The sharemarket opened lower as weak banking stocks failed to support a strong rally in energy shares.

The sharemarket slipped further into the red at noon, as declines in supermarkets and banks offset strength in energy stocks.

Miami’s Phillip Frost, who built a $2.8 billion fortune in the generic drug business, was allegedly involved in a tawdry stock promotion scheme, the Securities and Exchange Commission says.

Investors shrug off US growth gloom after promising data from remdesivir drug trial

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Shares have soared on the world’s stock markets after investors shrugged off a deep slump in the US economy and pinned their hopes on a possible breakthrough in treatment for Covid-19.

Despite news that the longest expansion in US history came to an abrupt end in the first three months of 2020, financial markets were buoyed by an update from the American biopharma company Gilead Sciences on its experimental drug remdesivir.

Pandemic-based stockpiling among people with diabetes helped lift revenues beyond analysts’ expectations…

A 24-count indictment charging five individuals with various crimes arising from an alleged scheme to defraud investors through the manipulation of the publicly traded stocks of three companies was unsealed today in Tulsa, Okla.

A securities attorney was charged in an indictment unsealed today with participating in a stock registration evasion scheme involving nine different publicly traded companies and with defrauding investors in a manipulation scheme related to three of the companies.

A stock trader from Jupiter, Fla., pleaded guilty today to engaging in a market manipulation scheme involving several publicly traded companies. Earlier today, Paul M. Gozzo, 33, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Donald L. Graham in Miami to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and one count of securities fraud.

Five individuals pleaded guilty today in federal court in Detroit for their roles in a wide-ranging international stock fraud scheme involving the illegal use of bulk commercial e-mails, or "spamming."

A stock trader from Jupiter, Fla., was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for engaging in securities fraud involving several publicly traded companies.

A federal judge in San Francisco has issued permanent injunctions barring four individuals from promoting what a government lawsuit describes as a complex tax-fraud scheme involving several entities located around the globe.

The United States has reached a settlement with ranchers in a longstanding dispute over livestock trespasses on public lands in Nye and Esmeralda Counties, Nev.

Four individuals were sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Marianne O. Battani in federal court in Detroit for their roles in a wide-ranging international stock fraud scheme involving the illegal use of bulk commercial e-mails, or "spamming."

Six individuals were sentenced today in federal court in Detroit for their roles in a wide-ranging international stock fraud scheme involving the illegal use of bulk commercial e-mails, or "spamming."

Phillip Windom Offill Jr., 51, of Dallas, was indicted on March 12, 2009, and today was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit registration violations, securities fraud and nine counts of wire fraud.

Louisville, Ky., attorney James Reskin, 51, pleaded guilty late yesterday in U.S. District Court in Tulsa for his role in a scheme to defraud investors through the manipulation of the publicly traded stocks of three companies.

G. David Gordon, a Tulsa, Okla., attorney, and Richard Clark, also of Tulsa, were convicted today by a federal jury of devising and participating in a scheme to defraud investors through the manipulation of publicly traded stocks of three companies.

The United States filed a False Claims Act suit against R&J Feed Co., Jerry Goodwin, Richard Carter and Carter Livestock Inc. in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo.

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today additional details for the August 27, 2010, public workshop in Fort Collins, Colo., which will examine competition in the livestock industry.

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced today the agenda and panelists for the Aug. 27, 2010, joint public workshop in Fort Collins, Colo., on competition in the livestock industry.

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture today held the fourth of five joint public workshops to explore the appropriate role for antitrust and regulatory enforcement in American agriculture.

The United States has filed a complaint asking a Virginia federal court to permanently bar three firms and three men from promoting a nationwide “HedgeLoan” scheme that the complaint alleges involves the disguised sale of more than $268 million in securities.

A securities attorney and a former stock broker were sentenced today to 188 months and 151 months in prison, respectively, for their roles in an extensive pump-and-dump stock manipulation scheme.

An indictment unsealed today in Detroit charges stock broker Gregg M. Berger of New York for his role in a wide-ranging fraud scheme to illegally pump-and-dump thinly-traded Chinese and Israeli stocks.

