According to Richard C. Breeden, who is overseeing the US Department of Justice’s Madoff Victim Fund, he has received some 51,700 claims worth approximately $40 billion from Ponzi scam victims seeking to recover their losses. That amount is three times more than the claims submitted during the bankruptcy proceedings for…
Authorities in the United States want BNP Paribas SA (BNP) to pay over $3.5 billion to settle state and federal probes into the lender’s involvement with countries that are sanctioned, including Iran and Sudan. Prosecutors reportedly would like BNP to plead guilty to criminal charges related to the alleged misconduct.…
Moody’s Investors Service (MCO) and other credit rating agencies are saying that there is a good chance that Doral Financial Corp. (DRL), which is based in Puerto Rico, will default on over $150M muni notes and bonds. Moody’s has downgraded both a note and a bond that was issued by…
Goldman Sachs (GS) Group Inc. said it is under scrutiny in probes related to high-frequency trading and whether its hiring practices comply US antibribery laws. This is the first time the firm has publicly disclosed both investigations. The information was made available via Goldman’s quarterly filing with the SEC. In…
A New York appeals court says that Citigroup (C) must face a collateralized debt obligation lawsuit accusing the firm of lying about the risks involved in nearly $1 billion of securities. The plaintiff is Loreley Financing, a group of investment companies in the Channel Islands that was set up to…
The Texas State Securities Board has reprimanded Senator Ken Paxton and ordered him pay a $1,000 fine for soliciting investment clients even though he wasn’t properly registered. According to the board’s disciplinary order, Paxton, who is running for state attorney general, violated the Texas Securities Act. Under the Act’s Section…
Timothy C. Davidson, a Florida investment adviser, is suing BlackRock (BLK). He says the money manager and other defendants breached their fiduciary duty by charging disproportionately high investment advisory fees for the BlackRock Global Allocation Fund (MDLOX). He says that the excessive fees had “no reasonable relationship” to the services…
Regulators belonging to the Financial Stability Oversight Council are looking at the new practices of asset managers, mortgage services companies, and insurers to search for potential threats related to certain high risk investment areas. The group just issued its yearly report to Congress, highlighting certain risks, both current and emerging…
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (MS) will pay a $5 million fine for supervisory failures involving its advisors soliciting shares in 83 IPOs to retail investors. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority says that the firm lacked the proper training and procedures to make sure that salespersons knew the difference between…
A Financial Industry Arbitration panel says that Ameriprise Financial Services Inc. (AMP) must pay $1.17M to two senior investors for getting them involved in investments that failed. The panel said that the financial firm acted inappropriately when it advised Albertus Niehuis Jr., 82, and his wife Andrea, to put $1.03M…