U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Bankrupt Dallas Billionaire Sam Wyly Can't Possibly Make Ends Meet on $120,000 Per Year

Erstwhile billionaire/current Dallasite Sam Wyly has fallen on hard times. The serial entrepreneur, who with his late brother Charles founded Green Mountain Energy and turned Michael's into a $1.6 billion craft-store empire, was recently dinged for around $300 million for illegally hiding financial ... More >>

Mark Cuban Tees Off on SEC After Insider-Trading Victory

After five years of litigation and a three-week trial, it took a jury all of a couple of hours to decide that, contrary to the Securities and Exchange Commission, there was no evidence that Mark Cuban was guilty of insider trading. Outside the courthouse, a newly vindicated Cuban briefed a gaggle o ... More >>

SEC Charges a McKinney Man with Running a Bitcoin Ponzi Scheme

Bitcoin, the decentralized online virtual currency, just hit a milestone of monetary street cred: It's allegedly been used in a Ponzi scheme. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that it has charged Trendon T. Shavers of McKinney for defrauding investors in his Bitcoin compan ... More >>

Federal Judge Won't Toss Insider Trading Case Against Mavs Owner Mark Cuban

The now-five-year old insider-trading beef against mercurial Dallas Mavs owner Mark Cuban isn't going away anytime soon. Chief Judge Sidney Fitzwater rejected Tuesday a motion to dismiss the federal case against him, which alleges Cuban dumped his stock in an Internet search engine after getting tip ... More >>

The SEC Says a Dallas Investor Screwed Over Her Church in a $2.3 Million Ponzi Scheme

The way she tells it on her website, Delsa Thomas decided to launch her own investment firm after Citi Smith Barney, where she worked, merged with Morgan Stanley. She left in February 2011, taking a decade's worth of experience as a stockbroker and financial advisor to her new outfit, The D. Christo ... More >>

Feds Say Brothers Conned Millions from Trinity Christian Academy Teachers and Parents

There are few certainties in life, but this is one of them: If a person offers you a thousand percent return on an investment, you have on your hands a scam. And there's about a thousand percent chance someone will end up in court. Yet two brothers, Terry Wiese of Little Elm and Scott Wiese of Tem ... More >>

Alan Todd May -- Once a Fugitive, Always a Con Man -- Gets 20 Years For Ripping Off Investors

​For the past three decades -- on and off, but mostly on -- there was no swindle too small-time for Alan Todd May. Credit card abuse, theft, check fraud -- however he could make an easy, sleazy buck, May did what he could wherever he could to whomever he met. One day, perhaps, someone will make a ... More >>

Restaurant Websites That Make You NOT Want To Eat

You've seen this guy, right? Peanut butter jelly time is the number one indicator of poor website design. Sparkling mouse trailers, glimmering lights, dancing bananas -- these are the hallmarks of your 13-year-old daughter's MySpace page. Poorly chosen music played in a loop, excessive flash and clu ... More >>

What Did SEC Learn After Failing to Take Down Stanford Earlier? Um, It Did the Best It Could?

Spencer Barasch​We mentioned this morning that Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro was in town speaking to business journalists gathered on the SMU campus. Turns out, during her speech she mentioned something that rings a bell: The failure of the Fort Worth office to shut dow ... More >>

In Dallas Federal Court, Those Swindled by Allen Stanford Sue SEC For Failing to Stop Him

R. Allen Stanford​Spencer Barasch is a partner at the downtown Dallas law firm Andrews Kurth, where he is in charge of the corporate governance and securities enforcement team. But before that, and for close to 20 years, he worked for the Fort Worth office of the Securities and Exchange Commission ... More >>

This Week Online: Superfood are Spawning, Spaghetti is Good and More

​This week in the blogosphere, we learned eaters prefer spaghetti to pineapples and how to satisfy the growing numbers of Hispanic wine drinkers. Besides that, it's time for superfood to spawn and vegan burgers to rise above "decent." Read on. City of Ate Like so many other of its patrons, Ha ... More >>

A Year After Dallas Federal Judge Booted SEC's Case Against Mark Cuban, It Lives Again

Sam Merten​In July 2009, U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater dismissed the Securities and Exchange Commission's complaint that Mark Cuban violated insider-trading laws when, in 2004, he sold off $750,000 in Mamma.com stock. Cuban, of course, poo-poohed the claim when originally brought by the SEC ... More >>

SEC Says Sam, Charles Wyly Illegally Pocketed $550 Million Over the Last 13 Years

​The Securities and Exchange Commission just sent word: In New York federal court today it filed a 78-page complaint charging Sam and Charles Wyly with violating federal securities laws over the last 13 years, during which the SEC alleges the Dallas brothers pocketed more than $550 million in "und ... More >>

Yo, Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes. Niko Celentano of the Bronx Would Like a Word. And An Emergency Shareholders Meeting.

