Articles
Property Owners Must Publicly Register in Santa Monica to Rent on Airbnb
Santa Monica property owners using Airbnb to profit from renting their property must now publicly register with the City, according to new language in the ordinance passed by the City Council Tuesday. Owners can no longer opt out of publicizing their decision because...
Ponzi Scheme Alert: Did you invest in Woodbridge Group of Companies, LLC?
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently sued luxury real estate developer Robert Shapiro and his Woodbridge Group of Companies for allegedly operating a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme targeting thousands of investors. According to the SEC’s complaint, Shapiro...
Cryptocurrencies & ICOs: Securities & Exchange Commission Intervenes in Munchee ICO
In the fast moving market for initial currency offerings in the form of digital cryptocurrencies, the SEC is acting faster than ever in an effort to maintain some order in this new wild west - gold rush spawned by this latest and greatest digital technological...
Chinese EB-5 investors are welcome at Wittenberg Law
Foreign investors in the United States have been attracted to the governments EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program for decades. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) administers the EB-5 Program. Under this program, entrepreneurs (and their spouses...
Cryptocurrencies & Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs): Investors Beware
The explosion of world-wide intrigue into Bitcoin and Block Chain Technology (which is one and the same) has fascinated us and kicked off a feeding frenzy for investment promoters and investors alike. The price of a Bitcoin valued in U.S. dollars keeps on rising, fast...
Prestigious Names Means Nothing in Securities Due Diligence
If I had a dollar for every time an investor told me, with a gleen in his or her eye, that they have an opportunity to invest with some prestigous person who has made fortunes for shareholders, I'd be the richest person on earth. Securities investing is not a headline...
Due Diligence – Your Advisor May Not Be Diligent After All
The other day the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released information wherein it identified deficiencies with many investment advisors due diligence procedures in relation to selecting alternative investments for their clients. Those of us like Wittenberg...
Variable Annuities: Another Thing Your Advisor Probably Didn’t Disclose
Thanks to Darla Mercado, author of the article "Fine print on older contracts leaves elderly clients in position of losing death benefits," published in the InvestmentNews, customers who purchased variable annuities may have another strong piece of evidence supporting...
SEC Announces 2014 Examination Priorities
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 2014-5 Washington D.C., Jan. 9, 2014 — The Securities and Exchange Commission announced its examination priorities for 2014, which cover a wide range of issues at financial institutions, including investment advisers and investment companies,...
Congressman Lost $18 Million to Investment Fraud
We know that all people are susceptible to investment fraud. We have seen celebrities, atheletes, artists, doctors, lawyers, teachers, bus drivers, police, firefighters, etc. lose their savings when folks that they trusted turned out to be not trustworthy. Today,...