NY Hedge Fund to Pay $413M to Settle Civil and Criminal Charges Over FCPA Violations Och-Ziff Capital Management Group has settled both criminal and civil charges accusing the New York hedge fund of paying bribes to obtain business in Africa. This is the first hedge fund to face punishment over…
According to a Securities and Exchange Commission probe, Forcerank LLC will pay a penalty of $50K for illegally offering complex derivatives products to retail investors. The company did this via mobile phone games referred to as “fantasy sports for stocks.” Forcerank is settling the case without deny or admitting to…
Deutsche Bank Securities (DB) will pay a $9.5B penalty to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for not properly safeguarding material nonpublic research information. Even though it is settling, Deutsche Bank is not denying or admitting to the findings. According to the regulator, Deutsche Bank urged its equity research analysts…
A number of hedge funds with Puerto Rico general obligation bonds want a court to stop the U.S. territory from using its sales-tax revenue to pay back other debt. Those hedge funds say that such an action is a violation of the Commonwealth’s constitution. To date, the Commonwealth owes nearly…
The Wall Street Journal and other media are reporting that Theranos is now the defendant of a securities fraud lawsuit brought by one of its major investors. The plaintiff is San Francisco hedge fund Partner Fund Management, which is one of the blood testing company’s largest financial backers. Partner, which…
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) subsidiary RBS Securities Inc. will pay the state of Connecticut $120M to settle allegations related to its dealings with mortgage-backed securities leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. According to state officials, RBS played a part in the crisis when it neglected to do the…
Texas-Based Brokerage Firm Accused of Inadequate Supervision Involving VA Exchanges The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is ordering IMS Securities Inc. to pay a $100K fine. The Texas-based brokerage firm is accused of failures related to its monitoring of variable annuity exchanges. By settling, however, it is not denying or…
New Proposed Amendment Would Shorten Period for Settling Securities Transactions The SEC has voted to propose a rule amendment that would abbreviate the typical length of a settlement cycle period for the majority of broker-dealer securities transactions. Instead of having this period run from three business day following the…
A Cetera Financial Group network brokerage firm will pay $1.1M in fines and restitution related to its sale of unit investment trusts. The broker-dealer is Investors Capital Corp. According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, in 74 clients’ accounts, certain advisers recommended steepener notes, as well as short-term trading…
SEC Charges Hawaii-Based Investment Adviser for Misleading Clients and Cherry Picking The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed civil charges against Oracle Investment Research, which is based in Hawaii, and its owner Laurence I. Balter. The regulator claims that the investment adviser cherry picked trades that were profitable for…