Better Markets, a non-profit group, is suing the US Department of Justice to block the $13 billion mortgage-backed securities fraud settlement reached between the federal government and JP Morgan Chase (JPM). The group wants the deal to undergo judicial review. The settlement resolves DOJ mortgage bond claims with a $2 billion…
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) has agreed to settle securities allegations that it defrauded federal agencies by underwriting mortgage loans that were sub-standard. As part of the agreement with the US government, the bank acknowledged that for over 10 years it approved thousands of insured loans that were ineligible for…
Previous articles have described the numerous problems that many investors currently face as a result of investments their broker at UBS or another brokerage firm made to invest in Puerto Rican municipal bonds. Other posts have discussed why UBS knew or should have known that those problems were imminent, and…
This week, Standard & Poor’s (“S&P”) cut the credit rating for Puerto Rico’s general obligation debt to junk-bond status due to concerns about an inability to access capital markets. S&P had put the US territory’s rating on notice for such a downgrade late last year. Now, the credit rating agency…
The losses that investors in Puerto Rico bonds and UBS Puerto Rico bond funds have suffered continue to mount, and the downgrade to high risk, or “junk bond” status is only going to make things worse. In 2013 alone, investors in Puerto Rican bonds saw losses of over 20%. However,…
The Securities and Exchange Commission said that as part of Operation Shell-Expel, its initiative to fight microcap fraud, it is suspending trading in 255 dormant shell companies that it says are “ripe for abuse in the over-the-counter market.” The regulator’s Office of Market Intelligence in its Enforcement Division has been…
Morgan Stanley (MS) will pay $1.25 billion to the Federal Housing Finance Agency to resolve the latter’s securities fraud lawsuit accusing the firm of selling mortgage bonds to Freddie Mac (FMCC) and Fannie Mae without apprising them of the risks. A lot of the loan involved in this MBS lawsuit…
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association wants the US Labor Department to hold back on putting out its expected proposed rule modifying its definition of fiduciary standard of care until the Securities and Exchange Commission decides whether it will put out its own standard for financial professionals. SIFMA is…
Many of the people hit hardest by the massive collapse of the market for Puerto Rico bonds have been seniors and retirees, for two main reasons. First, seniors and retirees have the most amount of money available to invest on average. They have worked for their entire lifetimes, dutifully and…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has put out an alert to help investors figure out whether an IRA rollover is the right choice. Gerri Walsh, the self-regulatory organization’s senior VP for Investor Education said that comparing investment choices and costs can prevent “unnecessary cracks” to one’s “nest egg.” FINRA offers…