State Street Corp. (STT) will pay $32.3M to the US Securities and Exchange Commission and $32.3 to the federal government to resolve probes accusing the firm of bilking six clients on billions of dollars of trades by charging them secret commissions. As part of the settlement, the Massachusetts-based bank agreed…
Bond Fraud Case Leads to Conviction for Former Visium Asset Management A jury has convicted Stefan Lumiere, a former Visium Asset Management LP portfolio manager, of wire fraud and securities fraud. Lumiere was accused of conspiring to artificially inflate the value of a fund that was invested in debt issued…
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has announced that BlackRock Inc. (BLK) will pay $340K to settle civil charges accusing the New York-based asset manager of improperly utilizing separation agreements to get employees leaving the firm to waive their ability to receive an award as a whistleblower. BlackRock consented to…
The mortgage securities fraud deal arrived at between Deutsche Bank (DB) and the Department of Justice is now final. As part of the settlement, the German lender will pay a $3.1B civil penalty and $4.1B in relief to borrowers, homeowners, and others that were impacted because it purportedly misled investors…
Morgan Stanley Accused of Overbilling Investment Advisory Clients The US Securities and Exchange Commission announced that Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (MS) will pay a $13M penalty to resolve charges accusing the firm of overbilling clients through billing system and coding mistakes and violating the custody rule regarding yearly surprise exams.…
Moody’s Corp. (MCO) will pay nearly $864M to settle allegations about the way that credit ratings agency rated high-risk mortgage securities, including residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBSs) and collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. The settlement was reached between Moody’s Corporation, Moody’s Analytics Inc., and Moodys’…
A few weeks after a FINRA arbitration panel ordered UBS (UBS) to pay $18 million in a Puerto Rico bond fraud case, the firm has been ordered to pay another customer a large amount in a similar municipal bond claim. In this latest ruling, the Gomez family claimed they lost…
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer says that Volkswagen AG (VW) and ex-CEO Martin Winterkorn must face an investor lawsuit related to its diesel emissions cheating scandal. Breyer turned down VW brand chief Herbert Diess’s request that the proposed securities fraud cases be dismissed from a California court. The company is…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has revived a Puerto Rico bond fraud lawsuit brought by Puerto Rico Employee Retirement System bondholders. The pension fund is the largest on the island and the plaintiffs are suing the territory’s government. The bondholders brought their case after former Puerto Rico…
Investment Adviser Settles SEC Case for $575K John W. Rafal, a Connecticut-based investment adviser, has agreed to settle US Securities and Exchange Commission charges for $575K. As part of the settlement, Rafal is admitting wrongdoing in a civil case that accuses him of bilking a client and then trying to…