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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said it has concerns about Coinbase Global Inc.’s proposed involvement in Celsius Network’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. Under the proposed plan, Celsius agreed to engage Coinbase to distribute assets to international customers. In a filing on Friday, the SEC — which charged Coinbase earlier this year with operating as an unregistered securities exchange, broker and clearing house — said the agreements “go far beyond the services of a distribution agent, contemplating brokerage services and master trading services that implicate many of the concerns” raised in its suit. Celsius filed for bankruptcy protection in July 2022, and is working to emerge as a new user-owned company and distribute an estimated $2 billion of Bitcoin and Ether as part of the plan. Celsius wants to start fresh under new management led by investment firm Arrington Capital, part of a consortium called Fahrenheit LLC that won the crypto lender’s assets at a bankruptcy auction earlier this year.

Wall Street's top regulator on Wednesday adopted a new rule cracking down on so-called "greenwashing" and other deceptive or misleading marketing practices by U.S. investment funds, Reuters reported. The changes to the two decades-old Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) "Name Rule" requires that 80% of a fund's portfolio matches the asset advertised by its name. It takes aim at a boom in funds that have tried to exploit investor interest in environmental, social and governance, or ESG, investing with names that do not accurately reflect its investments or strategies. "A fund’s investment portfolio should match a fund’s advertised investment focus," SEC chair Gary Gensler said on Wednesday at a meeting to vote on the rule. "Such truth in advertising promotes fund integrity on behalf of fund investors." The SEC since 2021 has also focused on prosecuting ESG-related misconduct and "greenwashing", bringing enforcement actions and levying fines.

A federal judge yesterday rejected Bill Hwang's bid to dismiss a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit accusing him of fraud that led to the March 2021 collapse of his $36 billion firm Archegos Capital Management, Reuters reported. U.S. District Judge Paul Oetken in Manhattan said the SEC plausibly alleged that Hwang and Archegos, which is also a defendant, intentionally concealed the risks they were taking in their bid to manipulate markets through swaps transactions and to artificially inflate the value of their largest stock holdings. Oetken dismissed some fraud-based claims against former Archegos Chief Financial Officer Patrick Halligan, while letting the SEC pursue claims that Halligan aided and abetted fraud by former Archegos risk management chief Scott Becker. The judge also granted a request by the U.S. Department of Justice to put the SEC civil case on hold while it pursues related criminal charges against Hwang and Halligan. Oetken in a separate decision dismissed a U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission civil lawsuit against Archegos and Halligan, saying the regulator lacked power to sue over the swaps. Becker and William Tomita, who was Archegos' head trader, have pleaded guilty in the criminal case. Hwang's and Halligan's trial is scheduled to start on Feb. 20, 2024.

Alternative investment platform YieldStreet and a subsidiary have agreed to pay over $1.9 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges that they failed to give investors critical information, the regulator said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. YieldStreet and its investment adviser subsidiary failed to disclose a heightened risk related to securities it offered related to transportation of a retired ship, the SEC said in a statement. A representative for YieldStreet, which did not admit or deny the SEC's findings, did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating billionaire Ryan Cohen’s ownership — and surprise sale — of Bed Bath & Beyond shares at a time when such so-called meme stocks were all the rage with investors, the Wall Street Journal reported. Cohen took a $120 million stake in Bed Bath & Beyond and pushed for changes to the housewares retailer’s sales strategy, but abruptly sold his 11.8% interest in August 2022, just days after tweeting positively about the company. The five-month investment netted him a profit of nearly $60 million. Cohen’s interest in the company spurred a frenzy of trading that caused its stock to soar 34% in a day before collapsing when he disclosed the sales, prior to which he had gotten three new members appointed to the board. The SEC has requested information from Cohen about his trades and his communications with officers or directors at Bed Bath & Beyond. The regulator has also sought records from some of the company’s current and former board members. Cohen founded online pet retailer Chewy and later developed a deep fan base of individual investors who herd into the stocks he buys. He most notably took control in 2021 of video game retailer GameStop, where he currently serves as executive chairman. A group of Bed Bath & Beyond investors sued Cohen last year in Washington, D.C., federal court, alleging he committed fraud because he was aware of bad news about the company that hadn’t been disclosed when he sold his shares. They claim his statements on Twitter and in SEC filings were part of a pump-and-dump strategy that left small investors nursing big losses.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is probing The Change Company, a California lender that pledges to promote homeownership in underserved communities, over its mortgage-backed securities, Bloomberg News reported. As part the investigation, the regulator is also looking into some of the actions of its chief executive officer, Steven Sugarman, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing the investigation that hasn’t been made public. Buyers of instruments backed by The Change Company’s loans have included some of Wall Street’s largest money managers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “Neither Change nor its leadership is aware of any SEC investigation,” the firm said in a statement. “Loans included in Change’s mortgage-backed securities have been vetted by third-party due diligence firms who have issued certifications attesting to the accuracy of the data and sufficiency of the scope of their reviews,” the company added, in addition to providing an Aug. 24 attestation letter from an outside lawyer.

