The Financial Flash
The SEC has charged Randall “Randy” Miller, Chad Miller, and Jeffrey De Laveaga with creating false documents that were provided to investors in two municipal bond offerings that raised $284 million to build one of the largest sports venues of its kind in the United States. As alleged in the SEC’s complaint, in August 2020 and June 2021, Randy Miller’s nonprofit company, Legacy Cares, issued approximately $284 million in municipal bonds through an Arizona state entity to finance the construction of a multi-sports park and family entertainment center in Mesa, Arizona. Investors were to be paid from revenue from the sports complex, and investors were given financial projections for revenue that were multiple times the amount needed to cover payments to investors, according to the complaint. However, the complaint alleges that the defendants fabricated or altered documents forming the basis for those revenue projections, including letters of intent and contracts with sports clubs, leagues, and other entities to use the sports complex. You can find the full details of this case HERE.
The SEC has voted to end its defense of the rules requiring disclosure of climate-related risks and greenhouse gas emissions. SEC Acting Chairman Mark T. Uyeda said, “The goal of today’s Commission action and notification to the court is to cease the Commission’s involvement in the defense of the costly and unnecessarily intrusive climate change disclosure rules.” The rules, adopted by the Commission on March 6, 2024, create a detailed and extensive special disclosure regime about climate risks for issuing and reporting companies. You can read more about their decision HERE.
FINRA has imposed a six-month suspension and a $20,000 fine on Jason Michael Poschinger, a former broker with OneAmerica Securities, for transferring confidential client data to personal email accounts and later to his new employer, Pruco Securities. Between September and November 2021, Poschinger moved sensitive customer information (such as Social Security numbers and account details) for over 1,300 clients without informing his former employer or obtaining their consent. Additionally, he falsely claimed to have deleted the data and made misrepresentations to Pruco. Find the full details from FINRA HERE.
Some Investors Are Panicking. You Should Not.
Giving advice to not panic during severe market downturns is often customary and can frankly seem a bit boiler-plate. We get that. But it is perhaps the most important piece of advice financial consultants can give — because it is during times of market turmoil when many investors get it wrong. We understand. It’s not easy. Making decisions with money can be an emotional endeavor. Too often investors engage in investment decisions when the emotional weight is the heaviest. History is littered with instances where investors extrapolate the worst at just about the time when a faint light begins to appear at the end of the tunnel. Don’t let this be one of those times, because we in fact see some of that light. We’ll get to that.
- On average, the tariffs could increase household costs by $1,200 annually, forcing consumers to rethink their spending patterns, thus directly affecting U.S. businesses.
- Approximately 45% of the materials used in U.S. goods come from imports, while 52% of the products Americans bought in 2023 were manufactured in the U.S.