​One week ago today I received an e-mail from a "large stockholder" in Blockbuster -- a gentleman high on the movie-studio food chain, as a matter of fact. He copied me on a missive he sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission in which he asked what in the wide, wide world of sports he could ... More >>

Alan Todd May, Who Feds Say Ran Ponzi Scheme From Downtown, Caught in S.F.

Some of the very generic imagery featured on Alan Todd May's company's Web site​Alan Todd May spent the better part of 1983 to 2002 in and out of prison, having been arrested for such things as credit card abuse, check fraud, theft ... well, you name the hustle, he hustled it. There were 14 convic ... More >>

Biz Briefs: Judge Allows Cuban to Go After Feds; Gulfstream Breaks One Love Field Lease

​Back in July, U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater told the Securities and Exchange Commission that, sorry, but its complaint against Mark Cuban was getting tossed. The SEC, of course, accused the Mavs owner of violating insider-trading laws in 2004 by selling off $750,000 in Mamma.com stock; Fit ... More >>

No Justice: We've Bailed Out the Banks. When Do We Go After the Crooks Behind Our Financial Collapse?

Tom Hicks's Acquisitions Venture Tries One More Time to Acquire Something

​Tom Hicks has been all kinds of busy making deals; alas, none of 'em Rangers-related. Instead, it's his publicly traded investment company, Hicks Acquisitions, making news this week, as once more he tries to keep the venture from being delisted by the New York Stock Exchange, which threatened to ... More >>

U.S. District Judge Fitzwater Dismisses SEC's Insider Trading Case Against Mark Cuban

This morning, U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater dismissed the Securities and Exchange Commission's complaint that Mark Cuban violated insider-trading laws in 2004, when he sold off $750,000 in Mamma.com stock. Why the heave-ho? You know what, just read the judge's opinion and order for yourself, ... More >>

SEC Accuses Two Dallas "Oil and Gas" Men of Luring Investors Down a Dry Hole

Late last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission went to Dallas federal court to accuse 62-year-old Harmut Theodor Rose and 47-year-old James Patrick Reedy of swindling about 300 folks out of at least $10 million. According to the complaint, from August 2003 to August '05, Rose and Reedy ran a ... More >>

SEC Says Texas Financier Sir Allen Stanford Swindled Investors Out of Billions.

It didn't have to happen.

Risk Factors: In Today's SEC Filing, Blockbuster Lists Every Possible Threat

Dallas-based Blockbuster finally filed its annual report with the Securities and Exchange Commission today, reporting, yet again, a net loss of $374.1 million even while same-store revenues increased nearly 4 percent. But, as expected, the video- and game-rental company also warned investors that if ... More >>

Re: FYI, Read This ASAP. OMG!

The following is a prime example of my curse here on Earth. A fleeting thought sprouts into a mild observation, only to bloom into a thesis that eventually flourishes into a blog item with sports branches. My apologies ... Got a text the other day, the salutation of which was LOL. It ... More >>

In Dallas Federal Court, SEC Alleges Allen Stanford's Houston-Based Financial Firm Is Involved in "Massive, Ongoing Fraud"

Various news accounts in recent days have portrayed fifth-generation Texan Robert Allen Stanford, whose Stanford Financial Group is based in Houston, as the second coming of Bernie Madoff. Which is why the Securities and Exchange Commission today filed this complaint against Stanford in Dallas feder ... More >>

SEC Claims Cuban Engaged in Insider Trading in '04

From the Securities and Exchange Commission this morning: "The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it filed insider trading charges today against Dallas entrepreneur Mark Cuban in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas." The suit -- which can be read in its entirety ... More >>

Dallas Mavericks' Owner Mark Cuban Charged With Insider Trading

Uh-oh. Breaking news this morning that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Mavs' owner Mark Cuban with insider trading, stemming from a 2004 sale of stock in an Internet company. Me? I dunno the diff between "insider trading" and a "hot stock tip", but I do this ain't goo ... More >>

Bomb Detector: SEC Goes After Irving-Based Maker of Stinker Sniffex

Does this device look like it could sniff out "more than 90% of the explosives used worldwide"? Looks like the Securities Exchange Commission has finally sniffed out the stink bomb called Sniffex, a worthless and utterly useless product being sold by Irving-based Homeland Safety International in ord ... More >>

