Engler, et al.
U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 25738 /May 30, 2023
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Engler, et al., No. 1:20-cv-01625 (E.D.N.Y. filed Mar. 31, 2020)
SEC Settles IIIicit Trading Case Against Two Former Registered Representatives
On May 18, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York entered final judgments against Joshua W. Turney and Hector Perez, former registered representatives at New York broker-dealer Global Arena Capital Corp., in a civil action in which the SEC alleged that they conducted an unauthorized trading scheme. The final judgments resolve the SEC's case against Turney and Perez.
The SEC's complaint alleged that from April through June 2015, defendants Jonah Engler, Barbara Desiderio, Turney, and Perez fraudulently schemed to conduct large-scale trading in certain Global Arena customer accounts without receiving authorization from those customers. The defendants' illicit trading allegedly took place in over 360 customer accounts, generated over $2.4 million in unlawful profits for Global Arena and ill-gotten gains for the defendants, and resulted in over $4 million in net losses for their customers. The SEC's complaint charged Turney and Perez with violating Section 17(a)(1) and (3) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 10b-5(a) and (c) thereunder.
Turney and Perez were charged criminally by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, and each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Turney was sentenced to two years' imprisonment followed by two years' supervised release, ordered to pay $5,295,868.12 in restitution, jointly and severally with Perez, and to forfeit $281,914. Perez was sentenced to two years' probation, ordered to pay $5,295,868.12 in restitution, jointly and severally with Turney, and to forfeit $137,275.
Turney and Perez consented to the entry of separate final judgments in the SEC action. Turney was ordered to pay disgorgement of $347,019.13 and prejudgment interest of $81,297.47. Perez was ordered to pay disgorgement of $137,275.26 and prejudgment interest of $32,159.94. The payments were deemed satisfied by the restitution order for Turney and the restitution and forfeiture orders for Perez, in the respective parallel criminal proceedings.
The Court in the SEC action previously entered partial consent judgments against Turney and Perez, permanently enjoining each of them from violating the Securities Act and Exchange Act antifraud provisions. For further information, see Litigation Release No. 24874 (Aug. 25, 2020). The SEC also recently concluded its litigation against Engler and Desiderio.
The SEC's litigation and investigation teams included Richard Primoff, Margaret Spillane, Jacqueline Fine, Hane L. Kim, and Steven G. Rawlings, all of the New York Regional Office, and Sandra Yanez of the Home Office. The litigation was supervised by Sheldon Pollock of the New York Regional Office. The SEC appreciates the assistance in this matter of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.