SEC Charges Private Lender and CEO with Fraudulent Mismarking Scheme

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Live Well Financial, Inc. and its CEO, Michael Hild, both of Richmond, Va., with perpetuating a multi-million dollar bond mismarking scheme against Live Well's short-term lenders. The complaint also charges Live Well's CFO, Eric Rohr, and Executive Vice President, Darren Stumberger, both of whom consented to partial judgments against them. The SEC alleges that Live Well, under the direction of Hild, fraudulently inflated the value of its portfolio of complex reverse-mortgage bonds. According to the complaint, Hild directed Live Well to submit falsely inflated bond prices to an industry-leading pricing service, who he knew would simply publish the prices Live Well gave it.