Hedge Fund Portfolio Pumping Scheme

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged two securities professionals, a hedge fund trader, and two firms involved in a scheme that manipulated several U.S. microcap stocks and generated more than $63 million in illicit proceeds through stock sales, commissions and sales credits.

The SEC alleges that Florian Homm of Spain and Todd M. Ficeto of Malibu, Calif., conducted the scheme through their Beverly Hills, Calif.-based broker-dealer Hunter World Markets Inc. (HWM) with the assistance of Homm’s close associate Colin Heatherington, a trader who lives in Canada. They brought microcap companies public through reverse mergers and manipulated upwards the stock prices of these thinly-traded stocks before selling their shares at inflated prices to eight offshore hedge funds controlled by Homm. Their manipulation of the stock prices allowed Homm to materially overstate by at least $440 million the hedge funds’ performance and net asset values (NAVs) in a fraudulent practice known as “portfolio pumping.”

The SEC instituted separate but related administrative proceedings against Tony Ahn and HWM’s former chief compliance officer Elizabeth Pagliarini, who each agreed to settle their cases without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings. Ahn agreed to pay a $40,000 penalty, comply with certain undertakings, and be barred from association with a broker and dealer for five years. Pagliarini agreed to a $20,000 penalty and one-year suspension as a supervisor with a broker or dealer.

Lucee Kirka, Rhoda Chang, Marc Blau, and Diana Tani conducted the SEC’s investigation, and Donald Searles will lead the SEC’s litigation efforts.

For details visit: http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2011/2011-51.htm