2 Are Accused of Fraud in School Bond Sale
- Share via
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil fraud complaint against an investment banker and a bond attorney Thursday, accusing them of persuading a western Pennsylvania school district to sell $9.6 million in municipal bonds and try to keep a $225,000 profit.
The SEC said bond lawyer Ira Weiss and investment banker L. Andrew Shupe violated anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities law in connection with a June 2000 bond sale by the Neshannock Township School District.
Federal rules ban local governments from investing the proceeds of bond sales at a profit, a practice known as arbitrage.
The SEC said Shupe marketed the bonds “as a way to earn $225,000 of interest rate arbitrage profit.”
Weiss’ attorney, David Hickton, said his client’s actions “were entirely proper.” Shupe declined to comment.
The SEC has assessed a $28,000 penalty against the school district, said Mark Zehner, an SEC attorney.
More From the Los Angeles Times
Podcasts
In our first episode, the L.A. Times columnist George Skelton sizes up the governors he’s known, what made them successful and whether the next one can measure up.
On screen, Errol Flynn played a series of daredevils, fortune hunters, and suave romantics. Off screen, he lived a life of outsize debauchery and recklessness, including a persistent interest in underage girls. In 1943, at the height of his fame, he faced trial in Los Angeles on charges of statutory rape.
Why would someone decide to risk their life for a country that is not their own? What might they be searching for? Call Sign Condor is a podcast about the thousands of Latin American soldiers who are fighting in Ukraine — for Ukraine.
