According to statistics put together by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the number of securities arbitration cases brought by the self-regulatory agency is on target to exceed last year’s total. A likely contributor to the increase can be attributed to the numerous Puerto Rico municipal bond cases already filed by…
Joe Price, the ex-chief finance officer of Bank of America Corp. (BAC) has consented to pay $7.5 million to settle allegations by the state of New York that the bank and its ex-executives misled investors over losses that were happening at Merrill Lynch even as shareholders were getting ready to…
In a victory for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, its Board of Governors has determined that Charles Schwab & Co. (SCHW) violated the self-regulatory organization’s rules when it added waiver language to agreements that prohibited customers from becoming part of any class action cases against the financial firm. Schwab has…
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York says that Barclays Plc (BARC) shareholders can go ahead with their securities lawsuit claiming that the British bank caused them to suffer financial losses over manipulation of Libor. The ruling reverses a lower court’s decision. The London Interbank Offered Rate…
Eric Bloom, the CEO of Sentinel Management Group, Inc., the now bankrupt hedge fund, has been convicted of bilking over 70 customers of more than $500 million prior to the firm’s collapse. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Bloom misappropriated securities that belonged to customers when he used the…
Bloomberg is reporting that U.S. prosecutors want Bank of America Corp. (BAC) to settle state and federal investigations into the lender’s sale of home loan-backed bonds leading up to the 2008 financial crisis by paying over $13 billion. The bank is one of at least eight financial institutions that the…
After a federal jury convicted Gary Lynn McDuff of conspiring to defraud investors, a U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas judge sentenced the 58-year-old to 25 years behind bar for the $11 million investment scam. McDuff’s co-conspirators, Robert Reese and Gary Lancaster, had both pleaded guilty-Reese has…
A number of pension funds in the US are suing BP (BP) for fraud. The institutional investors, including funds for public workers in Texas, Louisiana, and Maryland, and Bank of America’s (BAC) private pension plan, claim, that the corporation bilked them when it made misstatements about the Deepwater Horizon oil…
A number brokerage firms, including Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, LPL Financial (LPLA), and Stifel Nicolaus (SF) have responded to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s request for comments about FINRA-proposed rule about broker compensation. Proposed rule 2243 would require greater disclosure about the financial incentives that is offered to representatives who…
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a financial fraud case against Total Wealth Management Inc., an investment advisory firm based in Southern California. The regulator is accusing the firm of getting undisclosed kickbacks over investments recommended to clients. It is also alleging breach of fiduciary duty. According to the…