Last month, Merrill Lynch & Co. reached a $550 million settlement with investors and employees over losses related to investments in subprime mortgage-backed assets. A court must approve the proposed settlements. In the securities class action case, the plaintiffs have accused Merrill Lynch of using statements on collateralized debt obligations…
Carolinas Healthcare System (CHS) is suing Wachovia Corp for alleged bad investments that resulted in losses valued at over $19 million. CHS is also accusing the bank of “directly misleading” it, misrepresenting the risks associated with the investments, and failing to follow the hospital system’s orders that it be withdrawn…
UBS Financial Services, Inc., UBS Securities, LLC, and Citigroup have reached finalized settlements with the Securities and Exchange Commission to pay tens of thousands of ARS investors almost $30 billion. The settlements will resolve SEC charges that the companies misled investors about the risks involved with auction rate securities. The…
The California Court of Appeal has remanded a lawsuit filed by an elderly woman accusing Wells Fargo of defrauding her and her husband. The case now goes back to the Los Angeles Superior Court, where a judge must determine whether Wells Fargo engaged in fraud when its employees executed its…
The Texas Supreme Court says that former NEXT Financial Group Inc. stockbroker Michael Clements’s claim that the brokerage firm fired him for refusing to cover up churning activity must be arbitrated. Clements was hired as a NEXT Financial regional supervisor in September 2006. Nearly a year later, the brokerage firm…
Even though regulators are calling on broker-dealers to employ stricter hiring standards when it comes to screening brokers who have already gotten in trouble for alleged broker misconduct, many firms continue to hire these suspect workers. It doesn’t help that broker-dealers have a tendency to not reveal key details when…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority says that former World Group Securities representative David Olson was named in a customer complaint filed in October 2008. The customer claims Olson persuaded him to buy real estate, which was leased back to the representative. The customer alleges that Olson agreed to pay the…
Merrill Lynch & Co. is confirming that Branch Manager Joseph Mattia no longer works for the investment firm’s global wealth-management group. Mattia supervised 200 financial advisors in Merrill Lynch’s 5th Avenue office. A spokesperson for Merrill Lynch refused to provide details. CNN reports that Mattia left the firm. Investment News,…
This month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a decision granting class action plaintiffs another opportunity to make their securities fraud claims against Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. The district court had previously dismissed the class action lawsuit as untimely under the 1934 Securities Exchange Act.…
Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin is charging Oppenheimer & Co. with unethical conduct and fraud. The state’s top securities regulator is accusing the investment bank of continuing to market and sell auction rate securities to clients even as Oppenheimer executives were getting rid of their own ARS holdings, worth…