mae Fernandez, a former resident of New Jersey most recently living in Serbia, with conducting a $360,000 fraudulent securities offering. Fernandez is currently under arrest in Serbia and awaiting extradition to the United States pursuant to an indictment filed by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of West Virginia.

The SEC’s complaint alleges that, between 2018 and 2020, Fernandez induced investors to participate in the fraudulent securities offering by claiming that she would use their money to invest in, among other things, private and publicly traded companies, crypto assets, and luxury real estate properties, and guaranteeing returns as high as 63 percent. Instead of investing investor funds as promised, Fernandez allegedly used them to pay for her day-to-day living expenses and lavish hotel stays, fund numerous cash withdrawals, and make Ponzi-like payments to earlier investors.

Key Regulatory, Enforcement Practices Drove DC Law Firm Hiring in 2023

Lateral hiring in Washington, D.C., this past year was largely focused on key regulatory and enforcement practices, including antitrust, white collar, government contracts, health care, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act practices, in response to federal government priorities, according to several area legal recruiters.

However, law firms in D.C. showed caution when adding to their head count in 2023 compared to previous years.

“A lot of the economic uncertainty for this year definitely impacted law firms in terms of hiring and lateral movement,” said Louis Ramos, managing director of legal recruiting firm Major, Lindsey & Africa’s Washington, D.C., office. “Law firms and partners thinking about moving were just a lot more deliberate and cautious about it, because they just weren’t sure, especially at the beginning of the year, the first six months, people were just weren’t sure which way the economy was gonna go.”

Lateral partner movement around the nation’s capital in the first three quarters of 2023 saw a 34% decrease in activity during the same period in 2022, according to due diligence provider Decipher, which tracks lateral moves among Am Law 200 and midsize firms.

Terraform, SEC Set for Crypto Trial With Jump Trading in Spotlight

Terraform Labs and the US Securities and Exchange Commission will head to trial next month, with Jump Trading swept up in the mix, after a judge ruled that the SEC’s fraud case against Terraform must be tried by a jury.

US District Judge Jed S. Rakoff ruled in favor of the regulator Thursday, agreeing that Terraform is liable for selling unregistered securities, though he threw out allegations that it had made transactions in unregistered security-based swaps. The civil trial is set to begin on Jan. 29 in Manhattan federal court.

The trial will be a test of the SEC’s aggressive enforcement strategy across the crypto industry….

PBOC Ex-Official Gets Over 16 Years in Jail for Taking Bribes, Leaking State Secrets

Sun Guofeng, former director of the monetary policy department of the People’s Bank of China, has been sentenced to 16 years and six months in prison for accepting bribes, deliberately leaking state secrets, and insider trading.

Sun, 51, who chose not to appeal the verdict handed down by a court in Tianjin on July 27, was also fined CNY13.1 million (USD1.85 million), according to the financial crimes cases announced yesterday by China’s top prosecutor.

Sun took advantage of his position to leak policy information to others from 2002 to 2020 and took CNY21 million (USD2.96 million) in bribes, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate said. From April 2014 to September 2019, he disclosed policy information that was still confidential to the profit of others.