In Manhattan, prosecutors are charging Fred Elm, the founder of Elm Tree Investment Advisors LLC, and Ahmed Naqvi, its COO, of running a $17M Ponzi scam that allegedly bilked over 50 investors. According to the government, the two men falsely claimed they had access to pre-initial public offerings and that…
Michael Donnelly, formerly the president of Coastal Investment Advisors Inc. and its brokerage firm, has been sentenced to 99-months behind bars. Donnelly pleaded guilty to securities fraud and wire fraud that involved stealing money from older investors and unsophisticated investors. From ’07 through the middle of ’14, Donnelly, a Florida…
U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority is barring Paul White, an ex-Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) trader, for misconduct involving the rigging of the London interbank offered rate. The FCA said that White behaved with recknlessness and was not in integrity when he would submit information about Libor related to the Swiss…
More than three years after IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG sued Morgan Stanley (MS) for over $147.1M in residential mortgage-backed securities, the brokerage firm is asking the New York appeals court to dismiss the case. Morgan Stanley claims that it was the German lender that did not conduct the necessary due…
Goldman Sachs (GS) has settled a mortgage case brought by the U.S. Department of Justice accusing the firm of deceptive mortgage practices leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. As part of the deal, Goldman will pay $5.06B to resolve the charges. According to the DOJ, the bank also admitted…
Problems continue to plague Puerto Rico as its financial situation continues to deteriorate. Just recently, as things have worsened for the U.S. territory, a number of hedge funds have asked the United States District Court in San Juan, Puerto Rico to freeze the assets of the Commonwealth’s Government Development Bank…
A number of Credit Suisse Group (GS) units want a NY court to rule that the RMBS case brought by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is time-barred in the wake of precedent from the state’s highest court. The AG, who brought the case under the Martin Act, is seeking more than…
According to a law enforcement source that spoke to Newsweek, there may be a connection with a $12 million Ponzi scam involving restaurateur Hamlet Peralta and an investigation that the FBI is conducting into allegations of corruption at the NYPD. Peralta, who is the purported mastermind of the alleged scheme,…
The SEC and G. Steven Burrill have reached an agreement to settle charges accusing the biotech venture capitalist of taking money from a fund overseen by his firm to pay for his expensive lifestyle and help support his other businesses. Burrill is accused of hiding from investors that he siphoned…
FINRA Accuses Ex-Broker of Unsuitable Trading Involving Mutual Funds David Randall Lockey, a former broker, is facing Financial Industry Regulatory Authority charges for allegedly engaging in improper trading of customer accounts while associated with SWS Financial Services Inc. He is no longer with that firm, now called the Hilltop Securities…