A capital plan to reward investors with stock buybacks and dividends by Citigroup Inc. (C) was one of five to fail Federal Reserve stress test. The others that did not succeed were those involving the US units of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. (RBS), HSBC Holdings Plc. (HSBA), Zions…
FINRA says that LPL Financial, LLC must pay a fine of $950,000 for supervisory deficiencies involving the sale of alternative investment products, such as oil and gas partnerships, non-traded real estate investment trusts, managed futures, hedge funds, and other illiquid pass-through investments. By settling, the independent broker-dealer is not denying…
The Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities is looking into the sales of nontraded REITs by Securities America employees. Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc., which owns the broker-dealer and two other independent brokerage firms, said in its yearly report that the state regulator wants the brokerage firm to provide data…
Credit Suisse (CS) will pay $885 million to resolve securities allegations related to the sale of approximately $16.6B in residential mortgage-backed securities that it made to Freddie Mac (FMCC) and Fannie Mae (FNMA) prior to the financial crisis. The RMBS settlement is with the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees…
In an alleged insider trading scam that could have been ripped out of the plot of a movie, prosecutors are accusing three men of engaging in methods of spycraft, including eating the evidence, as they ran an insider trading racket that netted about $5.6 million. The information they used was…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is fining Securities America and Triad Advisors $625,000 and $650,000, respectively, for not properly supervising the way consolidated reporting systems were used. Triad must also pay $375,00 in restitution. Even though they are settling, the two firms are not denying or admitting to wrongdoing. The…
Following a jury finding ex-former Goldman Sachs Group (GS) trader Fabrice Tourre liable for bilking investors in a synthetic collateralized debt obligation that failed, U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest ordered him to pay over $825,000. Tourre is one of the few persons to be held accountable for wrongdoing related to…
Broker-dealer and investment bank Jefferies LLC (JEF) has consented to pay $25 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that it did not properly supervise traders at its mortgage-backed securities desk. These same staffers purportedly lied to investors about pricing. The regulator contends that Jefferies did not give its…
According to documents filed by Credit Suisse (CS) in Massachusetts state court, reports The New York Times, top officials at the financial firm encouraged subordinates to ignore due diligence standards and approve questionable loans that ended up packaged into mortgage investments. Also included in the papers are finding that there…
A jury has convicted Ex-Jefferies Group LLC (JEF) trader Jesse Litvak of securities fraud. Litvak was found guilty of 15 criminal counts, including 10 securities fraud counts related to his misrepresenting bond prices to customers so he could make more money for him and his firm. He pleaded not guilty…