A former advisor cherry-picked trades, favoring private accounts held by himself and his spouse to the detriment of purchasers, in keeping with the Securities and Trade Fee.
The fee charged Spartanburg, S.C.-based Eric Cobb with allegedly defrauding purchasers whereas he was a consultant at SeaCrest Wealth Administration, positioned in Buy, N.Y. The SEC additionally settled prices towards the agency.
“The enforcement motion towards SeaCrest demonstrates the significance of decentralized companies having strong compliance oversight with regard to workers who could also be positioned elsewhere,” SEC New York Regional Workplace Affiliate Regional Director Sheldon Pollock stated.
In line with SEC information, Cobb first registered with Merrill Lynch in 1996, the place he stayed for 11 years. Following a five-year stint at Morgan Stanley, he registered with Raymond James for almost two years earlier than he was fired in Feb. 2016 for “violation of agency coverage and FINRA guidelines associated to communications with the general public.” He started working with SeaCrest shortly after that.
Throughout his time at SeaCrest, Cobb used an combination or “block” account for purchasers to commerce greater than 86% of the roughly $55.3 million he invested in his accounts and consumer accounts, however he’d usually wait one to 2 days following the b/d’s commerce execution earlier than allocating the trades from the mixture account into consumer accounts.
“On this means, Cobb created for himself the chance to see whether or not the trades he positioned had been worthwhile or unprofitable, as of the time he allotted these trades between the Cobb accounts and consumer accounts,” the criticism learn.
Cobb would then disproportionately assign worthwhile trades to his personal account whereas putting much less worthwhile trades in purchasers’ accounts, in keeping with the fee.
Of the 194 trades Cobb allotted to accounts held by both himself or his spouse, 147 had been worthwhile on the time they had been allotted (above 75%), whereas of the 5,537 trades allotted to consumer accounts, solely 2,378 had been worthwhile (about 43%). Cobb focused on leveraged ETFs and securities involving the valuable metals and mining industries to allegedly enhance his income.
“The volatility of those securities maximized Cobb’s alternative to seize fast income between the time trades had been executed and the delayed time he selected to allocate them between the Cobb accounts and the consumer accounts,” the criticism learn.
In line with the fee, the scheme netted him about $170,110 in income. The SEC claimed Cobb was notified in Might 2020 that the agency’s b/d and SeaCrest’s chief compliance officer had been “involved” he was cherry-picking trades due to his late allocations. Cobb considerably slowed down the scheme after turning into conscious his trades had been beneath scrutiny, in keeping with the criticism.
In line with the fee, the CCO confronted Cobb on Might 4 by phone concerning the b/d’s considerations, and Cobb denied that he was cherry-picking or “in any other case disfavoring” purchasers.
In a later letter, Cobb acknowledged he had delayed allocating trades however stated he “by no means deliberately put any of my purchasers at an obstacle.”
Nonetheless, by 2022, SeaCrest determined to chop its ties and terminate Cobb’s affiliation with the agency due to considerations that he was cherry-picking trades, in keeping with the fee.
As a part of the SEC’s investigation, the SEC went to courtroom earlier this yr to compel Cobb to adjust to a subpoena, together with producing paperwork and testimony. The fee is in search of a everlasting injunction towards Cobb and civil penalties.
The SEC’s settlement with SeaCrest discovered the agency “willfully violated” antifraud and recordkeeping provisions of securities legal guidelines whereas failing to oversee Cobb. The agency didn’t admit or deny the findings however agreed to pay $375,000 to settle the fees. Neither Cobb nor SeaCrest could possibly be reached for remark previous to publication.
