A district court judge in Minnesota has ruled that Wells Fargo & Co. must pay four Minnesota nonprofits $15 million or more in costs, fees, and interests for breach of fiduciary and securities fraud. The investment bank has already been slapped with a $29.9 million verdict in this case against…
Articles Posted in Securities Fraud
SEC Charges Two Ex-Wachovia Brokers Over Alleged $8 Million Elder Financial Fraud
Two former Wachovia Securities LLC brokers, Eddie W. Sawyers and William K. Harrison, have been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with six counts of securities fraud. The two men, who previously operated Harrison/Sawyers Financial Services, are accused of defrauding at least 42 elderly investors of their retirement savings,…
Hedge Fund Owner of Trueblue Strategies LLC Settles SEC Charges that He Hid Investor Trading Losses
Hedge fund manager and investment adviser Trueblue Strategies LLC owner Neil Godbole has agreed to settle for $40,000 Securities and Exchange Commission charges that he hid his investors’ trading losses. Godbole also agreed to an advisory industry bar for a minimum of five years and to cease and desist from…
Bank of America to Pay $137M Over Alleged Investment Scam To Pay Municipalities Low Interest Rates on Investments and $9M Over Alleged Bid-Rigging Scheme to Nonprofits
Bank of America has agreed to pay $137 million to settle charges that it was involved in a financial scheme that allowed it to pay cities, states, and school districts low interest rates on their investments. The financial firm allegedly conspired with rivals to share municipalities’ investment business without having…
Goldman Sachs & Co. Clearing Unit Must Pay Unsecured Creditors of Bayou Hedge Funds $20.5M FINRA Arbitration Award, Says District Court
A district court has rejected Goldman Sachs & Co.’s (GS ) challenge to a $20.5 million securities fraud award for unsecured creditors of the failed Bayou hedge funds. The unsecured creditors are blaming the investment bank of failing to look at certain red flags and, as a result, facilitating the…
SEC IG Investigating Whether Examiners Were Told by Regional Official to Ignore “Red Flags” Indicating Massive Fraud
Securities and Exchange Commission Inspector General H. David Kotz says that his office is looking into a complaint that a regional official told examiners to not go after “red flags” that were found in an exam of an investment adviser where a “massive fraud” was discovered. The official in question…
Actions of Former Ferris, Baker Watts, Inc. General Counsel Accused of Supervising Rogue Broker to be Reviewed by SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission will be taking a closer look at the actions of ex- Ferris, Baker Watts, Inc. General Counsel Theodore Urban. Urban has been accused of failing to reasonably supervise stockbroker Stephen Glantz, who was involved a stock market manipulating scam with Innotrac Corp. stock. It is…
Operation Broken Trust Investment Fraud Sweep Has Ended
According to the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, the largest investment fraud sweep ever conducted by the United States has ended. Called Operation Broken Trust, the probe involved 231 cases and over 120,000 fraud victims who sustained over $8 billion in investment losses. Operation Broken Trust’s objective was to discover…
Class Members of Charles Schwab Corporation Securities Litigation Can Still Opt Out to File Individual Securities Claim
The US District Court has approved an amendment to the proposed Charles Schwab Corporation Securities Litigation settlement. The Supplemental Notice of Proposed Settlement of Class Action has been sent to the affected class members, which includes those who may have held Schwab YieldPlus Fund shares on September 1, 2006 and…
Federal and State Securities Acts’ Anti-Waiver Provisions Did Not Bar International Forum Selection Clause’s Enforcement, Says Texas Court of Appeals
The Court of Appeals of Texas has held that in a shareholder agreement regarding the purchase of company stock, the federal and state Securities Acts anti-waiver provisions did not bar the enforcement of an international forum selection clause. The parties had consented to the exclusive jurisdiction of courts in Ontario,…