Companies and their individual executives are the frequent targets of aggressive government enforcement under the far-reaching tools provided by federal securities laws. At MNR, we utilize our trial-ready skills and substantial experience to navigate our clients through the thicket of securities enforcement. Our team has extensive experience in defending a wide range of traditional and more novel SEC cases, including allegations pertaining to stock price manipulation, market timing, accounting and disclosure fraud, revenue recognition, Ponzi schemes, insider trading, spoofing, options backdating, and the misappropriation of corporate assets.

MNR Recent Cases:

• SEC v. Par Funding: Representation of Par Funding’s Head of Investor Relations (20-cv-81250). Prior to the SEC action, Par was one of the nation’s largest merchant cash advance businesses. The SEC moved ex parte to place the company in receivership and has raised allegations of improper registration and disclosure related to private note offerings that raised hundreds of millions of dollars from private placement funds and individuals.

• SEC v. 1 Global Capital LLC: Representation of Carl Ruderman, the former chairman and CEO of 1 Global Capital, LLC (18-cv-61991). Prior to its bankruptcy, 1 Global was one of the nation’s largest merchant cash advance businesses. The SEC complaint alleged securities offering fraud and misappropriation of corporate assets violations. The SEC action sought more than $250 million in disgorgement and penalties. MNR secured a consent judgment, with no admissions of liability, for disgorgement and penalty amounts below a total of $33 million dollars.

• SEC v. Woodbridge Financial: Representation of an individual relief defendant who was the then-wife of Woodbridge Financial Group’s principal and CEO, Robert Shapiro, and a member of various related LLC entities that received monies from Woodbridge entities at the direction of her husband (17-cv-24624). The SEC charged that Mr. Shapiro orchestrated a $1.2 billion dollar retail investment Ponzi scheme and misappropriated corporate assets and investor funds to LLCS that he controlled. Mr. Shapiro and the company ultimately were ordered to pay more than one billion dollars in disgorgement and financial penalties. MNR successfully obtained a consent judgment for Shapiro’s wife, with no admissions of liability, for disgorgement and penalty amounts totaling $100,000.

• SEC v. Estate of David Brooks: Representation of the estate of David Brooks, the former CEO of Point Blank Solutions, in a $200 million securities fraud enforcement action brought in conjunction with parallel criminal, civil forfeiture and corporate bankruptcy proceedings in New York and Delaware. MNR secured a global settlement for the client (and Mr. Brook’s surviving spouse and children) that netted them more than $25 million dollars of previously-restrained assets held by the U.S. government as part of the prior criminal proceedings against Mr. Brooks for insider trading and securities fraud. The case also involved litigation of then-novel claims concerning the scope of the SEC’s disgorgement remedies in the wake of Kokesh v. SEC.   

• SEC v. Levin: Representation of George Levin, a successful entrepreneur who operated the largest “feeder” fund which invested in attorney Scott Rothstein’s notorious $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme. After trial, MNR obtained a significantly reduced penalty for the client, and on appeal obtained a reversal of liability on an issue of first impression concerning the “safe harbor” regulatory exemption for the registration of securities. SEC v. Levin, No. 15-14375 (11th Cir.).

• Successful representation of a former CFO of a large publicly-traded entertainment corporation where MNR convinced the SEC and DOJ to not charge its client related to alleged misstatements in the Company’s corporate filings.

• Successful representation of the CFO of a large publicly-traded e-commerce corporation where MNR convinced the SEC and DOJ to not charge its client related to alleged misstatements and improper revenue recognition in the Company’s corporate filings as well as “books and records” violations.

• Successful representation of the CEO of a New York investment firm in response to a SEC investigation into allegations of insider trading. No charges were pursued after a Wells submission was made by the defense team.

• Successful representation of a former city manager in a SEC investigation into alleged 10b-5 violations of securities laws related to city bond offerings and other financial filings. No charges were pursued after a Wells submission was made by the defense team.

• Successful representation of a hedge fund CEO concerning alleged securities violations in several private placement offerings. No charges ultimately were brought by the SEC.

• Successful representation of a former CFO for a private financial firm concerning alleged securities violations in several private placement offerings. Ultimately, no charges were brought by the SEC.

• Pool counsel representation for wealth managers and supervisors of a large U.S. financial services corporation in an SEC investigation into various sales and referral practices with respect to banking, brokerage, and wealth management services.

• SEC v. Huff: Representation of the former CEO of Globetech, a publicly-traded company, in an SEC action concerning “pump and dump” and market manipulation allegations through misleading financial reporting. The case ultimately was settled with no admission of wrongdoing.

We represent shareholders, investors, officers, directors and companies in class action and shareholder derivative suits. We employ our experience on both the plaintiff’s and defense side to litigate to our clients’ advantage aggressively and creatively.

