A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority hearing panel has expelled a Plano, Texas-based brokerage firm from the industry, barred its CEO, and ordered both of them to pay customers $24.6M in restitution. Red River Securities LLC and Brian Keith Hardwick are accused of engaging in fraudulent sales involving five oil and…
FINRA Fines LPL Financial $900K The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined LPL Financial (LPLA) for either not sending or failing to create records showing that it had sent over 1.6 million mandatory account notices to customers over a 36-month period. Under industry rules, account notices have to be sent…
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (MS) has consented to pay a penalty of $8M to resolve Securities and Exchange Commission charges accusing the firm of wrongdoing involving single inverse exchange-traded fund investments. Morgan Stanley admitted wrongdoing as part of the settlement. According to the SEC’s order, Morgan Stanley failed to adequately…
Citigroup Global Markets Inc. (C) has been ordered to pay $25M penalty by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to settle charges alleging spoofing in US Treasury futures markets. The regulator is also accusing the firm of not doing a diligent enough job of supervising agents and employees that were…
Eight People Implicated in $39M Penny Stock Fraud Get Prison Sentences, Must Pay Restitution In Ohio, eight people were sentenced to prison terms ranging from almost two years to a dozen years for their involvement in a penny stock scam that caused investors to suffer $39M in losses. One of…
Brian J. Ourand, a former Live Nation Entertainment and SFX Financial Advisory Management Enterprise executive, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud. Ourand admitted to embezzling almost $1M from heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, NBA basketball stars Glen Rice and Dikembe Mutombo, and another athlete. According to prosecutors, Ourand began defrauding clients…
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed fraud charges against Sentinel Growth Fund Management and its owner Mark J. Varacchi. The regulator is accusing the Connecticut-based investment advisory firm of stealing at least $3.95M from investors. Over $1M was allegedly used to resolve private litigation in which Varacchi was the…
In London, six traders have pleaded not guilty to charges accusing them of trying to rig Euribor, which is the Brussels-based equivalent of the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor). Euribor is key in establishing the rates on financial contracts, loans, and other financial products around the world. The defendants include…
Source Capital Group Inc. must pay three elderly investors their full investment of $810K plus $147K in interest, as well as $250K in legal fees, in a securities arbitration case accusing one of the investment bank’s brokers of selling them unsuitable investments. William Lashlee and Joyce and Keith McCrea filed…
A 401(K) participant is suing Aon Hewitt for its purported involvement in a kickback scam involving Financial Engines. Aon Hewitt is not the first company to be subject to such allegations involving the 401(K) advice provider. According to a participant in the Caterpillar 401(k) Retirement Plan, the alleged “covert kickback…