SEC Press Release

"This resolution accomplishes one of the SEC's core missions to protect retail investors," said Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement. "Mr. Shapiro and other defendants will be held accountable and required to pay substantial penalties for their misconduct." "Our complaint charged that when Woodbridge's fictitious business model collapsed, the company stopped paying investors and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection," said Eric I. Bustillo, Director of the SEC's Miami Regional Office. "The settlement provides for the return of significant funds to investors."

“Bribery to further corporate goals is an illusory path to long-term success. While always the wrong choice, it is particularly egregious when senior executives chart that course for those they lead, as our complaint alleges here. We are committed to holding them accountable for their actions,” said Charles E. Cain, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s FCPA Unit.

According to the SEC’s orders, year after year, the four companies disclosed material weaknesses in ICFR involving certain high-risk areas of their financial statement presentation. As discussed in the SEC orders, each of the four companies took months, or years, to remediate their material weaknesses after being contacted by the SEC staff. One of the companies is still in the process of remediating its material weaknesses.

"Advisers must be vigilant in disclosing all conflicts of interest arising from compensation received based on investment decisions made for clients," said C. Dabney O'Riordan, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division's Asset Management Unit. "The documents these advisers provided to clients were incorrect and investors were harmed. We are continuing our efforts to stop these violations and return money to harmed investors as quickly as possible."

The SEC’s order found that JPMorgan improperly provided ADRs to brokers in thousands of pre-release transactions when neither the broker nor its customers had the foreign shares needed to support those new ADRs. Such practices resulted in inflating the total number of a foreign issuer’s tradeable securities, which resulted in abusive practices like inappropriate short selling and dividend arbitrage that should not have been occurring.

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