People Moves Roundup

Prudential Financial appoints Managing Director, Cohen & Steers appoints CIO, and more.

Prudential Financial Appoints Managing Director, Head of Portfolio Strategy 

Prudential Financial has hired Lisa Longino as managing director, head of portfolio strategy within the investment office. Longino replaces Alfred Lerman, who recently moved to a new role within Prudential’s investment office as head of the Individual Solutions Group.

Longino has 30 years of experience managing fixed income portfolios backing insurance liabilities. Previously, she held several leadership positions at MetLife, most recently as head of insurance asset management.

Cohen & Steers Appoints Cheigh as CIO

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Cohen & Steers has appointed John Cheigh as chief investment officer. Previously, Cheigh was executive vice president and head of global real estate. Cheigh joined Cohen & Steers in 2005 as a research analyst after spending a decade as a real estate analyst and acquisition specialist.

Income Research + Management Appoints Bill O’Malley as CEO

Income Research + Management has appointed Bill O’Malley chief executive officer and co-CIO.. O’Malley joined the firm in 1994 and was elevated to the leadership team in 2001. In his new role as CEO, O’Malley will oversee the firm’s investment team, which he has led since 2007, and the client service team, which he has led since 2017. He will also oversee the operations, technology, human resources, and finance teams.

O’Malley will share responsibilities as co-CIO of the investment team with Jim Gubitosi, a senior portfolio manager and member of the management committee.

Sarah Kilpatrick, a senior portfolio manager and member of the management committee, has been appointed chief operating officer. Kilpatrick, who joined the firm 16 years ago, will continue to oversee investment and portfolio-risk functions and take on operations and technology. Jack Sommers will lead the executive committee and partner with O’Malley on long-term strategic initiatives while serving as client ambassador. He will continue to oversee the firm’s compliance function in his new role as executive chairperson.

Schroders Appoints 3 to New Roles

Schroders has appointed Phil Middleton head of institutional distribution in North America. Previously, Middletown served as head of UK distribution. Schroders also has appointed Tiffani Potesta chief administrative officer. She is responsible for business management, strategy, and will continue to oversee product and marketing. Schroders also has appointed Joel Schiffman head of intermediary distribution in North America. Previously, he served as head of US defined contribution and insurance sales.

First State Investments Names Global COO, Makes 3 Other Appointments

First State Investments announced it has made several appointments. Rob Scott has been named global COO. He will be based in Sydney until February 2020, when he will relocate to Hong Kong. First State also has elevated Justin Hourigan as global head of data, Lorraine Dryland as chief information security officer, and Ben Marks as chief audit officer. Hourigan and Marks are based in Sydney. They will report to Mark Steinberg, CEO of First State Investments. 

The appointments follow the 2019 acquisition of FSI by Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.

Acadian Asset Management Appoints Young to CMO

Arcadian Asset Management appointed Kelly Young as executive vice president and chief marketing officer. Young will run the global client group and oversee business development, client and consultant relation teams across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Young joined the firm in 2009 She will be based in Boston.

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SEC Stops Ponzi Scheme Targeting Seniors, Small Businesses

Alleged fraudsters invested funds in ‘calamitous trading strategy.’

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC ) has obtained a temporary restraining order and an asset freeze against two companies and their principals over an alleged $6 million Ponzi scheme that defrauded at least 55 investors. The victims included senior citizens and small business owners.

The SEC’s complaint said Neil Burkholz and Frank Bianco of Florida allegedly solicited investors through their companies Palm Financial Management and Shore Management Systems. They are accused of falsely representing that their proprietary options trading strategies were highly profitable. The SEC said, however, that they invested less than half of investor funds, and that those investments resulted in near-total losses.

“To create the appearance of legitimacy, Bianco and Burkholz give prospective investors elaborate private placement memoranda, subscription agreements, and operating agreements,” said the complaint. “Bianco and Burkholz knowingly channeled new money in three ways: to pay other investors purported profits or redemptions; to pay themselves; and to invest the money in a calamitous trading strategy that has incurred years of material, undisclosed losses.”

Many victims are senior citizens between the ages of 65 and 100, including several Florida small-business owners. The regulator said that at least some of the victims had liquidated their retirement savings and other assets to invest with Burkholz and Bianco. It added that most of the $6 million Burkholz and Bianco obtained from investors is now gone.

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The complaint alleges that the two misappropriated the remaining funds by using them to repay other investors and by transferring approximately $880,000 of investor funds to themselves and their wives for personal use. They also allegedly sent false reports to investors to conceal their fraud, and to give investors the false impression they were generating positive returns.

The defendants are charged with securities fraud and the complaint seeks certain emergency relief as well as permanent injunctions, return of allegedly ill-gotten gains with prejudgment interest, and civil penalties. It also names Burkholz’s and Bianco’s wives, Rhoda Burkholz and Suzanne Bianco, as relief defendants. It alleges that Rhoda Burkholz received at least $157,564 in investor proceeds, while Suzanne Bianco took in at least $55,727 in investor proceeds from the fraud.

The SEC said Burkholz and Bianco continue to seek investor funds through “misrepresentations and deceptive acts,” and continue to divert investor assets to earlier investors and to their personal use. It said that so far this year, they have raised over $1.49 million, and in September obtained $123,000 from a new 70-year old investor whose entire investment they promptly misappropriated.

“The SEC’s emergency action is intended to protect prospective investors from future harm by halting what we allege is a brazen ongoing fraud that targeted many senior citizens and small business owners,” Carolyn Welshhans, associate director in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, said in a release. “Among other things, this emergency relief prohibits the defendants from soliciting new investors, freezes their assets, and orders them to provide a sworn accounting of their assets.”

Related Stories:

SEC Charges Adviser over Ponzi Scheme Targeting Haitians

Court Orders $1 Billion Judgment Against Woodbridge Ponzi Operators

Two Plead Guilty for Roles in $910 Million Ponzi Scheme

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