Investor Lawyers Blog

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Merrill Lynch to Pay $425M to the SEC and $5M to FINRA for Misusing Customer Funds and Misleading Investors About Structured Notes

Merrill Lynch will pay $415M to resolve civil charges accusing the firm of misusing customer funds and not safeguarding customer securities from creditor claims. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the firm violated the regulator’s Customer Protection Rule by using customer funds inappropriately instead of depositing them in a…

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Securities Cases: Medical Capital Executive To Pay Almost $40M for Private Placement Fraud, Momentum Investment Partners Accused of Not Disclosing Fees, and First Mortgage Corp. Settles Mortgage Fraud Claims

Ex-Medical Capital Holdings COO Gets 10 Years in Prison Joseph J. Lampariello, the ex-president and COO of Medical Capital Holdings, has been sentenced to 10 years and one month in prison for his involvement in a private placement fraud that became the Ponzi scam responsible for the shutdown of dozens…

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Denver Broncos Quarterback Mark Sanchez and MLB Pitchers Roy Oswalt and Jake Peavy Defrauded in $30M Scam

The Securities and Exchange Commission has gotten a court order to freeze the assets of investment adviser Ash Narayan. He is accused of bilking Denver Broncos quarterback Mark Sanchez, ex-Major League Baseball pitcher Roy Oswalt, and San Francisco Giants pitcher Jake Peavy, and other clients of millions of dollars in…

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Municipal Bond Fraud: Two Firms Are Accused of Deceptive Practices When Working with California School Districts & Ex-CEO of Charter School Operator Settles Charges

The Securities and Exchange Commission has settled its fraud case with two municipal advisory firms and their executives. They are accused of using deceptive practices when trying to solicit business from five school districts in California. The advisory firms, School Business Consulting Inc. and Keygent LLC, resolved the administrative proceedings…

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HSBC Holdings to Pay $1.575B In Mortgage Lending Lawsuit

HSBC Finance Corp., an HSBC Holdings Plc. (HSBC) unit, will pay $1.575B to settle a shareholder class action securities case that was brought in 2002. The case involves Household International, the consumer finance business that HSBC purchased in 2003. Household International is now HSBC Finance. Household shareholders accused the company…

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Securities Headlines: FINRA Enforcement Officials Say They Are Keeping Their Eyes on Variable Annuities, Massachusetts Goes Looking for Rogue Brokers, and Man is Accused of Scamming Women He Met Online

FINRA Takes a Closer Look at Variable Annuities At a recent Insured Retirement Institute Conference, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. enforcement officials said that even though variable annuities are not on the regulator’s list of examination priorities for 2016 this doesn’t mean it isn’t scrutinizing them. FINRA Sr. VP/deputy enforcement…

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US Supreme Court Strikes Down Law That Would Have Let Puerto Rico Public Utilities Restructure Their Debt

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Puerto Rico law that would have let its public utilities restructure $20 billion of debt. The territory’s officials enacted the Recovery Act in 2014 in an attempt to help it deal with its $70 billion of debt. Puerto Rico’s large public utilities owe…

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Securities Crimes: Ex-Pharmaceutical Executive Martin Shkreli Pleads Not Guilty to New Criminal Charge & Andrew Caspersen’s Lawyer Says Former Wall Street Trader is a Gambling Addict

Martin Shkreli, the former chief executive of Retrophin Inc., has pleaded not guilty to a new charge of conspiracy. Shkreli was arrested last year for allegedly plotting to bilk the pharmaceutical company to cover up losses sustained by investors in his hedge funds. He was let go as CEO two…

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Libyan Fund Accuses Goldman Sachs of Financial Exploitation

In the High Court in London, the trial in the lawsuit brought by the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) against Goldman Sachs (GS) is under way. The sovereign wealth fund claims that in 2008 the Wall Street bank misled it about a number of derivatives transactions, causing it to lose $1.2B…

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Ex-NBA and NFL Players Win $819K Arbitration Award in FINRA Arbitration Case Against Morgan Stanley Smith Barney

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel has awarded former NBA basketball player Keyon Dooling and ex-NFL athlete John St. Clair $819,000 in damages in their securities case against Morgan Stanley (MS). The two men accused the firm of negligent supervision of a former broker whom they blame for their…

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