The Feds Are Not Going After Belo For Phony Circulation Numbers

The Securities and Exchange Commission is letting Belo Corp. off the hook concerning those inflated circulation numbers three years ago. Courtesy Editor & Publisher, that info can be found in Belo's SEC filing yesterday, in which it says: In 2004, the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission ... More >>

Belo Corp. Now a Split Personality

Well, you can't say you didn't see it coming. Exactly four months after Citigroup analyst Eileen Furukawa upgraded Belo Corp.'s stock from "hold" to "buy" based on the value of company's TV properties alone, The Dallas Morning News and WFAA-TV's parent company announced, yup, it's separating its new ... More >>

Local Energy Company Giving the SEC a Bad Case o' Gas

Terax Energy, an oil and gas production and exploration company based out of One Galleria Tower, is having major troubs with the Security and Exchange Commission, which today suspended trading of the company's securities. The ban's expected to last two weeks, at least, during which time the SEC will ... More >>

Home Solutions Apparently Needs Some New Solutions, Pronto

The New York Post is reporting this morning that Home Solutions of America, which is HQ'd on Dragon Street, is in considerable trouble with the government and a major stock market. Turns out that HSA -- which has "big plans for the New York real-estate market," reports the paper -- is being investig ... More >>

Bye, Bye, Bio Willie

In April, Willie Nelson resigned from Earth Biofuels' Advisory Board of Directors. He's now using his remaining shares of stock as rolling papers. Here's some exclusive breaking news; take that, Forbes. The magazine's been all over the problems at Dallas-based Earth Biofuels, for which we're ever so ... More >>

The Kornman Falleth

So much for that big Gary Kornman trial we were all awaiting: Unfair Park has learned that yesterday, the Dallas attorney appeared in United State District Judge Jorge Solis' courtroom, two years after the feds indicted him on four counts of securities fraud and lying to the Securities and Exchange ... More >>

Greg Brady Owes SEC $8.3 Million, But Still Gets To Keep Room in Attic

Frankly, I don't have the time or the smarts to thoroughly explain what Dallas-based i2 Technologies Inc. is or what happened to its former chief executive officer, Gregory Brady. For the former, all you need to do is go to the company's Web site, where you'll find the company describes itself as a ... More >>

Red light, Green light

Things get gray when it comes to green

Got Half a Billion ACS Can Borrow? Like, Now?

It's only a Friday, but it feels like Christmas morning. First the movie version of Dallas takes a header, now comes word that Affiliated Computer Services Inc.'s lendor wants its money back--pronto. How much? Maybe as much as $500 million. According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commi ... More >>

Whose Default Is It, Anyway?

Almost two weeks ago, Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. got the contract with the city of Dallas to provide some red-light cameras; the deal's worth $13.29 million bucks over five years. On the same day the announcement was made, ACS also announced it would not be able to file on time ... More >>

The Backdating Scene

I've been fairly--or is that Unfairly?--obsessed with the backdating scandal at Afflilated Computer Services Inc., which is being investigated by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission for giving stock options to its top execs and dating them just before those stocks ex ... More >>

The ABCs of ACS Lawsuits

The Backdating Scene

Clean Your PIPEs

So, just got off the phone with a spokesman for the Securities and Exchange Commission about this story from today's New York Post. Turns out I was one of two reporters to bug the dude in D.C. today; the other was from Reuters. We wanted to know the same thing: Is, as the Post reported, Dallas-based ... More >>

Stalking the Kornman

Hate to say it, but till this morning, I had never heard of Gary M. Kornman, a Dallas attorney awaiting trial in federal court here after pleading not guilty to criminal charges of securities fraud and lying to the Securities and Exchange Commission. There are also others waiting in line behind the ... More >>

Day trippin'

Dallas' little fish swim with the Wall Street sharks at an online trading house

Boomer bust

In the rockin' '80s, Bill Brosseau's sexy success story put his face in Money and Cosmopolitan. Times and fortunes change. Now he's a broke former cocaine addict facing a stint in federal prison.

Darling, you smell

Local company accused of dumping animal carcasses in Minnesota stream

God and mammon

Kathy and Richard Kingsmore seemed like such nice church folk. But the Feds say their greed trumped their gospel.

Hot Product

World-class embezzler Gary Lewellyn rebounds with a fast-selling treatment for A.D.D.

BeloWatch

Letters

It's the stock price, stupid!

High-flying Danny Wettreich has shut down companies, destroyed jobs, and drawn the scrutiny of two federal agencies, But he says it's what the stock market thinks of him that counts.