Criminal Securities Fraud Cases Including Startup Company Charged in $48M Fraud

Originally published by P. Clarkson Collins Jr..

Jury Convicts Investment Manager for Defrauding Lenders and Clients
A federal jury has convicted Shawn Baldwin, a Chicago investment manager, on seven counts of wire fraud. Baldwin is accused of fraudulently obtaining over $10M from at least 15 investors and lenders between 2006 and 2017. They thought that their money would go into investment products. Instead, he spent their money on his own personal bills. Meantime, his victims were given fake account statements with false information about their funds’ value so he could hide the fraud.

Individual and corporate lenders were among those that gave Baldwin their money to invest. He is accused of “exaggerating” his successful track record and professional ties, as well as mispresenting and minimizing past disciplinary action brought against him, including the revocation of his certifications with FINRA and that in 2013, the State of Illinois permanently barred Baldwin from offering investment advice or selling securities.

Alleged Multimillion Dollar Fraud Involving Start-Up Leads to Criminal Charges
Michael Liberty and Paul Hess have been indicted for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud, and multiple counts of wire fraud over their alleged involvement in a multimillion-dollar scam that defrauded investors. Liberty is also charged with multiple counts of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

According to prosecutors for the US Attorney’s Office in the District of Maine, in 2010, Hess and Liberty started soliciting investments in a privately held financial tech start-up called Mozido. They raised millions of dollars from investors who were told that their money would go toward business operations. Instead, a huge chunk of their money was diverted to cover Liberty’s’ personal spending. Hess earned commissions and other money for raising funds from investors.

The criminal case comes nearly a year after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed civil charges against Liberty, who founded Mozido, Hess, and others in the alleged $48M fraud that sought to get hundreds of investors to invest in his shell companies instead of the tech firm. Their money also allegedly went to his lavish lifestyle that included luxury homes, private jets, and other costs.

Barclays Forex Trader on Trial Is Accused of Defrauding Hewlett Packard of Millions of Dollars
Robert Bogucki, an ex-Barclays (BARC) foreign exchange trader is on trial for wire fraud. He is accused of being part of a front running scheme that allegedly deprived Hewlett Packard of millions of dollars in an $8B transaction related to its acquisition of Autonomy Corp. in 2011. Bogucki was head of the bank’s forex trading desk in New York at the time.

Hewlett-Packard had sold $7.9B in cable options to help pay for the acquisition. HP then turned to Barclays to sell the position. It was then that Bogucki allegedly inflated the forex options market so that the bank would make money off the deal. He is accused of working to rig forex options ahead of the trade and violating confidentiality agreements so that he could “manipulate the price of ‘volatility.’” The latter is a metric that impacts the value of forex options.

Bogucki’s defense attorney is arguing that Hewlett Packard’s financial losses occurred because of its own actions, including notifying other banks that it wanted better forex prices and not keeping the Autonomy acquisition confidential. Because of that, he contends, a number of banks knew about the impending buy. This compelled them to trade options, which then impacted the forex options market.

Even if the person or company or financial firm that defrauded you faces civil or criminal charges, this does not necessarily mean you will recover your investor fraud losses. That’s where an experienced investor fraud law firm can help you. Contact Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas, LLP (SSEK Law Firm) today for a free, no obligation consultation for your case.

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