Lawyers for 73 Swiss banks are questioning the terms of self-disclosure program that would allow them to achieve amnesty for having helped Americans avoid paying taxes to the U.S. government. In a request to the Justice Department, the attorneys objected to certain terms while recommending changes to the model accord.…
Articles Posted in Financial Firms
Wells Fargo to Pay $5M Over Inadequate Controls, Altered Documents
Wells Fargo Advisers LLC has consented to pay $5M to resolve U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges accusing the firm of not keeping up adequate controls so that one of its employees would be unable to use a customer’s nonpublic information to engage in insider trading. Wells Fargo also was…
Pension Fund Securities Lawsuits: JPMorgan to Face MBS Case, PERSM Files Class Action Case, & Institutional Clients Can Sue BP
JPMorgan Ordered to Face $10B Mortgage-Backed Securities Case A federal judge said that JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) must face a class action securities fraud lawsuit filed by investors accusing the bank of misleading them about the risks involved in $10B of mortgage-backed securities that they purchased from the firm…
UBS is Fined $3.6M, Plus Must Pay $1.7M in Restitution Over Puerto Rico Closed-End Mutual Fund Sales
UBS Financial Services Incorporated of Puerto Rico (UBS) has reached a settlement with the Commonwealth’s Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions (OCIF) over UBS’s offering and sale of closed-end mutual funds in Puerto Rico. As part of the agreement, UBS will pay a $3.5 million fine, as well as…
Barclays to Pay $20M To Settle Libor Manipulation
Barclays PLC (BARC) has consented to pay $20 million to settle complaints over the manipulation of the London interbank offered rate benchmark. As part of the accord, the bank will cooperate with a group of Eurodollar-futures traders that have filed lawsuits against other banks over Libor manipulation. The deal resolves…
Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and 16 Other Banks Agree to Swaps Contract Modifications to Assist Failed Firms
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), Credit Suisse (CS), and fourteen other big banks have agreed to changes that will be made to swaps contracts. The modifications are designed to assist in the unwinding of firms that have failed. Under the plan,…
Securities Fraud: Ex-Ameriprise Adviser to Pay $3M for Ponzi Scam, Four Insurance Agents Allegedly Defrauded Senior Investors, and Trading in Nine Penny Stocks is Suspended
Former Ameriprise Adviser Ordered to Jail, Must Pay $3M Restitution Oscar Donald Overbey Jr., an ex-Ameriprise Financial Services (AMP) financial adviser, must pay back the $3 million he allegedly stole from investors while operating a Ponzi scam. The 47-year-old has been sentenced to three and a half years behind bars.…
FINRA Bars Former Raymond James Advisor for Elder Financial Fraud, Charges SWS Over Variable Annuity Supervision
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has barred Jo Ellen Fischer, an Raymond James independent financial advisor, for purportedly stealing nearly $1 million from a 95-year-old client. At the time, Fisher worked for Peoples Bancorp. According to the self-regulatory organization, from July to December 2013, the Raymond James advisor converted $924,750…
Former Axa Advisors Broker Faces SEC Charges Over Alleged $1.5M Ponzi Scam
The SEC is charging Dennis Wright, an ex-Axa Advisors broker, with operating a Ponzi scam for 14 years and bilking customers of $1.5 million. According to the regulator, from 1998 and into 2012, Wright allegedly persuaded at least 28 customers to take money out of Axa variable annuity accounts under…
Citigroup Inc. Must Turn Over Bank Records Over Banamex Unit to Oklahoma Pension Fund
A judge has ordered Citigroup Inc. (C) to give over certain internal records to the Oklahoma Firefighters Pension and Retirement System related to the bank’s Banamex unit. The pension fund is a Citigroup shareholder. Earlier this year, Citigroup revealed that its retail bank in Mexico City had been deceived in…