The city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is suing Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs (GS), Citigroup (C), Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), Barclays Plc (BAR), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), and Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) for allegedly rigging rates for variable-rate demand obligations (VRDOs). Philadelphia had issued over $1.6B of these bonds. VRDOs are tax-exempt…
Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin’s office has fined United Planners Financial Services of America $100K for failing to properly supervise broker Thomas T. Riquier. The broker was charged last year for violating the state’s securities laws over his alleged involvement in a real estate scam that defrauded investors and others of at least…
Virginia Regulator Fines UBS Financial After Its Broker Makes Unsuitable Recommendations To settle charges brought by Virginia’s State Corporate Commission accusing a UBS (UBS) broker of making unsuitable recommendations involving gold and precious metals securities to 18 clients, UBS Financial Services will pay $319K—$289K to the clients and $30K to the state. Virginia’s regulator contends…
On Friday, February 15, the First Circuit Court of Appeals issued its ruling on Judge Laura Swain’s prior decision that had affirmed the PROMESA Board as constitutional. In a surprise finding, the Court of Appeals overruled Judge Swain, finding that the PROMESA…
Current Investigation: Shepherd, Smith, Edwards & Kantas, LLP (“SSEK Law Firm”) is currently investigating claims on behalf of former clients of Kristian “Kris” Gaudet (“Gaudet”) of Cut Off, Louisiana. In January 2019, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) barred Gaudet from association with any FINRA member. The result of such a bar is that FINRA has…
Ex-Merrill Lynch Broker Will Pay $5M Penalty and Serve Time In Prison A federal judge has sentenced Thomas Buck, an ex-Merrill Lynch broker, to 40 months in prison. Buck pleaded guilty to securities fraud in 2017. As part of his plea, he admitted to lying to Merrill about telling clients about their account options, and, at…
U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain has approved a plan to restructure nearly $18 billion of Puerto Rico’s Sales Tax Financing Corp. (COFINA) debt. Judge Swain, who is based in New York but oversees Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy-like proceedings, said the Court believes that the COFINA plan is essential to the island’s financial recovery efforts. The…
The CFTC is ordering Lawrence/Laurence Hong, his wife Grace Hong, and their Pishon Holding LLC to pay over $1.25M in restitution for the misappropriation and fraudulent solicitation of futures contracts. The couple already pleaded guilty to related criminal charges last year, with Laurence sentenced to 180 months in prison and Grace to 72 months behind…
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has filed civil charges against Statim Holdings, Inc. and its owner Atlanta investment adviser, Joseph A. Meyer. The regulator is accusing them of defrauding the private fund Arjun L.P., which they managed, and its investors. Arjun, set up by Meyer in 2007, is a pooled investment vehicle. Its records…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) has permanently barred fired Merrill Lynch broker Bhenoy (Ben) Dembla. According to InvestmentNews, The former broker was let go from the financial firm in 2016 for “falsifying documents” related to mutual fund sales. Dembla, who worked for Merrill the entire time he was a broker from 2001 to 2016,…