MNR Recent Cases:

• Gelt Trading v. Co-Diagnostics (20-Cv-00368): Lead plaintiff’s counsel for a class of stock shareholders who purchased stock in a diagnostic company trading on NASDAQ that trumpeted its Covid-19 diagnostic testing through false and misleading public announcements. The case is being litigated in federal district court in Utah.

• 1 Global Capital: Representation of Carl Ruderman, the former CEO/Chairman of 1 Global Capital, LLC, which prior to bankruptcy was one of the nation’s largest merchant cash advance businesses, in several class action and shareholder derivative lawsuits.

• Culverhouse v. Bearden: Representation of several officers of a publicly-trade data management corporation in a shareholder derivative lawsuit. Following briefing on our motion to dismiss, the lawsuit was resolved out of court.

• Holotrack Ventures v. Pulse Evolution: Representation of Pulse Evolution, a start-up company, and its directors and officers in a shareholder derivative lawsuit brought by investors alleging fraud, misappropriation, and conversion, among other things. The lawsuit was resolved favorably out of court.

Companies and their individual executives are the frequent targets of aggressive government enforcement under the far-reaching tools provided by federal securities laws. At MNR, we utilize our trial-ready skills and substantial experience to navigate our clients through the thicket of securities enforcement. Our team has extensive experience in defending a wide range of traditional and more novel cases brought by the DOJ and SEC, including allegations pertaining to stock price manipulation, market timing, accounting and disclosure fraud, revenue recognition, Ponzi schemes, insider trading, spoofing, options backdating, and the misappropriation of corporate assets.

MNR Recent Cases:

• Woodbridge Financial: Representation of Jeri Shapiro, the wife of Woodbridge Financial Group’s principal and CEO, Robert Shapiro, in related DOJ and SEC parallel proceedings, in which we secured a binding criminal non-prosecution agreement for her in 2019 from the DOJ. Federal authorities alleged that Woodbridge defrauded thousands of investors in an $3 billion dollar Ponzi scheme that marketed real estate investment products. Ms. Shapiro was the nominee owner of several closely-held companies that received tens of millions of dollars at the direction of her husband, who ultimately pled guilty and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. We also resolved all related SEC charges against Ms. Shapiro with no finding or admission of wrongdoing and a fully-satisfied disgorgement judgment of $100,000 dollars.

• Successful representation of a former CFO of a large publicly-traded entertainment corporation where MNR convinced the SEC and DOJ to not charge its client related to alleged misstatements in the Company’s corporate filings.

• Successful representation of the CFO of a large publicly-traded e-commerce corporation where MNR convinced the SEC and DOJ to not charge its client related to alleged misstatements and improper revenue recognition in the Company’s corporate filings as well as “books and records” violations.

• Par Funding: Representation of Par Funding’s Head of Investor Relations (20-cv-81250). Prior to the SEC action, Par was one of the nation’s largest merchant cash advance businesses. The SEC moved ex parteto place the company in receivership and has raised allegations of improper registration and disclosure related to private note offerings that raised hundreds of millions of dollars from private placement funds and individuals. The court-appointed receiver also has described the business as a Ponzi scheme.

• 1 Global Capital LLC: Representation of Carl Ruderman, the former chairman and CEO of 1 Global Capital, LLC (18-cv-61991). Prior to its bankruptcy, 1 Global was one of the nation’s largest merchant cash advance businesses. The SEC complaint alleged securities offering fraud and misappropriation of corporate assets violations. The SEC action sought more than $250 million in disgorgement and penalties. MNR secured a consent judgment, with no admissions of liability, for disgorgement and penalty amounts below a total of $33 million dollars.

• SEC v. Levin: Representation of George Levin, a successful entrepreneur who operated the largest “feeder” fund which invested in attorney Scott Rothstein’s notorious $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme.  Mr. Levin was not charged criminally by the DOJ after a lengthy investigation that resulted in charges being filed against more than 15 individuals. MNR also represented Mr. Levin in a related SEC proceeding and obtained a significantly reduced penalty for the client after a  successful appeal in which we obtained a partial reversal of liability on an issue of first impression concerning the “safe harbor” regulatory exemption for the registration of securities. SEC v. Levin, No. 15-14375 (11th Cir.).

• Successful representation of the CEO of a New York investment firm in response to a SEC investigation into allegations of insider trading. No charges were pursued after a Wells submission was made by the defense team.

• Successful representation of a hedge fund CEO concerning alleged securities violations in several private placement offerings. No charges ultimately were brought by the DOJ/SEC.

• Successful representation of a former CFO for a private financial firm concerning alleged securities violations in several private placement offerings. No charges ultimately were brought by the DOJ/SEC.

• Pool counsel representation for wealth managers and supervisors of a large U.S. financial services corporation in an SEC investigation into various sales and referral practices with respect to banking, brokerage, and wealth management services.