The Securities Arbitration Law Firm of KlaymanToskes (www.klaymantoskes.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 KlaymanToskes, at 888-997-9956.