United States Securities & Exchange Commission v. Landberg

836 F. Supp. 2d 148, 2011 WL 5116512, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 127827
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedOctober 26, 2011
DocketNo. 11 Civ. 0404 (PKC)
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 836 F. Supp. 2d 148 (United States Securities & Exchange Commission v. Landberg) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States Securities & Exchange Commission v. Landberg, 836 F. Supp. 2d 148, 2011 WL 5116512, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 127827 (S.D.N.Y. 2011).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

P. KEVIN CASTEL, District Judge.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) brings this action against William Landberg, Kevin Kramer, Steven Gould, Janis Barsuk, West End Financial Advisors LLC, West End Capital Management LLC, and Sentinal Investment Management Corporation, as defendants, and Louise Crandall and L/C Family Limited Partnership, as relief defendants.1 Steven Gould was, at all times relevant to the Complaint, the Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”) of the three corporate defendants (collectively, ‘West End”). The amended complaint (“Complaint”) alleges that the defendants made false representations in violation of section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 (the “'33-Act”), section 10(b) of [151]*151the Exchange Act of 1934 (the “'34 Act”), Rule 10b-5 promulgated under the '34 Act, sections 206(1) and 206(2) of the Advisers Act of 1940 (the “'40 Act”), and section 206(4) and Rule 206(4)-8 promulgated under the '40 Act. Specifically it alleges with respect to defendant Gould, that he committed primary violations of the '33 and '34 Acts and aided and abetted violations of the '40 Act.

Defendant Gould moves to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted and for failure to comply with the pleading requirements of Rule 9(b), Fed.R.Civ.P. 9. This Court concludes that the SEC has adequately and plausibly alleged facts to state a claim for relief under section 17(a) of the '33 Act and section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 of the '34 Act. Additionally, the SEC has adequately stated a claim for relief under sections 206(1), 206(2), 206(4) and Rule 206(4)-8 of the '40 Act. For the reasons more fully discussed below, Gould’s motion to dismiss is denied.

BACKGROUND

The Complaint alleges that William Landberg led a fraudulent scheme which he carried out with other senior executives at West End. (Compl. ¶ 2.) West End was a New York-based, unregistered investment adviser that created and offered a number of private funds starting in 2003. (Compl. ¶ 2; SEC Mem. at 1.) As of May 2009, ninety-four investors had invested an approximate total of $66.7 million in West End funds. (Compl. ¶26.) Gould, who has been a certified public accountant since 1991, became the CFO of West End in September 2006. (Compl. ¶ 15, 62.) From at least January 2008 to May 2009, West End allegedly misled investors into believing that their money was safely invested, and Gould allegedly played an integral role in furthering and concealing that fraud. (Compl. ¶¶ 2-3, 71, 73.)

By early 2008, West End had two primary funds, the Franchise Fund and the Hard Money Fund. (Id. ¶42.) These funds invested in restaurant franchise loans and real estate loans, respectively. (SEC Mem. at 2.) Some agreements between the Hard Money Fund and real estate developers required the developers to deposit money into an interest reserve account (“IRA”). (Compl. ¶ 33.) This account was to be held in trust by West End for the bank providing the majority of capital for those loans. (Id. ¶¶28, 33.) These agreements prohibited commingling funds in the IRA with funds in any other account. (Id. ¶ 33.) Because the two primary funds did not generate adequate returns to satisfy their obligations, Landberg allegedly used whatever assets were available to satisfy West End’s most impending obligations without regard to any representations made to the investors as to the use of those assets. (Id. ¶¶ 43-44.) For example, Landberg used money that had been lent to the Hard Money Fund for the purpose of making real estate loans to make distributions to investors. (Id. ¶¶ 49-51.)

The Complaint asserts that Gould knew and fully participated in this scheme. (Id. ¶¶ 62-65.) Gould allegedly generated fraudulent account statements and other marketing materials that misrepresented the financial performance of the West End funds. (Id. ¶¶ 62-64.) As CFO he allegedly knew, or was reckless in not knowing, that the returns were not adequate to meet the funds’ obligations. (Id. ¶ 65.) As early as December 2007, Gould was concerned about cash flow problems arising from the two funds. (Id.) In March 2008, he was “backed into a corner” with respect to finishing the financial statements of one of the funds because it “made money (barely squeaking by) but not a sufficient enough return to the equity in[152]*152vestor.” (Id.) In 2008, Gould permitted Landberg to overvalue West End’s investment in a mortgage company at $1.20 per share even though the subprime mortgage crisis had made the stock largely illiquid, usually trading at ten cents a share. (Id. ¶¶ 67-68.) Gould was also aware of extensive commingling of assets as evidenced by a spreadsheet he prepared in early 2009 showing $54 million in interfund money transfers since 2007. (Id. ¶ 66.) West End raised over $4.7 million from investors in 2009 allegedly by reporting false positive returns for its funds. (Id. ¶¶ 5, 60.)

According to the Complaint, between January 2008 and May 2009, West End and Landberg also misused investor assets, fraudulently obtained over $8.5 million in loans, withdrew millions of dollars from an IRA for unauthorized purposes, and misappropriated at least $1.5 million for personal use. (Id. ¶¶ 2-3, 52-53, 69, 71, 76.) Gould, at Landberg’s direction, used money from the IRA to make an unauthorized investment in a Florida-based bank. (Id. ¶¶ 70-71.) Gould also allegedly created accounting mechanisms, such as “reclassif[ying]” intercompany loans as an investments, to conceal these violations. (Id. ¶¶ 71, 73.) Gould described one interfund transfer as a way to “clean” a “related party loan.” (Id. ¶ 73.) In 2008, and under Landberg’s instructions, Gould took money sent to the Income Strategies Fund and put it “back” in the IRA. (Id. ¶ 69.) Subsequently, he emailed Landberg to ask how to ensure that the IRA had enough money explaining that it had to be “replenish[ed] ... by weeks [sic] end.” (Id.) To sustain the illusion that West End’s investments were performing well, Landberg made distributions to certain West End investors using proceeds from fraudulently-obtained loans. (Id. ¶ 2.)

The Complaint alleges that Gould not only knew, or was reckless in not knowing, about this fraudulent scheme but also acted to further and conceal it. (Id. ¶¶ 62-78.) As CFO of West End, Gould received hundreds of thousands of dollars in salary. (Id. ¶ 77.) The fraud at West End “began to be revealed” in May 2009 and on May 12th Gould suffered serious injuries after being struck by a train. (Id. ¶ 74.)

Plaintiff seeks to permanently enjoin defendant Gould from engaging in the acts, practices, transactions, and courses of business alleged in the Complaint. Plaintiff also seeks civil monetary penalties pursuant to section 20(d) of the '33 Act, section 21(d) of the '34 Act, and section 209(d) of the '40 Act.

DISCUSSION

I. Rule 12(b)(6) and Rule 9(b) Pleading Standards

To survive a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), Fed.R.Civ.P., “a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ ” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly,

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Bluebook (online)
836 F. Supp. 2d 148, 2011 WL 5116512, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 127827, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-securities-exchange-commission-v-landberg-nysd-2011.