LITIGATION RELEASE NO. 16238 / August 2, 1999
[SEC v. Barzilay, et al., Civil Action No. 99-C-5023, USDC, NDIL]
The Commission announced that on August 2, it filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against ten registered representatives formely associated with the Chicago, Illinois and Park Avenue, New York offices of W.J. Nolan, a registered broker-dealer headquartered in New York, New York. The complaint alleges that from April through November, 1997, these ten registered representatives churned and made unauthorized and unsuitable trades in certain microcap securities for the accounts of 77 of their customers. The complaint further alleges that based on their fraudulent conduct these ten registered representatives earned over $250,000 in commissions and caused approximately $833,000 in customer losses. The defendants in this case are Kfir Barzilay(a/k/a Steven Steele), Eugene Beigelman, Yan Dikshteyn (a/k/a Jon Dixon), Oleg Feldman (a/k/a Alec Feldman), Boris Fidler (a/k/a Brian Fidler), Stanslav Kaminsky (a/k/a Stan Kaminsky), Lawrence Pross, David Rubinov (a/k/a David Rubin), Ernest Salgan and Garri Zhigun.
In addition to the sale practice abuses alleged against all ten registered representatives, the complaint alleges that they falsified books and records of W.J. Nolan, including new account forms. Finally, the complaint alleges that Fidler and Pross instructed unregistered persons, cold callers, to use the names "Fidler" and "Pross" to effect securities transactions in customer accounts.
The complaint seeks to enjoin all ten registered representatives from future violations of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws, Section 17(a) of the Securities Act, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. In addition, the complaint seeks to enjoin Fidler and Pross from future aiding and abetting violations of the registration provisions of the Securities Exchange Act, Section 15(b)(7) and Rule 15b7-1 thereunder. The complaint seeks an accounting, disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil penalties.
This enforcement action is part of the Commission's four-pronged approach to attacking microcap fraud: enforcement, inspections, investor education and regulation. For more information about the SEC's response to microcap fraud, visit the SEC's Microcap Fraud Information Center at http://www.sec.gov/news/extra/microcap.htm.