BondsRUs is a broker-dealer that (unsurprisingly) specializes in bonds. The firm has found that it is able to sell Treasury bonds that it buys for $90 per $100 of par value for $99 per $100 of par value to some of its more naïve clients, who never pay attention to the confirmation statements BondsRUs sends them. BondsRUs is guilty of
In accordance with the National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which of the following is a federal covered adviser and, therefore, exempt from registering with the state Administrator?
I. An adviser who does business in 26 states.
II. An adviser who manages the portfolio of a mutual fund that is registered with the SEC.
III. An adviser with $35 million in assets under management
Which of the following statements best explains the difference between an agent and a broker-dealer?
A limited power-of-attorney gives the designated person the right to
I. order the sale of an asset owned by the account holder and have a check written to the account holder for the amount of the proceeds.
II. obtain account statements, including tax statements, on behalf of the account holder.
III. order the purchase of an asset for the account holder’s account.
George Geek is a computer programmer who tired of working for others and started his own company. He convinced forty investors that he could design software that would rival Microsoft, and sold them each a 10% partnership interest in his firm for $25,000. He designed and printed up the partnership certificates himself. George told the investors that he had a product that was on the verge of being marketable and that when it did-within the next two months-revenues would pour into the company, and he would begin paying dividends. He told them they could expect a 20% return on their money this year, with even higher returns in the years to come. As it turned out, George wasn’t quite the programmer he thought he was, and he wasn’t able to get all the bugs out of the program to make it marketable within the promised two months.
Within a year, George had tired of the project and was too busy picking up chicks in his new Corvette when he wasn’t on the island of St. Bart overseeing the construction of his new beach mansion-and picking up chicks. His activities, of course, were financed by the extremely generous “salary” he paid himself from the investors’ monies.
Under the Uniform Securities Act, do the investors have any civil claims against George?