The journey to a potential Bitcoin ETF has so far been long and arduous. But some key decisions in the race are likely coming this week as crypto faithful await to see how things play out this time, Bloomberg News reported. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to respond to filings from Bitwise, BlackRock, VanEck, WisdomTree and Invesco right before the Labor-Day weekend, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Regulators can reject, approve or delay. Bitwise’s application is set for consideration by Friday, with the others due the following day, making it likely the SEC will weigh in before the weekend. Analysts and industry observers anticipate the SEC to once again punt on making a decision. The regulator had already in early August dealt a delay to 21Shares for its spot-Bitcoin application with ARK Investment Management, and has prior to that denied numerous applications over the past decade. “We can expect to see more delays from the SEC especially after they already delayed their decision earlier this month on ARK’s spot-Bitcoin ETF filing,” said Roxanna Islam, associate director of research and head of sector and industry research at VettaFi. “We need to see a decision from the SEC on Grayscale’s lawsuit first — otherwise, we might see them approve Ether-futures ETF filings before they approve any spot-Bitcoin ETF filings.” The SEC last year rejected Grayscale Investments’ plan to convert its Bitcoin trust to an ETF, saying crypto markets are too ripe for fraud and manipulation. Grayscale sued, asking the DC Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a decision the company called arbitrary and discriminatory because the SEC had already approved ETFs that track Bitcoin futures.

A Los Angeles media company that billed itself as potentially "the next Disney" will pay $6.1 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges it illegally raised nearly $30 million by conducting unregistered sales of non-fungible tokens, Reuters reported. Yesterday's settlement with Impact Theory LLC was the SEC's first enforcement action involving NFTs, digital assets that reflect ownership of files such as artwork, images and videos and are recorded on a blockchain. The SEC said Impact Theory marketed its Founder's Keys — sold in "Legendary," "Heroic" and "Relentless" tiers — as a means to profit from its business by investing at an early stage. Impact Theory allegedly raised $29.9 million by selling 13,921 Founder's Keys in late 2021, and received $978,000 of royalties from secondary sales. The settlement calls for Impact Theory to pay a $500,000 fine, give up $5.6 million including interest, and destroy all Founder's Keys in its possession. In its marketing, Impact Theory allegedly likened its NFTs to an investment in Walt Disney before introducing Mickey Mouse in the 1928 short film "Steamboat Willie," and said it was "trying to build the next Disney." The SEC said Impact Theory also compared its NFTs with "handing ($20) to Mark Zuckerberg in his dorm room," referring to the billionaire Facebook co-founder.

Wells Fargo has agreed to pay a $35 million civil penalty to settle U.S. charges that the company overcharged advisory fees, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said on Friday, Reuters reported. The SEC said that it charged Wells Fargo Clearing Services LLC and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network LLC for overcharging more than 10,900 investment advisory accounts more than $26.8 million in advisory fees. The SEC alleged that Wells Fargo and its predecessor firms overcharged certain clients who opened accounts prior to 2014 for advisory fees through the end of December 2022. Wells Fargo settled without admitting or denying the charges, the SEC said in a statement. Wells Fargo paid affected account holders about $40 million, including interest, to reimburse them for the overcharging, according to the statement.