Investment Adviser Charged By SEC Over Cherry-picking Allocations

An investment adviser was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with "cherry-picking" which options trades he allocated to clients. According to the SEC, Mark P. Welhouse of Welhouse & Associates delayed allocation of purchases to either his or his clients accounts until he saw whether they made money. His personal trades in these options had an average first-day positive return of 6.28% while his clients' trades in these options had an average first-day loss of 5.05%, the SEC said.