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The Securities Arbitration Law Firm of Klayman & Toskes Continues to Investigate WFG Investments and Securities America Relating To The Supervision of Matthew A. Bell and The Sale of CodeSmart, Cubed, StarStream and The Staffing Group Stock

The Securities Arbitration Law Firm of Klayman & Toskes, P.A. (www.nasd-law.com) announced today that it is continuing to investigate WFG Investments (“WFG”) and Securities America relating to the supervision of Matthew A. Bell (“Bell”) and the sale of CodeSmart Holdings (OTC: ITEN), Cubed, Inc. (OTC: CRPT), StarStream (OTC: SSET) and The Staffing Group, Ltd. (OTC: TSGL). Last week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) charged individuals, including Bell, alleging that they pocketed millions of dollars running an elaborate pump-and-dump scheme. Another broker, Craig L. Josephberg (“Josephberg”), who was registered with Halcyon Cabot Partners, Ltd. and is currently registered with Meyers Associates, is a co-defendant with Bell.

According to the SEC, “The CEO and president of a purported merchant banking firm – Abraxas `A.J.' Discala and Marc E. Wexler – teamed up with brokers Matthew A. Bell and Craig L. Josephberg as well as Ira Shapiro, CEO of the medical education company CodeSmart, to inflate the price of the company’s stock and profit at the expense of the brokers’ customers. They acquired 3 million restricted shares of CodeSmart stock following its reverse merger into a public shell company in May 2013, and improperly flooded the market with the shares as though they were unrestricted. They then engaged in a promotional campaign to hype the stock with Shapiro issuing materially misleading CodeSmart press releases that were sometimes edited by Discala. Meanwhile Bell and Josephberg invested their brokerage clients in CodeSmart, often using their retirement funds to purchase the purportedly unrestricted shares. Once Discala and Wexler reduced their trading and Bell and Josephberg dumped their own shares on the market, CodeSmart’s stock price crashed to earth from a peak of nearly $7 per share. It is currently trading below 10 cents.”

“This was a brazen manipulation scheme calculated to enrich Discala and his accomplices using, in many cases, the retirement savings of innocent and unwitting retail investors,” said Andrew Ceresney, director of the SEC Enforcement Division. “We act aggressively against unscrupulous brokers and investment advisers who take advantage of individual investors,” Ceresney added.

During the time period at issue, Bell was registered with FINRA broker-dealers WFG and Securities America. Under FINRA Rules, WFG and Securities America were obligated to properly supervise the activities of Bell during the time he was registered with the brokerage firms. Accordingly, WFG and/or Securities America may be liable for failing to supervise Bell’s activities while registered at the respective brokerage firms. Moreover, Halcyon Cabot Partners, Ltd. and/or Meyers Associates may also be liable for failing to supervise the conduct of Josephberg during the time period at issue.

If you have information relating to this investigation, please contact Steven D. Toskes, Esquire or Jahan K. Manasseh, Esquire of Klayman & Toskes, P.A., at 888-997-9956, or visit us on the web at www.nasd-law.com.

Contacts:

Klayman & Toskes, P.A.
Steven D. Toskes, Esquire or Jahan K. Manasseh, Esquire, 888-997-9956

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