The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a civil case against Wedbush Securities Inc. and two of its officials. The regulator claims they violated a rule that mandates that firms have proper risk controls in place before giving customers market access. According to the SEC order, between 2011 through 2013…
The Second Circuit appeals court said that District Judge Jed Rakoff abused his discretion when he rejected the $285 million mortgage settlement between the SEC and Citigroup (C). The regulator accused Citigroup of selling sections of Class V Funding III, a $1 billion mortgage-bond deal, without revealing that the bank…
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is temporarily shutting down investment adviser Scott Valente and his ELIV Group LLC. The regulator is charging both with defrauding about 80 investors of $8.8 million. The regulator says that Valente promised huge returns to customers, who are mostly from the Warwick and Albany…
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is suing Freddie Mae, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency because she says that they are not working with the nonprofits willing to repurchase bank-owned homes and then sell them back to their prior owners. Coakley is claiming violations of the state’s foreclosure prevention law.…
The Securities and Exchange Commission is charging United Neighborhood Organization of Chicago and UNO Charter School Network Inc. with bilking investors in a $37.5 million bond fraud offering. The SEC contends that the charter school operator made statements that were materially misleading about transactions where there was a conflict of…
According to InvestmentNews, nearly half of investors in their fifties are now self-directed when it comes to their investments. This means that their main provider for investment advice is either a discount brokerage or a robo-adviser. 40% of investors in the 60 and over age group also are calling themselves…
Wells Fargo Settles Securities Lending Case for $62.5M Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) will pay $62.5 million to settle a class action securities fraud case. A group of retirement funds claim that the bank committed fraud and breached its fiduciary duty in its securities lending program. Now, a district court…
U.S. District Judge Otis Wright II says that a lawsuit by the city of Los Angeles, which seeks to hold Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) liable for foreclosures that occurred when the U.S. housing market collapsed, may proceed. Although Wright did not rule on the merits of the city’s claims,…
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has given its first whistleblower award in the wake of the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and its bounty program. The regulator awarded $240,000 to a person who voluntarily gave information that allowed the CFTC to file an enforcement…
Morgan Stanley Files Lawsuit Against Ex-Broker Convicted in Kickback Scam Morgan Stanley (MS) is suing ex-broker Darin DeMizio for legal fees. DeMizio was convicted over his involvement in a kickback scheme. Now, the financial firm wants him to pay back legal expenses because it says that he purposely defrauded the…