In Gabelli v. SEC, the US Supreme Court has decided that in some securities fraud cases, the SEC needs to move faster when it comes to filing its case. The ruling could affect agencies nationwide. In a unanimous decision, the justices sided with two officials of Gabelli Funds LLC, who…
In the wake of the recent financial crisis, retail investors, especially those seeking to save for retirement and who lost much when their stock portfolios and mutual funds dropped, are feeling compelled to get involved in complex products that until recently were targeted to their more sophisticated counterparts. Many want…
Lawmaker Presses SEC to Tackle High-Frequency Trading Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) is pressing the Securities and Exchange Commission to help stop the allegedly harmful impact of high-frequency trading. Writing to SEC Chairman Elisse Walter and her predecessor Mary Schapiro, Markey talked about how the Market Reform Act of 1990 gives…
In a recent securities case, manager BlackRock is accused of self-dealing and pilfering from iShares exchange-traded funds’ securities lending revenues. The plaintiffs are pension funds Plumbers and Pipefitters Local No. 572 Pension Fund of Nashville and Laborers’ Local 265 Pension Fund of Cincinnati. They contend that a number of the…
The US Justice Department has filed criminal charges against ex-Jefferies & Co. Inc. Director Jesse Litvak, who is accused of defrauding investors in residential mortgage-backed securities. The former senior trader allegedly also defrauded a federal bank bailout program and private and public funds when he falsified sellers’ identities and prices…
Securities Claims Against Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Underwriters Are Dismissed The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has thrown out the California Corporations Code claims made against the underwriters of two offerings of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. debt securities per the precluding of the 1998 Securities…
In their amicus curiae brief, a number of ex-SEC Commissioners and top officials told the U.S. Supreme Court that the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to revive the agency’s antifraud cases against investment advisory officials Bruce Alpert and Marc Gabelli was a mistake. The…
Investment advisory firms EM Capital Management and Barthelemy Group have settled SEC administrative charges that they got in the way of Commission staff examinations. Both cases were settled without the parties involved denying or admitting to the allegations. According to the SEC, Barthelemy Group and Evens Barthelemy allegedly misled examiners…
According to Financial Industry Regulatory Authority EVP Susan Axelrod, the SRO’s examiners are reporting an increase in how many brokers appear to be taking part in questionable actions outside their firms or improperly selling securities. Speaking at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s complex products forum, she pressed brokerage…
BP Plc. has consented to settle for $525 million Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that it gave the agency and investors misleading information about the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. If approved, this would be the third biggest penalty in SEC history. According to the Commission, during the crisis the…