Massachusetts securities regulators fined Oppenheimer & Company, Inc. a million dollars for failing to supervise its representatives and ordered the company to also pay $135,000 to the victim, the difference between the losses she sustained and the amount Oppenheimer earlier paid her. Oppenheimer was charged with failing to supervise a…
In the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, a jury issued its verdict in the “squawk box” front running case. Seven people were acquitted of securities fraud, while Timothy O’Connell, a former Merrill Lynch & Co. stockbroker was found guilty of making false statements and of…
As a former Vice President and registered representative at several major brokerage firms for 20 years, I witnessed Wall Street in action. My assessment of Wall Street is that the majority of the 600,000+ registered representatives at over 5,000 brokerage firms are fairly honest people who seek the best interest…
A U.S. District Court in Indiana entered a permanent injunction against several defendants charged by the SEC over their alleged involvement in a $32 million prime bank scheme. They were also ordered to pay $14 million in disgorgement, plus other sanctions The SEC issued a release saying these defendants, including…
Barclays Bank PLC and a former proprietary trader for Barclays’ U.S. Distressed Debt Desk agreed to pay a total of $11.69 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges they traded on inside information received while on the creditors committees for six bankrupt companies. Neither admitted or denied the SEC’s…
A large percentage of U.S. investors could be convinced to invest into a “guaranteed return” investment scam, according to a poll by “Money-Track,” a public-television series, and Investor Protection Trust, an investor education group. The poll surveyed investors regarding eight basic investment principles, such as the definition of diversification and…
The North American Securities Administrators Association released its “Top 10 Traps” likely to ensnare investors, a list that included real estate investment contracts, affinity fraud, foreign exchange trading, and Internet fraud. Other problematic areas, according to NASAA, include: “free lunch” investment seminars; oil and gas scams; prime bank schemes; private…
JP Morgan Chase & Co. is reporting a 68% increase from the sale of their corporate trust unit, as well as strong investment growth. Credit quality became weaker, however. This suggests that the investment bank’s individual and commercial clients, like with many major banks, had a more difficult time paying…