Apr. 22, 2019
This email relates to the Proposed Plan of Distribution (the “Plan”) for the distribution of monies collected in settlement of Administrative Proceeding File No. 3-18473. My email is submitted pursuant to the invitation by the Securities and Exchange Commission to all persons who desire to comment on the Plan, in the related Notice of Proposed Plan and Opportunity to Comment, Securities Exchange Act of 1934 Release No. 85403 / March 25, 2019. I wish to point out a mis-statement in the Plan. The Plan states--incorrectly--that: "the Commission issued an Order ... The Commission determined that ... Visium, through two of its portfolio managers, engaged in a mismarking scheme ...." However, that is not what the Order says. (Nor is it what happened.) As the Order states at Paragraph 2, " Visium portfolio managers Christopher Plaford (“Plaford”) and Stefan Lumiere (“Lumiere”) engaged in a mismarking scheme." These were wayward employees. Acting illegally in contravention not only to US laws, but also in contravention to Visium rules and procedures. The Commission did not issue an Order finding that Visium itself engaged in the mismarking scheme, and as the subsequent criminal litigation against the implicated employees in federal court makes clear, these were rogue employees engaging in an illegal scheme with the goal of increasing their own individual bonuses. The difference between the misstatement in the Plan on the one hand, and what the Order in fact states on the other hand, is a significant one. I would request that it be remedied, both so that the Plan does not inadvertently spread a material misstatement, and so that any related determinations be made properly. Please contact me with any questions that you may have, or if any of this is unclear. Thank you, Jack Wiener, Esq. [redacted]