The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against J.P. Morgan Investment Management Inc., War Chest Capital Partners LLC, Harvest Capital Strategies LLC, Omega Advisors, Inc., Auriga Global Investors, Sociedad de Valores, S.A., and, Sabby Management LLC. All six firms settled the enforcement actions, which allege short selling violations ahead…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) says that it is ordering Santander Securities LLC (Santander) to pay $6.4M for supervisory failures involving the sale of Puerto Rico Municipal Bonds and Puerto Rico closed-end funds. Of the payment to FINRA, $2 million is a fine and censure and over $4.3 million…
In district court in Los Angeles, CA, plaintiffs are suing Pacific Investment Management Co., Allianz Global Investors, and parent company Allianz Asset Management for breach of fiduciary duty. The plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit contend that the fiduciaries of the Allianz Asset Management of America 401(k) Savings and Retirement…
Over two years after it was initially proposed, a FINRA rule requiring that broker-dealers include a link to the self-regulatory organization’s BrokerCheck database has been approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The rule slated to go into effect, at the latest, at 180 days after the FINRA regulatory notice…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined six independent brokerage firms for not giving clients the proper discounts on big sales of business development companies and real estate investment trusts. According to InvestmentNews, the self-regulatory organization has been scrutinizing whether financial firms are giving the appropriate discounts, also known as…
The Securities and Exchange Commission is charging Briargate Trading LLP and its co-founder Eric Oscher with placing fake orders to make it seem as if there were a lot of interest in their stocks so they could manipulate prices. The practice is an illegal trading strategy called spoofing. To settle…
FINRA Expels Halcyon Cabot, Bars Chief Executives Halcyon Cabot Partners, Ltd. has been expelled by FINRA. The regulator also has barred its CEO Michael Morris and CCO Ronald Heineman from the securities industry. The reasons for the expulsion and bars include fraud, abusive sales practices, the concealment of private placement…
NJ Fund Managers Faces SEC Fraud Charges The Securities and Exchange Commission is charging William J. Wells and his Promitor Capital Management LLC with bilking investors in a $1.1 million Ponzi scam. According to the regulator, Wells falsely misrepresented himself as a registered investment adviser to some investors. However, rather…
In London, six ex-brokers accused of helping to rig interest rate benchmarks are now on trial in criminal court. The defendants include ex-ICAP (IAP) employees Darrell Read, Danny Wilkinson, and Colin Goodman, former RP Martin employees James Gilmour and Terry Farr, and ex-Tullet Prebon broker Noel Cryan, who are all…
The Securities and Exchange Commission is charging investment adviser Arthur F. Jacob and his Innovative Business Solutions LLC with fraud. The regulator claims that the two of them deceived clients from 2009 into 2014 and violated the federal securities laws’ antifraud provisions along with an SEC antifraud rule. In its…