According to a study commissioned by the US Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, securities class action lawsuits are not a help to investors seeking to recover their investment losses. The study, which was released by Navigant Consulting, found that class action litigation costs investors close to $39 billion annually even…
The Securities and Exchange Commission is getting ready to revisit a 2008 rule proposal about exchange-traded funds. In the wake of new issues that have cropped up since then, changes to the original proposal are likely. Speaking at the Investment Company Institute’s Mutual Fund and Investment Management Conference this week,…
Credit Suisse (CS) will pay $885 million to resolve securities allegations related to the sale of approximately $16.6B in residential mortgage-backed securities that it made to Freddie Mac (FMCC) and Fannie Mae (FNMA) prior to the financial crisis. The RMBS settlement is with the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees…
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed securities fraud charges against the promoter behind affiliated microcap stock promotion websites. The regulator us accusing John Babikian of using PennyStocksUniverse.com and AwesomePennyStocks.com to engage in “scalping” which is a type of securities fraud. The SEC has also obtained an emergency asset freeze.…
In an alleged insider trading scam that could have been ripped out of the plot of a movie, prosecutors are accusing three men of engaging in methods of spycraft, including eating the evidence, as they ran an insider trading racket that netted about $5.6 million. The information they used was…
The non-traded real estate investment trusts industry wants to delay the implementation of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority disclosure rule until the end of 2015. The rule would require that investors be given more accurate data about the valuation of direct participation programs and non-traded REITs. This should provide investors…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is fining Securities America and Triad Advisors $625,000 and $650,000, respectively, for not properly supervising the way consolidated reporting systems were used. Triad must also pay $375,00 in restitution. Even though they are settling, the two firms are not denying or admitting to wrongdoing. The…
Castlight Health (CLST) saw its share price soar from $16/share to close to $40/share on the first day of its IPO last week. Despite bringing in just $13 million in revenue yearly thus far, its market cap still managed to hit $3 billion. Now some are wondering if this is…
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against brokers Michael A. Horowitz and Moshe Marc Cohen, investment adviser BDL Manager LLC, and four others for their involvement in a variable annuities scam. The financial fraud purportedly aimed to make money from the deaths of terminally sick patients living under…
According to the Investor Protection Trust, out of every five senior citizens over age 65, one of them will fall victim to a financial scheme in 2012. The Federal Trade Commission says that citizens over age 60 made up the largest group of people to report elder financial fraud to…