Securities & Exchange Commission v. Washington Investment Network

475 F.3d 392, 374 U.S. App. D.C. 383, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 2513
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedFebruary 6, 2007
DocketNo. 05-5433
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 475 F.3d 392 (Securities & Exchange Commission v. Washington Investment Network) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit 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. Washington Investment Network, 475 F.3d 392, 374 U.S. App. D.C. 383, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 2513 (D.C. Cir. 2007).

Opinion

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge BROWN.

BROWN, Circuit Judge.

Appellants ask us to reverse the district court’s finding that appellant Washington Investment Network (“WIN”) violated sections 203(f), 206(1), and 206(2) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (the “Act”), 15 U.S.C. §§ 80b-3(f), 80b-6(1), and 80b-6(2), and that appellant Robert Radano aided and abetted those violations. Appellants also seek to vacate the district court’s injunction and reverse the imposition of penalties. Because the district court’s factual findings are not clearly erroneous, and because we find no error of law, we uphold the district court’s finding of violations. We remand the case to the district court so it may craft a more narrow injunction. Appellants have forfeited their objection to the imposition of penalties.

I

This case revolves around the business dealings of Steven Bolla, Robert Radano, and their company, Washington Investment Network (WIN). WIN was, at relevant times, a registered investment advis- or. Bolla was not actually a legal owner of WIN — rather, Radano and Bolla’s wife were the owners — but the evidence indicates Bolla was the principal figure directing WIN’s activities, and Bolla’s wife played a relatively minor role. Moreover, ownership of WIN had little practical significance. WIN had no capital assets; it was essentially an empty shell Radano and Bolla used to do business under a corporate name. When money came into WIN, it was distributed to Bolla, Radano, and others with whom Bolla and Radano had fee-sharing agreements. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), Bolla designated his wife as co-owner of WIN (rather than himself), because Bolla was under SEC investigation.

Radano and Bolla’s business involved locating investors and referring them to Lockwood Financial Services. Lockwood is a third-party administrator serving several well-regarded money managers. Lockwood acts as the intermediary between the money managers and investors. Specifically, Lockwood offers investors a service called a “wrap” account, which allows several investors to combine their funds to meet the high minimum-investment requirements of the money managers. Lockwood administers these accounts, but to attract investors, it relies primarily on referrals from investment advisers like WIN.

According to Lockwood’s business model, the investment adviser determines the individual investor’s specific investment priorities and directs the investor to the Lockwood money managers best suited to the investor’s objectives. The investor then enters into a direct contractual relationship with Lockwood, and Lockwood begins paying fees to the investment adviser. Fees are generally calculated as a percentage of the total assets the investor places in Lockwood’s control, and they are deducted directly from the investor’s investment account. Investment advisers are also obligated to remain in regular contact with the investor and to monitor the investor’s account, ensuring the investor’s portfolio remains consistent with his or her investment objectives. Lockwood continues paying quarterly fees to the investment adviser from the investor’s account as long as the investor has assets under Lockwood management.

[388]*388Bolla and Radano received fees attributable to the assets each respectively had brought to Lockwood, though it appears Radano trusted Bolla to make the division. Over the course of several years, Bolla channeled $30-40 million in assets to Lockwood, and by the summer of 2000, he was receiving about $150,000 per year in fees. Radano had brought much less money to Lockwood, and his fee-sharing arrangements with third parties were not as favorable to him. Therefore, he received only about $10,000 per year in fees.

Bolla personally handled most of WIN’s financial affairs. For example, though WIN was listed as the investment adviser in Lockwood’s records, when Lockwood paid fees to WIN, it mailed the check to Bolla, and Bolla deposited the fees in an account under his exclusive control, opened under the name “Steve M. Bolla DBA Washington Investment Network.” Bolla would then disburse funds from this personal account to pay Radano his portion of the fees, with Bolla making the fee-split determination unilaterally. Bolla used the same account to pay many of his personal obligations including his mortgage and his wife’s credit card.

On March 20, 2000, Bolla entered into a settlement with the SEC in regard to the ongoing investigation, not related to WIN or Radano; he signed a consent to entry of a judgment against him. On June 19, 2000, the federal district court entered a judgment in that unrelated case, enjoining Bolla from violating certain securities laws. The next day, the SEC issued an order barring Bolla from the investment advisory business. During the months leading up to this bar order, Radano knew it was likely and did nothing to disassociate himself (and WIN) from Bolla..

When the bar order issued in June of 2000, Radano learned of it almost immediately and contacted Lockwood within a month or two to report the change in circumstances and to establish himself as the new recipient of WIN fee payments (for both his own and Bolla’s clients at WIN). Radano apparently hoped to take over some (if not all) of Bolla’s lucrative book of business, but because Lockwood had Bolla listed as the “rep” for all WIN accounts, it refused to accept Radano as the new WIN representative without written letters of authorization from each individual investor. Radano testified this impasse with Lockwood came as a complete surprise to him. He expected Lockwood to switch the WIN accounts to his name on the basis of a simple telephone call, and he thought little more was necessary to disassociate both himself and WIN from Bolla.

Radano got letters of authorization from his own clients, but he had a much harder time getting letters from Bolla’s clients, in part because he lacked the necessary contact information. Eventually he succeeded, at least with some of Bolla’s clients, and he established himself as the “rep” for WIN accounts. Because of the delay, Lockwood continued to send WIN’s quarterly fee payments to Bolla for at least two quarters after the June 20, 2000 bar order. Bolla did not forward these fee payments unopened to Radano, thereby distancing himself from WIN and the investment advisory business; instead, Bolla continued to manage WIN’s financial affairs, depositing the fee payments in his personal account, paying WIN’s expenses, and disbursing a portion of the fees to Radano. In addition, Bolla refused to transfer control over the bank account to Radano, and he continued to give investment advice to WIN clients.

During this period, Radano continued to consult Bolla about WIN’s affairs. For example, Radano sought Bolla’s assistance in persuading Lockwood to transfer the WIN accounts to Radano’s control. In [389]*389addition, when Bolla’s clients continued to call Bolla seeking investment advice, Bolla contacted Radano and in some cases gave instructions as to the needs of these clients. Bolla characterized these contacts as merely a matter of handing off these calls to Radano, but Bolla also instructed Radano about the payment of certain WIN expenses, instructions Radano then followed. Most important, when Radano began receiving WIN fee payments from Lockwood, he forwarded a portion of one of the fee payments (roughly $2,700) to Bolla’s wife.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
475 F.3d 392, 374 U.S. App. D.C. 383, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 2513, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/securities-exchange-commission-v-washington-investment-network-cadc-2007.