Former New York brokerage Chief Charles Moore will have to serve a sentence of six months in prison for obstructing a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation. Moore is the former CEO of Crucible Capital Group Inc, a broker company based in Manhattan.
The verdict comes from U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon after Moore pleaded guilty to falsifying invoices handed to the SEC during the investigation on the company's capital woes, Law 360 reported.
Crucible Capital held itself as a "BOTIQUE" investment bank that helps small business to raise capital. The company also shares its assets with an unregistered affiliate, Angelic Holdings LLC, which is also run by the same CEO and is composed of the same employees. At the same time, Angelic Holdings is the one that pays the vendors for certain specified services on behalf of them both.
In 2013, Crucible was under investigation for the accuracy of the net capital figures that it supplied to SEC, Reuters reported.
According the U.S. Justice Department, Moore admitted that he specifically requested an employee to create falsified invoices send to Crucible personnel via Angelic holdings. The subject invoices conveniently omits the unpaid debts of Crucible which appearing on the authentic invoices. The motive is to hide the extent of Crucible's debt and to make it appear, albeit falsely, that its net capital figures are as strong as reflected in the submitted reports.
As an SEC-registered dealer with no customer accounts, Crucible is required to file a monthly "FOCUS" report. As per SEC rules, Crucible is required to maintain at least a $5,000 net capital all the time.
Charges against Moore were brought about by the combined efforts of the President's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Federal Bureau of investigation. Meanwhile, SEC filed civil charges against Moore in a separate action.
