Brookstreet Securities Corp. has liquidated securities following margin calls by National Fidelity Securities (NFS), a division of Fidelity Investments. Earlier in the week, it was reported on this blog that Brookstreet informed its agents in an E-mail that “disaster” had struck the firm. NFS had marked down the value of…
Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Smith Barney and Charles Schwab are being sued for claims they improperly directed their clients’s funds into lower paying deposit accounts at affiliate banks, enabling those banks to reap billions in extra profits. Attorneys for investors seek permission to add Wachovia, based on “sweep” accounts it…
Today was “Black Friday” for Brookstreet Securities, as it closed for business. The firm’s 650 independent contractor brokers have been terminated, says Stanley Brooks, President of the firm. Brookstreet clients are left in limbo, many with huge losses in their accounts. As reported earlier this week, Brookstreet Securities Corp, based…
Claims are being filed and steps are being taken toward a class action to assist investors recover their losses after Brookstreet Securities reportedly advised its 500 brokers via E-mail that “disaster” had struck which could soon close the firm! Text of the firm’s internal e-mail is as follows: “Disaster, the…
A hedge fund managed by Bear Stearns that takes both bullish and bearish positions in subprime loans has been hit heavily by conditions in that market. Some of the fund’s assets were held at Merrill Lynch, on margin. When the equity in the fund dropped, Merrill issued margin calls. The…
Citigroup Global Markets Inc is being charged $3 million by NASD to settle charges connected to misleading materials it allegedly gave Bellsouth employees during retirement meetings and seminars held in North Carolina and South Carolina. NASD also says that Citigroup has to pay over 200 ex-Bellsouth employees $12.2 million in…
The NASD fined Omaha, Neb.-based Securities America Inc. a total of over $15 million for luring 32 long-term employees of Exxon Corporation into early retirement using false promises of high returns. The NASD stated that supervisors at Securities America largely ignored such actions by its registered representative who has been…
A employee of the Global Energy Group of Credit Suisse was arrested and charged for his role in an alleged scheme using material nonpublic information on nine merger transactions involving Credit Suisse clients to obtain over $7.5 million in profits. The Securities and Exchange Commission also brought charges against the…
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…
Wachovia Corporation agreed to acquire A.G. Edwards Corporation for $6.8 billion in stock. This will vault the company into the second-largest U.S. retail brokerage, behind only Merrill Lynch, with $1.1 trillion in client assets. This transaction is the largest of the recent takeovers of regional brokerage firms, which are having…