BrokerDealer.com blog update courtesy of reporting by InvestmentNews.
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Wednesday that it was taking enforcement action against a former compliance officer at brokerdealer Wells Fargo Advisors who allegedly altered a document before it was provided to the SEC during its investigation into a former broker’s insider trading.
The charges stem from the case of Waldyr Da Silva Prado Neto, whose alleged scheme made more than $2 million from insider trades in Burger King Holdings Inc. stock ahead of an acquisition announcement on Sept. 2, 2010. )
The SEC said that after it charged Mr. Prado in September 2012, Judy K. Wolf, who was responsible for identifying potentially suspicious trading activity at broker-dealer Wells Fargo Advisors, went back and revised a 2010 report to make it appear that she had performed a more thorough review of Mr. Prado.
Initially, she had closed the report into Mr. Prado’s Burger King trades with “no findings” and did not notify any superiors of potential red flags, the SEC said.
The SEC said in its action that Ms. Wolf should have reported multiple red flags that were noted, including that Mr. Prado and his customers represented the top four positions in Burger King Securities firmwide, he and his customers purchased the securities within 10 days of the announcement, made substantial profits and that he, his customers and the company acquiring Burger King were all Brazilian.
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