Earlier this month, a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority panel found Charles Schwab Corp. liable for $542,340 in an investor claim against the company over its YieldPlus short-term bond fund. This case is one of numerous individual arbitration and class action lawsuits against the San Francisco-based investment firm because of the…
This week, the securities fraud law firm of Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LTD LLP announced that it is investigating claims involving “structured products” that were created by Lehman Brothers. Structured products are also called “structured notes.” These financial instruments combine derivatives with equities and/or fixed incomes to create a…
The Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn are charging Eric Butler and Julian Tzolov, two ex-Credit Suisse brokers, with coming up with an auction-rate securities scam to mislead customers and increase their commissions. The fraud and conspiracy charges relate to the alleged deceptive sales of…
Massachusetts plumbing and air conditioning supply company F.W. Webb Company is suing State Street Bank and Trust Company, State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), and CitiStreet. F.W. Webb is accusing the defendants of misrepresenting a bond fund as a low risk 401k-investment option, when in fact, the SSgA Yield Plus Fund…
Prudential Securities has been plagued by claims over its deferred compensation plan, known as MasterShare. A number of former representatives have filed claims and recovered damages. Started in 1999, MasterShare allowed Pru employees to deduct up to 25 percent of their gross pay to purchase discounted shares of a stock…
SSEK law firm, which specializes in investor claims, is investigating compliants over the liquidity and security of so-called “ultra-short term” bond funds. Because these funds were sold as cash alternatives, any loss of principal is not acceptable. Recently, investors have experienced subtantial losses on a number of these funds, including:…
In New York, a judge has approved the decision by investors of a Citigroup Falcon Fund to drop their lawsuit asking for more data about how the bank plans to liquidate the fund. On February 22, Citigroup announced it was providing the Falcon Funds a $500 million line of credit…
The Securities and Exchange Commission has subpoenaed over 50 hedge fund advisors, including SAC Capital Advisors, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Citadel Investment Group, as part of its probe into whether rumors affected the shares of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers. The SEC is looking for information related to options…
In St. Louis, Missouri, 10 securities regulators probing the auction-rate securities crisis arrived at Wachovia Securities today. The firm has reportedly failed to fully comply with requests related to the investigation, which is what prompted the onsite visit. The investigators, from Missouri, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and other US…
This week, U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein announced that the securities arm of Deutsche Bank AG will have to defend itself against a lawsuit alleging that it lost almost $1.6 million in auction-rate securities. Xethanol Corp., which filed the securities lawsuit, alleges that Deutsche Bank Securities let the alternative-energy…