All information in this report was compiled from public records maintained by the SEC.
Aggravated Unregistered Sales for Gain
Vincent J. Caputo, 55, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Sept. 18, entered into an SEC offer of settlement for selling shares of a microcap company without being registered as a broker-dealer.
From July 2018 through April 2019, Caputo acted as an unregistered broker, offering and selling penny stock securities of MediXall Group, the SEC reports. He solicited dozens of investors nationwide and sold over $500,000 of MediXall stock. Caputo also advised investors on the merit of the investments, provided offering materials, and told them how and where to send payments, receiving about $25,000 for his sales of the stock.
Additionally, from 1992 until 2000, Caputo was associated with and worked for introducing brokers registered with the Community Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the National Futures Association (NFA). In 1994 and 1995, the NFA charged him with fraud and deceptive sales practices, and he was temporarily barred from NFA membership for one year and six months, respectively.
Caputo is barred from association with any broker, investment adviser, municipal advisor, transfer agent, dealer, municipal securities dealer, or statistical rating organization and from offering penny stocks.
Unregistered Sale of Penny Stocks
Nancy Williams, 63, of Monterey Park, California, on Sept. 27, entered into an SEC offer of settlement for acting as an unregistered broker in selling penny stocks.
From about 2016 to 2022, Williams worked for Pebblekick, a California corporation and identically named Nevada corporation. From at least January 2018 through March 2021, Pebblekick raised over $17 million from equity and promissory note investors by making Ponzi-like payments. Williams acted as an unregistered broker, selling these securities to investors.
Further, Pebblekick did not register its offers or sales of securities with the SEC.
Williams is barred from associating with any broker, investment adviser, municipal advisor, transfer agent, dealer, municipal securities dealer, or statistical rating organization and from offering penny stocks.
Securities Fraud Targeting the Vietnamese-American Community
Nathan N. Nguyen, 36, of Anaheim, California, on Sept. 29, entered into an SEC offer of settlement for fraud.
Nguyen controlled the Nguyen Group, a California limited liability company he used to participate in offering MSI Series 1 investment interests to investors through classes he promoted. This money was allegedly used by Brian Lam and his company, NineSquare Captial Partners, in a fraud involving the unregistered offer and sale of securities.
From March 2020 to Jan. 2022, Lam and NineSquare Capital Partners targeted the Vietnamese-American community in an $11.7 million offering fraud. Nguyen and the Nguyen Group raised money through his Money Smarts promoted on Nguyen’s website. Lam used proceeds from this fraud to partially pay for luxury homes purchased in the name of others, including Nguyen’s wife, Thy Stacy Nguyen.
Nguyen is barred from associating with any broker, investment adviser, municipal advisor, transfer agent, dealer, municipal securities dealer, or statistical rating organization and from offering penny stocks.
Cherry-Picking Scheme
Douglas MacWright, 67, of Short Hills, New Jersey, on Sept. 29, entered into an SEC offer of settlement for fraud.
From 1996 until Sept. 2023, MacWright was an investment adviser representative and owner of Highland Capital Management (HCM), an investment adviser registered with the SEC. From 1990 to Sept. 2023, he was also a registered representative and owner of Highland’s affiliated registered broker-dealer.
From at least April 22, 2015, through June 30, 2022, MacWright engaged in an allegedly fraudulent “cherry-picking” scheme. He disproportionately allocated profitable first-day trades from an average price account to the account of a private entity owned by McWright, his relatives, and others he owns or controls, and unprofitable trades from an average price account to HCM client accounts and an affiliated broker, to the detriment of his clients. As a result, McWright enjoyed ill-gotten gains of more than $1.1 million for this scheme, according to the SEC.
MacWright was ordered to pay $1,118,718 in disgorgement, $253,903 in prejudgment interest, and a $400,000 civil penalty, and HCM was ordered to pay a $150,000 civil penalty. MacWright is also barred from associating with any broker, investment adviser, municipal advisor, transfer agent, dealer, municipal securities dealer, or statistical rating organization and from offering penny stocks.