The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it has filed fraud charges against Ezra C. Levy, the former Chief Financial Officer of Boston Provident, L.P. According to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Levy executed a fraudulent scheme to benefit himself at the expense of Boston Provident and its clients, by deliberately arranging secret sales of securities from his personal trading account to Boston Provident's accounts at inflated prices. Specifically, on two days in June 2009, Levy secretly entered "sell" orders for securities at above-market prices for his personal account and, at approximately the same time, entered "buy" orders for the same securities, at the same above-market prices, for Boston Provident's accounts. By placing these matched orders, Levy caused sales of securities from his personal account to Boston Provident's accounts at inflated prices. Levy's profit from these fraudulent trades exceeded $537,000. The complaint alleges that Levy violated the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws, specifically Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. As part of its action, the Commission is seeking an order freezing Levy's assets and other relief.
The SEC acknowledges the assistance and cooperation of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
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