Six individuals, including a securities attorney, were charged in an indictment unsealed today with defrauding investors in a stock manipulation scheme from 2003 to 2008.

A New York stock broker has pleaded guilty in federal court in Detroit to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud in connection with the Alan Ralsky spamming organization’s stock pump-and-dump scheme/

Three stock promoters have been indicted for their roles in a stock manipulation scheme that defrauded investors.

According to court findings, HedgeLender, which maintained offices in Philadelphia and Reston, Va., promoted a scheme purportedly allowing owners of appreciated stock to obtain cash through purported loans without reporting or paying tax on capital gains.

A New York stock broker was sentenced today to 24 months in prison for his role in a wide-ranging international stock fraud scheme involving the illegal use of bulk commercial emails, or “spamming,” to promote thinly-traded Chinese penny stocks.

A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) chemist pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Court Judge Deborah K. Chasanow in the District of Maryland to one count of securities fraud and one count of making false statements, related to a $3.7 million insider trading scheme that spanned nearly five years.

An attorney for a South Carolina health care device company, Signalife, was arrested on Dec. 18, 2011, at Los Angeles International Airport on charges related to his alleged role in a multi-million dollar market manipulation fraud scheme.

Jonathan Curshen, 47, the principal of Red Sea Management and Sentry Global Securities, two companies located in San Jose, Costa Rica, that provided offshore accounts and facilitated trading in penny stocks, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud and mail fraud; two counts of mail fraud; and conspiracy to commit international money laundering.

Two stock promoters, a securities lawyer and a stock trader associated with a Costa Rican brokerage firm were sentenced today in the Southern District of Florida for their participation in a stock manipulation scheme that defrauded investors in a company called CO2 Technologies.

Jonathan Curshen, 47, the principal of Red Sea Management and Sentry Global Securities, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard W. Goldberg.

The United States has filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin against Dan Nolan Livestock LLC. and its owner Daniel W. Nolan to block them from violating the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) in connection with their alleged unlawful use of new animal drugs in cows slaughtered for food. The Justice Department filed the suit on behalf of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The chief executive officer (CEO) of Axius Inc., a Nevada corporation, and a finance professional were indicted today on multiple charges for their alleged roles in a scheme to bribe stock brokers and manipulate the share price of Axius stock.

A former securities broker pleaded guilty today for his role in a scheme to defraud thousands of investors through the manipulation of publicly traded stocks.

Roland Kaufmann, CEO of Axius Inc., pleaded guilty today in Brooklyn for conspiring to bribe stock brokers.

An employee of a Texas securities firm and a broker-dealer who conspired with him and others to artificially pump up the stock prices of several publicly traded companies were sentenced to prison terms today for their roles in the $1 million scheme.

A former stock broker was sentenced to prison today for his role in an extensive pump-and-dump stock manipulation scheme.

Attorney Mitchell J. Stein, 53, of Hidden Hills, Calif., was convicted by a jury in the Southern District of Florida for his role in operating a five-year, multimillion-dollar market manipulation and fraud scheme.

Roland Kaufmann, CEO of Axius, Inc., was sentenced today to serve 16 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to bribe purported stock brokers and manipulate the stock of a company he controlled.

So far this year, 16 novel drugs have received FDA approval compared to 9 which were greenlighted during the same period last year. Now, let's take a look at the biotech stocks that are awaiting a regulatory decision in May 2020.

Let's take a look at the biotech/pharma companies that are slated to report clinical trial results this quarter.

The following are some of the stocks in the healthcare sector that touched a high yesterday. Will the rally continue?

April saw the company add new CEO, receive approval for lead ADC drug, and launch a public offering of stock.

by Robert Faturechi and Derek Willis

Sen. Richard Burr was not the only member of his family to sell off a significant portion of his stock holdings in February, ahead of the market crash spurred by coronavirus fears. On the same day Burr sold, his brother-in-law also dumped tens of thousands of dollars worth of shares. The market fell by more than 30% in the subsequent month.

