The Securities and Exchange Commission has unveiled its Never-Before-Examined Initiative, which will allow it to look at registered investment advisers that have yet to be examined. The SEC shared details of its plan in a letter to these unexamined advisers, of which there are about 4,000. Some of these firms…
Credit Suisse (CS) is agreeing to pay $196 million and has admitted to wrongdoing as part of its settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations that it violated federal securities laws when it gave cross-border investment advisory and brokerage services to US clients even though it was not…
The Securities and Exchange Commission has put out an emergency action against Frank “Perk” Hixon Jr., an investment banker based in New York. Hixon Jr. is charged with insider trading that garnered him $950,000 in illicit profits that he purportedly used in lieu of making child support payments to the…
Less than three weeks after a judge approved the $8.5 billion mortgage securities settlement between Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and investors, another judge has rejected insurance giant American International Group’s (AG) efforts to delay the deal over its objections that loan modifications were not included in the agreement. Supporters…
This week, the Federal Reserve passed new rules that could make large foreign banks increase their capital by billions of dollars. Per the regulations, Credit Suisse Group AG (CS), Deutsche Bank AG (DB), UBS AG (UBS), and Barclays PLC (BCS), and other lenders based overseas that have units in the…
Even though jurors rendered a mixed verdict in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s financial fraud lawsuit in Texas against Life Partners Holdings Inc. (LPHI), the company still may have ended up with the better outcome because the Texas life-insurance investments seller won some of the bigger claims. Still, Even as…
A judge in US bankruptcy court has approved the $767 million mortgage securities settlement reached between Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Freddie Mac (FMCC). The deal involves a $1.2 billion claim over two loans made by the mortgage giant to Lehman prior to its collapse in 2008. As part of…
Prosecutors in the United Kingdom are charging three ex-Barclays Plc (ADR) employees with conspiring to manipulate the London interbank offered rate. The Serious Fraud Office charged Jonathan James Mathew, Peter Charles Johnson, and Styilianos Contogoulas with conspiring to defraud. These are the first criminal charges involving the manipulation of the…
In the wake of Puerto Rico’s plans to sell $2 billion of general-obligation debt to try to balance its beleaguered budget, the hedge funds planning to get involved in this latest bond offering are asking the US territory to raise enough funds to last two years. Reportedly, the hedge funds…
The Securities and Exchange Commission is charging Ryan King and Thomas Gonnella with securities fraud over a bogus “parking” scam. According to its Enforcement Division, the two Wall Street traders tried to get a round a firm policy that places a penalty for holding securities too long, and one of…