The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has added the children and wives of Texans Charles and Samuel Wily to the fraud case that has already rendered a $187.7M award, plus interest, in its favor. The move would come following Sam Wiley’s decision to file for bankruptcy earlier this month. Over…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is fining and censuring Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated $2.5M for not setting up, maintaining, and enforcing supervisory procedures and systems related to certain areas, including Regulation SHO. The self-regulatory organization is fining Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corp. $3.5M, also for Reg SHO…
Noah Myers waved his right to indictment and pleaded guilty to defrauding clients of over $2M. The investment adviser admitted to his involvement in a cherry picking scam. Myers, 43, owns MiddleCove Capital LLC, which is located in Connecticut. He faces up to 20 years behind bars and a maximum…
The European Commission has found that Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), JPMorgan (JPM), UBS AG (UBS) and Credit Suisse (CS) engaged in cartel behavior. Except for RBS, which received immunity from having to pay any fines by disclosing the cartel conduct, the other banks were fined $120 million for their…
Earlier this month, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission put out a Risk Alert reminding brokerage firms about their duties when they take part in unregistered transactions for customers. The guidance came, along with the announcement that the agency had filed an enforcement action against former and current E*TRADE Financial…
Lawyers for 73 Swiss banks are questioning the terms of self-disclosure program that would allow them to achieve amnesty for having helped Americans avoid paying taxes to the U.S. government. In a request to the Justice Department, the attorneys objected to certain terms while recommending changes to the model accord.…
Rajarengan “Rengan” Rajaratnam, the brother of Raj Rajaratnam, has consented to pay over $840,000 to settle insider trading charges filed, against him by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Rengan, who has not admitted to or denied wrongding, also has agreed to an industry bar. A court must still approve…
In a preliminary ruling, The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said it expects to reject BlackRock Inc.’s (BLK) proposal to put out a nontransparent exchange-traded fund. BlackRock sought permission to sell the ETF from the regulator in 2011. The fund wants to keep its investments secret, which go against SEC…
According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the agency filed a record number of enforcement actions in 2014. Concluding the fiscal year on September 30, the regulator announced that it filed 755 SEC enforcement actions and obtained orders of $4.16 billion in disgorgement and penalties. Last year, the agency…
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency have jointly approved a new rule for mortgage-backed securities and collateralized loan obligations. The regulation…