FTC Capital Markets, Inc. and FTC Emerging Markets, Inc.

Latest Action: On May 7, 2012, the SEC filed a Report of Fund Administrator with the Court containing the List of Eligible Claimants and Approved Claims. A motion seeking a final determination of the amounts to distributed and seeking to have payments distributed to the eligible claimants will be filed shortly.

Background: The SEC is providing notice to investors and creditors of FTC Capital Markets, Inc. and FTC Emerging Markets Inc. (also doing business as FTC Group). On August 8, 2011, the Court in SEC v. FTC Capital Markets, Inc., et al., 09 Civ. 4755 (PGG) (S.D.N.Y.), entered an order approving a distribution plan. You can review the Court’s order approving the plan on the SEC website.

To participate in the distribution, investors and creditors must send a proof of claim form to the SEC by November 7, 2011. You can obtain the claim form for investors and creditors, or by contacting:

John J. Graubard
Senior Attorney
Securities and Exchange Commission
New York Regional Office
3 World Financial Center, Room 400
New York, NY 10281-1022
Email: graubardj@sec.gov

According to the complaint, Guillermo David Clamens and Lina Lopez, through FTC Capital, a registered broker-dealer controlled by Clamens, engaged in tens of millions of dollars of unauthorized securities trading through certain FTC Capital customer accounts and concealed those transactions from the customers. This was in part to conceal their prior fraudulent sale of $50 million in non-existent notes to a Venezuelan bank through FTC Emerging Markets. The SEC alleged that when the fictitious notes held by the Venezuelan bank purportedly came due in August 2008, Clamens misappropriated $50 million from FTC accounts to fund the redemption. In addition, FTC Emerging Markets effected, or purported to effect, securities transactions for its own account and on behalf of numerous foreign investors, without having properly registered as a broker-dealer with the SEC or other appropriate authorities, thus illegally acting as an unregistered broker-dealer.

For further information about the SEC’s action, please read Litigation Release Nos. 21052 (May 20, 2009), 21093 (June 22, 2009) and 21646 (Sept. 14, 2010).