The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. is fining J.P. Turner & Co., LaSalle St. Securities, and H. Beck Inc. $100K, $175K, and $425K, respectively, for lapses in supervising reports sent to clients. The reports provided asset summaries, and the self-regulatory organization is concerned that they had the potential to hide…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is fining Oppenheimer & Co (OPY) $2.5M for not supervising Mark Hotton. The ex-broker stole from customers and excessively traded in their accounts. Oppenheimer must also pay $1.25 million in restitution. To date, the brokerage firm has paid over $6 million to settle customer securities…
The Financial Conduct Authority has banned Paul Robson, an ex-Rabobank Groep (RABO) trader, from the financial services industry in the United Kingdom. Robson pleaded guilty to U.S. fraud charges and was convicted for his involvement in a conspiracy to rig the London interbank offered rate (Libor). This is the FCA’s…
Credit rating agency Fitch Ratings (“Fitch”) has downgraded the general obligation and related debt of Puerto Rico to “B”, rating it even further into junk territory and three notches under investment grade, because of worries about the U.S. territory’s ability to go through with planned financing. As a result of…
F-Squared Investments Inc. has laid off 40 workers-that’s one-fourth of its staff-as it continues to deal with the ongoing asset losses in the wake of the securities fraud charges filed against it by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last year. During a routine examination, the regulator discovered that the…
Ameriprise Financial Inc. (AMP) will pay $27.5 million to settle a fiduciary breach case filed by its retirement plan participants. The plaintiffs contend that the financial firm cost them millions of dollars in excessive fees. The agreement was reached just weeks before the 401k lawsuits were set to go to…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has sanctioned First New York Securities LLC for short selling prior to participating in 14 public securities offerings. To settle, the firm, which is not denying or admitting to the charges, will pay a $400,000 fine, disgorgement of $516,000 plus interest, and is barred for…
Investors who were bilked in Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scam will be getting back another $93 million. Madoff Trustee Irving Picard said that Defender Limited and related entities have consented to give back that amount, which they received from investing with the Ponzi mastermind. As part of the agreement, the $93…
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has barred David Scott Cacchione from the securities industry once again. Cacchione was banned in 2009 for helping to mastermind a $100 million financial scam. This time, his bar is for attempting to start a registered investment adviser firm while in jail for the…
Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, a Bank of America unit (BAC), will pay the state of Massachusetts $2.5 million to resolve charges that it did not abide by its own compliance rules. According to Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin, the firm did not properly supervise employees in January…