Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. has arrived at a nearly $31M settlement with plaintiffs of a class action securities case. They are accusing the retirement service provider of charging excessive fees in its retirement plans. The 401k lawsuit involved MassMutual’s $200M Agent Pension Plan and its $2.2B Thrift Plan. The…
A group of hedge funds in New York that invested in Puerto Rico general obligation bonds are suing the island’s government. The bond lawsuit came just days before the island is expected to default on a $2 billion debt payment due, including over $700 million in general obligation bonds on…
HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBC) will pay $35M to resolve an antitrust lawsuit accusing the bank of Euroyen Tibor and Yen Libor rigging. The securities case, brought by Sonterra Capital Master Fund, Hayman Capital Management, California State Teachers’ Retirement System, lead plaintiff Jeffrey Laydon, and other institutional investors, accused HSBC and…
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is charging Breitling Energy Corp. (BECC), Breitling Oil & Gas Corporation, Patriot Energy Inc., Crude Energy, LLC, and eight people over an $80M Texas oil and Gas scam run by a Dallas man. Chris Faulkner, who is Breitling Energy Corp.’s CEO, is accused of…
Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Galvin is ordering seven brokerage firms to pay $238K in fines for their involvement in the proxy fraud committed by Realty Capital Securities. The broker-dealers are: · Voya Financial Advisors Inc. (VOYA) · Invest Financial Corp. · FMN Capital Corp. · Platinum Wealth…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…