The Securities Arbitration Law Firm of Klayman & Toskes, P.A. (www.nasd-law.com)
announced today that it is investigating WFG Investments and Securities
America relating to the supervision of Matthew A. Bell (“Bell”) and the
sale of CodeSmart Holdings (OTC: ITEN), Cubed, Inc. (OTC: CRPT),
StarStream (OTC: SSET) and The Staffing Group, Ltd. (OTC: TSGL).
According to news reports, Bell was taken into custody by the FBI and
later appeared in federal court in San Antonio. The FBI alleged that
Bell, along with six others, participated in a $300 million stock
manipulation scheme. While in Court, Bell was informed of a 10-count
indictment “returned in Brooklyn, New York, and was released on
unsecured bond with instructions to report to New York for trial.” News
reports also stated that, “the indictment alleges Abraxas J. “A.J.”
Discala, 43, who was once married to actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Tony
Soprano's daughter, Meadow, on the television show — oversaw the scheme.
The group is accused of pumping up the price of penny stocks and leaving
investors holding worthless paper largely in CodeSmart, a company that
purported to provide medical coding training required by the Affordable
Care Act.”
According to Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch, “They took
companies with essentially no assets or activity and deceived the market
into believing they were worth hundreds of millions of dollars through a
dizzying round of insider and unauthorized trades. When the defendants
stopped their criminal game of musical shares it was the unsuspecting
investors who were left holding the bag.”
Authorities have alleged that during the time period of October 2012 to
July 2014, the defendants and others agreed to defraud investors and
potential investors in connection with four public companies: CodeSmart
Holdings, Cubed, Inc., StarStream and The Staffing Group, Ltd.
Investigators further alleged that the defendants, “used false and
misleading news releases, false and misleading SEC filings, concealed
their own ownership interests in the companies, engineered price
movements and trading volume in the stocks, and made unauthorized
purchases of stock in accounts of unwitting investors.”
During the time period of October 2012 to June 2013, Bell was registered
with FINRA broker-dealer WFG Investments (“WFG”). Thereafter, from
August 2013 to October 2013, Bell was registered with Securities
America. Under FINRA Rules, WFG and Securities America were obligated to
properly supervise the activities of Bell during the time he was
registered with the brokerage firms. Accordingly, WFG and/or Securities
America may be liable for failing to supervise Bell’s activities while
registered at the respective brokerage firms. Another broker, Craig
Josephberg, who was registered with Halcyon Cabot Partners, Ltd. and is
currently registered with Meyers Associates, is a co-defendant with
Bell. The firms he was registered with may also be liable for failing to
supervise his activities.
If you have information relating to this investigation, please contact
Steven D. Toskes, Esquire or Jahan K. Manasseh, Esquire of Klayman &
Toskes, P.A., at 888-997-9956, or visit us on the web at www.nasd-law.com.
Copyright Business Wire 2014