In Los Angeles Superior Court, a number of life insurance companies, mutual funds, retirement systems, and other investors are suing Wachovia Securities LLC for alleged fraud related to the sale of senior subordinated notes for beverage maker Le Nature’s Inc. The Pennsylvania-based company filed for bankruptcy in 2006. Causes of…
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas says that two ex-Southwest Securities Inc. brokers acted fraudulently when they purposely tried to circumvent policies designed to prevent market timing trades. The Securities and Exchange Commission had brought the case against the two men. The brokers were aleged to…
An AARP Financial Inc. survey says that many U.S. investors make investment errors and miss out on opportunities to invest because they find financial jargon confusing, technical, and hard to understand. GfK Custom Research North America of New York interviewed 1,203 adults by phone for the survey. Findings included: *Over…
A class action law suit has been filed on behalf of those who bought Schwab YieldPlus Investor Funds Investor Shares and Schwab YieldPlus Funds Select Shares against the Schwab Corporation, the underwriter and investment adviser connected to the funds, and several Schwab officers and directors. However, many smart investors are…
In a note to investors, Wachovia Securities Analyst Doug Sipkin commented on the state of the leading Wall Street securities firms in light of the worsening global credit crisis. Sipkin blamed the “The failure of Bear Stearns” on a “management issue” rather than a “market issue.” JP Morgan Chase &…
Three A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. brokers are being ordered to pay $750,000 in fines for their participation in a market-timing scam that involved mutual funds that benefited certain customers. The brokers, Thomas Bridge, James Edge, and Jeffrey Robles, were also ordered to serve suspensions from the securities industries. Bridge,…
Appearing before the U.S. Congress last week, Countrywide Financial CEO and founder Angelo Mozilo, Ex-Citigroup CEO Charles Prince, and Ex-Merrill Lynch Chairman and CEO Stanley O’Neil gave their testimonies to the House Committee on Government and Oversight Reform. The three men say that reports about their compensation are “grossly exaggerated”…
Fidelity Investments has agreed to pay an $8 million fine to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that the company failed to properly supervise its stock traders that had improperly received gifts. 13 current and ex-Fidelity employees are targeted in the SEC investigation. The gifts were given to traders by…
Oppenheimer & Co. has settled Financial Industry Regulatory Association charges regarding the market timing of mutual funds. The company has agreed to pay $4.25 million as restitution to five dozen mutual fund companies, as well as a $250,000 fine. FINRA says that Oppenheimer failed to stop five traders’ engagement in…
Questar Capital Corp. has fired Jason Kavanaugh, its senior vice president of mergers and acquisitions, because he failed to disclose outside business activities and private securities transactions. Kavanaugh recently came under fire when it was discovered that he paid E-M Management Co. LLC $57,000 for fake, unregistered securities. Kavanaugh also…