BlackRock Inc. (BLK) wants a judge to dismiss a securities lawsuit accusing the money manager of charging exorbitant fees and breaching its fiduciary duties. Lawyers for the firm argued that the claims have no merit in the U.S. District Court in Trenton, New Jersey. The investor plaintiffs, including a Florida…
The SEC has filed charges against Chimera Energy, a Houston-based penny stock scam, and four individuals for their purported involvement in a pump-and-dump scam that made over $4.5 million in illicit proceeds. Investors were led to believe that the company was creating technology that would allow for oil-and-gas production that…
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is charging Linkbrokers Derivatives LLC with involvement in an $18 million fraud scam . The New York-based firm, which is no longer a broker-dealer, is settling the charges by paying $14 million. According to the regulator, brokers at Linkbrokers secretly manipulated the costs of…
Even though UBS Wealth Management Americas (UBS) has been generating record revenue, the financial firm saw its profits drop upon reporting that had it put aside $44 million for litigation costs primarily related to Puerto Rico bond fraud cases. UBS’s second quarter earnings of $238 million are 3% lower than…
According to a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel, Morgan Stanley & Co. (MS) must pay Banco Nacional de Mexico SA unit $4.5 million for allegedly letting funds from a family’s trust account be utilized for paying back third-party loans without authorization. The Mexican bank, also known as Banamex, was…
Gabriel Bitran, an ex- Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, and his son Marco Bitran have pled guilty to securities fraud charges accusing them of bilking investors of $140 million. Through their company, GMP Capital Management, the father and son placed investor money in hedge funds linked to Bernard Madoff, who…
In a settlement reached with the Illinois Securities Department, LPL Financial (LPLA) agreed to pay a $2 million fine and $820K in restitution for inadequate books and records maintenance involving 1035 exchanges. According to the firm’s BrokerCheck file, LPL Financial did not enforce “supervisory system and procedures” when certain persons…
Christ Church Cathedral in Indiana is suing JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) According to church leaders, the bank made inappropriate recommendations, causing $13 million in losses. They’re accusing JPMorgan of advising that the church invest in proprietary funds that were underperforming. The church filed its securities fraud lawsuit in the…
SEC Chief Administrative law judge Brenda Murray has fined J.S. Oliver Capital Management $15 million for securities violations and breach of fiduciary duty related to an alleged cherry-picking scam that bilked clients of approximately $10.9 million. The registered investment adviser must also pay $1.4 million in disgorgement. According to the…
The U.S. State of Kansas has agreed to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission fraud charges accusing it of failing to disclose in offering documents that the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS), its pension system, was very underfunded. The regulator says that this established a repayment risk for bond…