Securities & Exchange Commission v. Ficeto

839 F. Supp. 2d 1101, 2011 WL 7445580, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 150141
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedDecember 20, 2011
DocketCase No. CV 11-1637-GHK (RZx)
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 839 F. Supp. 2d 1101 (Securities & Exchange Commission v. Ficeto) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Securities & Exchange Commission v. Ficeto, 839 F. Supp. 2d 1101, 2011 WL 7445580, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 150141 (C.D. Cal. 2011).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

GEORGE H. KING, District Judge.

This matter is before us on Defendants Todd M. Ficeto, Hunter World Markets, Inc., and Hunter Advisors, LLC’s Motion to Dismiss First Amended Complaint (“Motion”), and Defendant Colin Heatherington’s Joinder in the Motion (“Joinder”). We have considered the papers filed in support of and in opposition to this Motion, and deem this matter appropriate for resolution without oral argument. L.R. 7-15. Accordingly, we rule as follows.

I. Background

For purposes of this Motion, we accept the allegations of the First Amended Com[1103]*1103plaint (“FAC”) as true and construe them in the light most favorable to the Plaintiff. Cousins v. Lockyer, 568 F.3d 1063, 1067 (9th Cir.2009). As such, we describe the Parties and alleged market manipulation scheme based on the allegations set forth in the FAC. We need not accept as true, however, legal conclusions “cast in the form of factual allegations.” W. Mining Council v. Watt, 643 F.2d 618, 624 (9th Cir.1981).

A. Parties1

On February 24, 2011, Plaintiff Securities and Exchange Commission (“Plaintiff’ or “SEC”) filed this securities action. Described in general terms, Plaintiff alleges that Defendants engaged in a fraudulent scheme to manipulate the prices of thinly traded U.S. microcap stocks on the domestic over-the-counter securities market, and to “pump” the portfolio values of offshore hedge funds. Plaintiff named six defendants in the action, all of whom allegedly participated in and benefitted from the alleged scheme.

Defendant Hunter World Markets, Inc. (“HWM”) was an SEC-registered broker-dealer located in Beverly Hills, California that allegedly conducted the transactions at issue. Defendant Hunter Advisors, LLC (“Hunter Advisors”) is a California LLC that acted as the investment adviser to Hunter Fund, Ltd.2 All of Hunter Ad-visors’ securities trades were directed through HWM.

Defendant Todd Ficeto (“Ficeto”), a California resident, is the current owner of HWM. Ficeto was a registered representative, trader, branch manager, and general securities principal of HWM. He was also the principal of Hunter Advisors and portfolio manager for Hunter Fund, Ltd.

Defendant Florian Homm (“Homm”), a resident of Spain during much of the relevant period, was the co-owner of HWM during the alleged fraud. He was also the principal investment adviser for the Absolute Funds, the hedge funds whose value was allegedly “pumped” by Defendants’ market manipulation scheme.

Defendant Colin Heatherington (“Heatherington”), a resident of Canada, was a trader for Absolute Capital Management Holdings Limited3 and consequently for the Absolute Funds.

B. The Alleged Market Manipulation Scheme

According to Plaintiff, Defendants engaged in a nefarious scheme to manipulate domestic securities markets and inflate the value of offshore hedge funds that they managed. Defendants selected U.S. microcap companies, capitalized the compa[1104]*1104nies with money from the Absolute Funds, and then brought the companies public. (FAC ¶ 26). These companies, or “Issuers,” were quoted and traded on the domestic over-the-counter market: namely, on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board (“OTCBB”) and “Pink Sheets.”4 Once the companies were capitalized and publicly traded, Defendants allegedly purchased shares and engaged in manipulative trading tactics to inflate the prices of the companies’ stock.

Defendants allegedly engaged in matched orders, “marking the close” transactions, and wash trades, (FAC ¶¶ 30-35): manipulative trading techniques that are prohibited by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) because they are “intended to mislead investors by artificially affecting market activity.” Santa Fe Indus., Inc. v. Green, 430 U.S. 462, 476, 97 S.Ct. 1292, 51 L.Ed.2d 480 (1977); see also Ernst & Ernst v. Hochfelder, 425 U.S. 185, 199 & n. 21, 96 S.Ct. 1375, 47 L.Ed.2d 668 (1976). “ ‘Matched’ orders are orders for the purchase/sale of a security that are entered with the knowledge that orders of substantially the same size, at substantially the same time and price, have been or will be entered by the same or different persons for the sale/purchase of such security.” Hochfelder, 425 U.S. at 205 n. 25, 96 S.Ct. 1375. “Marking the close” transactions involve making extensive and successive purchases toward the end of the day to artificially increase the closing price of a security. See SEC v. Masri, 523 F.Supp.2d 361, 369-70 (S.D.N.Y.2007). Wash trades involve selling securities at about the same time as purchasing the exact same securities, which results in no change of ownership of the stock. See Hochfelder, 425 U.S. at 205 n. 25, 96 S.Ct. 1375; DeMartino v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 862 F.2d 400, 404 (2d Cir.1988); SEC v. Badian, 822 F.Supp.2d 352, 360-61, No. 06 Civ. 2621(LTS), 2011 WL 4526104, at *6 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 29, 2011).

According to the SEC, Homm and Fieeto directed traders (including Heatherington) to place buy or sell orders for Issuers’ stock at specific times and in specific quantities in an effort to manipulate the price of those stocks. After receiving buy or sell orders in Issuers’ stock from the Absolute Funds, HWM would execute those orders in the over-the-counter marketplace either internally (by identifying a buyer and seller with brokerage accounts at HWM) or externally (by buying from or selling to clients of another brokerage house). (FAC ¶ 28). HWM would then report the trade to FINRA (an independent securities regulator), which would publicly disseminate the trading price and volume to the market. (Id.) Defendants’ manipulative trading tactics artificially inflated the value of the Issuers’ stock, and consequently, the value of the Absolute Funds, which held the Issuers’ stocks. Moreover, as a result of their actions Defendants allegedly made millions of dollars from stock sales, sales credits, commissions, and fees. (Id. ¶¶ 41-47).

[1105]*1105Plaintiffs FAC asserts the following claims: (1) fraud in the offer or sale of securities, § 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 (“Securities Act”); (2) fraud in connection with the purchase or sale of securities, § 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder; (3) fraud by broker-dealer in connection with the purchase or sale of securities, § 15(c)(1) of the Exchange Act; (4) broker-dealer failure to maintain required records, § 17(a) of the Exchange Act and Rules 17a-4(b)(4) and 17a-8 thereunder; (5) investment-adviser fraud, § 206(l)-(2) of the Investment Advisers Act.

II. Legal Standard for Motion to Dismiss Under Rule 12(b)(6)

To survive dismissal for failure to state a claim, a complaint must set forth “more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly,

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Bluebook (online)
839 F. Supp. 2d 1101, 2011 WL 7445580, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 150141, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/securities-exchange-commission-v-ficeto-cacd-2011.