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…
According to Bloomberg.com, U.S. prosecutors are thinking about revoking settlements in currency manipulation settlements that were agreed upon years ago and going after banks for manipulating interest rates. The Department of Justice is looking at whether banks violated the earlier deals that resolved those investigations, which stipulated that they would…
According to a court-appointed receiver, investors who were the victim of a financial scam allegedly run by Total Wealth Management founder Jacob Cooper lost more than $44 million of assets. The investors are suing Cooper and other principals of the investment adviser. Cooper pursued investors using “Uncommon Wealth,” his weekly…
Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK) has agreed to pay $714 million to settle claims that it bilked pension funds and others by overcharging for currency transactions. The settlements resolve cases by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, as well as both private…
According to “Non-Traditional Costs of Financial Fraud,” which is a new research report by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, almost two-thirds of financial fraud victims who reported that they’d been bilked experienced at least one non-financial consequence to a serious degree. The findings show other ways in which this type…