The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is fining 10 firms $43.5 million in total for letting their equity research analysts solicit investment business and offering favorable research coverage related to the the planned Toys “R” Us initial public offering. The firms were fined: $2.5 million for Needham & Co. LLC; $4…
SEC Investigating Ex-Oppenheimer Executive for Securities Law Violations According to Bloomberg.com, Robert Okin, Oppenheimer & Co.’s (OPY) former retail brokerage head, is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. In October, the agency’s enforcement division notified Okin that, based on a preliminary determination, it intended to file charges against…
Former Ameriprise Financial (AMP) Manager Reema D. Shah, who pleaded guilty to securities fraud earlier this year, will pay $390,103 to settle both the criminal and Securities and Exchange Commission cases against her. Shah, who was a tech stock picker for Ameriprise subsidiary RiverSource Investments, LLC, illegally recommended Yahoo Inc.…
Joseph Francis Bartholomew is charged with 30 felony counts related to his alleged operation of an $11 million Ponzi scheme. The 75-year-old former licensed insurance agent has been called Orange County, Ca.’s Bernard Madoff, after the financier who ran a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scam for decades. Bartholomew allegedly bilked over 27…
A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel says that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) has to pay two brokers $7.6 million because they were wrongfully terminated. Luis Sampedro and Christopher Barra, who are now with UBS (UBS), claim that the Goldman made them forfeit deferred commissions after letting them…
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has launched CFTC SmartCheck. The site gives consumers information about financial fraud. It links to The Securities and Exchange Commission’s EDGAR product registration database and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s BrokerCheck system, as well as to the National Futures Association. For the first time the…
Six years after the collapse of Bernard Madoff’s multi-billion dollar Ponzi scam, over $10 billion has been recovered—that’s close to 60% of the principal that went missing after his arrest in 2008. Nearly $6 billion has been paid back to investors. Trustee Irving Picard recently provided these figures in an…
The U.S. Commodity Future Trading Commission says that hedge fund Paul Greenwood has been sentenced to ten years behind bars. Greenwood, who was the general partner of WG Trading Co., pleaded guilty to numerous criminal charges, including securities fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, commodities fraud, and conspiracy in 2010. Greenwood…
Life Partners Holdings Inc., its CEO Brian D. Pardo, and general counsel R. Scott Peden must pay $46.9M in penalties and disgorgement. This is the final judgment in the wake of a verdict in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s civil case. The jury found them liable for submitting securities…
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claims that two ex-executives at Assisted Living Concepts Inc. committed fraud by listing bogus occupants at certain senior residences to satisfy the lease requirements to run the facilities. The regulator is accusing former CFO John Buono and previous CEO Laurie Bebo of coming up…