The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sanctioned a former portfolio manager for forging documents and misleading the firm’s chief compliance officer to conceal his failure to report personal trades. Mr Carl Johns failed to report several hundred securities trades in his personal accounts as required under the federal securities laws. Mr Johns concealed the trades in quarterly and annual trading reports by altering brokerage statements and other documents that he attached to those reports.  Mr Johns later tried to conceal his misconduct by creating false documents that purported to be pre-trade approvals, and misled the firm’s chief compliance officer in her investigation into his improper trading.

To settle the SEC’s charges, Mr Johns has agreed to pay more than $350,000 and is barred from the securities industry for at least five years.