Steve Gordon, who used to be the special assistant to the Seattle SuperSonics basketball team, has been charged with federal wire fraud. Gordon is accused of using false pretenses to initiate at least $4 million in business deals. The criminal charges come after a 10-month probe by the Federal Bureau…
Standard & Poor’s (“S&P”) has just downgraded the general obligation rating of Puerto Rico from a rating of B to a rating of CCC +. The ratings agency said the downgrade was because the market access prospects for the U.S. territory have weakened even further and Puerto Rico’s ability to…
According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and its Merrill Lynch unit to find out if the lender broke rules established to protect customers accounts. According to sources in the know, over a three-year period, Merrill Lynch used…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the Securities and Exchange Commission have put out a report, the Senior Investment Initiative, to help brokerage firms come up with better procedures and policies for older investors. With the current low yields on traditional savings accounts and investments that are more low risk,…
Lynnda L. Speer, the widow of Home Shopping Network co-founder Roy M. Speer, is suing Morgan Stanley Wealth Management (MS), a branch manager, and an adviser for over $170 million. Mrs. Speer contends that the firm and adviser Ami Forte took part in excessive trading, abused their fiduciary duty, and…
According to The Wall Street Journal, the government of Puerto Rico and the hedge funds that own its bonds are looking to ex-International Monetary Fund officials to help solve the U.S. territory’s growing debt problem. Meantime, Puerto Rico is talking to the funds and other investors about borrowing some $3…
BlackRock Advisors (BLK) has consented to be pay $12M resolve Securities and Exchange Commission charges claiming that a conflict of interest that occurred because a former portfolio manager’s outside business activity was not disclosed. Additionally, the firm agreed to a censure and will retain an independent compliance consultant to perform…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. has barred broker Aaron Parthemer, a Wells Fargo (WFC) adviser, for taking part in a number of outside businesses and failing to disclose his involvement. FINRA has tight regulations that don’t allow brokers to take part in private securities transactions without notifying their firm…
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is accusing Leroy Brown Jr. of Texas securities fraud. Brown, a U.S. army veteran, allegedly solicited ex- and current members of the military and others to invest with him and his firm LB Stocks and Trades Advice. Among his purported wrongdoings are presenting his…
Financial firm Deutsche Bank (DB) will pay a $2.5 billion fine to regulators in the United States and Britain for its involvement in rate rigging. The German lender also will fire seven of its employees. This is the largest penalty to date against a financial institution over allegations of benchmark…