Burr’s brother-in-law, Gerald Fauth, who has a post on the National Mediation Board, sold between $97,000 and $280,000 worth of shares in six companies — including several that have been hit particularly hard in the market swoon and economic downturn.

A person who picked up Fauth’s phone on Wednesday hung up when asked if Fauth and Burr had discussed the sales in advance.

In 2017, President Donald Trump appointed Fauth to the three-person board of the National Mediation Board, a federal agency that facilitates labor-management relations within the nation’s railroad and airline industries. He was previously a lobbyist and president of his own transportation economic consulting firm, G.W. Fauth & Associates.

Burr came under scrutiny after ProPublica reported that he sold off a significant percentage of his stocks shortly before the market tanked, unloading between $628,000 and $1.72 million of his holdings on Feb. 13 in 33 separate transactions. As chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the health committee, Burr had access to the government’s most highly classified information about threats to America’s security and public health concerns.

Before his sell-off, Burr had assured the public that the federal government was well-prepared to handle the virus. In a Feb. 7 op-ed that he co-authored with another senator, he said “the United States today is better prepared than ever before to face emerging public health threats, like the coronavirus.”

That month however, according to a recording obtained by NPR, Burr had given a VIP group at an exclusive social club a much more dire preview of the economic impact of the the coronavirus, warning it could curtail business travel, cause schools to be closed and result in the military mobilizing to compensate for overwhelmed hospitals.

The timing of Burr’s stock sales drew widespread outrage, allegations of insider trading, calls for his resignation and an FBI investigation.

Burr defended his actions, saying he relied solely on public information, including CNBC reports, to inform his trades and did not rely on information he obtained as a senator.

Fauth avoided between $37,000 and $118,000 in losses by selling off when he did, considering how steeply the companies’ shares fell in recent weeks, according to an analysis by Luke Brindle-Khym, a partner and general counsel of Manhattan-based investigative firm QRI. Brindle-Khym obtained Fauth’s financial disclosure from the Office of Government Ethics and shared it with ProPublica. Government forms only require that the value of stock trades be disclosed in ranges. After the February sales, the total value of Fauth’s individual stock holdings appears to be between $680,000 and $2 million.

Alice Fisher, Burr’s attorney, told ProPublica that “Sen. Burr participated in the stock market based on public information and he did not coordinate his decision to trade on Feb. 13 with Mr. Fauth.”

She did not respond to a question about whether Burr discussed anything he learned as a senator with Fauth or any other relatives.

A review of Fauth’s financial disclosure forms since 2017 show that he is not a frequent stock trader, but that he also had a major day of sales in August 2019.

On Feb. 13, Fauth or his spouse sold between $15,001 and $50,000 of Altria, the tobacco company; between $50,001 and $100,000 of snack food maker Mondelez International; and between $1,001 and $15,000 of home furnishings retailer Williams-Sonoma. He also sold stakes in several oil companies, which have been hit particularly hard, including between $15,001 and $50,000 of Chevron; between $1,001 and $15,000 of BP and between $15,001 and $50,000 of Royal Dutch Shell.

The finances of the Burrs and Fauths have intersected before. Federal Election Commission records show that Burr’s leadership PAC, Next Century Fund, has paid $120,348 since 2002 to his sister-in-law, Mary Fauth, Gerald’s wife, who serves as treasurer. The PAC has also paid $104,850 in rent and utilities over the same period to 116 S. Royal St. Partners, in which Gerald Fauth is a partner.

Do you have access to information about stock trading by Trump administration officials or members of Congress that should be public? Email robert.faturechi@propublica.org or reach him on Signal/WhatsApp at 213-271-7217. Here’s how to send tips and documents to ProPublica securely.

Update, May 6, 2020: This story was updated with new comment from Sen. Richard Burr’s attorney.

PTC Therapeutics is adding to its rare disease pipeline with a midstage biotech buyout with a low upfront payment tied in with stock and biobucks.