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…
Following a jury finding ex-former Goldman Sachs Group (GS) trader Fabrice Tourre liable for bilking investors in a synthetic collateralized debt obligation that failed, U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest ordered him to pay over $825,000. Tourre is one of the few persons to be held accountable for wrongdoing related to…
Broker-dealer and investment bank Jefferies LLC (JEF) has consented to pay $25 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that it did not properly supervise traders at its mortgage-backed securities desk. These same staffers purportedly lied to investors about pricing. The regulator contends that Jefferies did not give its…
InvestmentNews is reporting that according to sources in the know, the Securities and Exchange Commission is trying to figure out whether currency traders at the biggest banks fixed benchmark foreign-exchange rates and distorted the process for exchange-traded funds and options. The regulator, which oversees the options and ETFs involved with…
The Securities and Exchange Commission has put out an emergency enforcement action to stop a pyramid scam that has already taken $300,000 from about 150 investors in the US. The scheme involves bogus companies pretending to be an international investment firm. Customers were solicited via Twitter, Skype, Facebook, and YouTube.…
According to documents filed by Credit Suisse (CS) in Massachusetts state court, reports The New York Times, top officials at the financial firm encouraged subordinates to ignore due diligence standards and approve questionable loans that ended up packaged into mortgage investments. Also included in the papers are finding that there…
According to a study for The Wall Street Journal, investors in municipal bonds are paying trading commissions that are around twice as high as those for corporate bonds. Individuals continue to be the largest participants in the muni bond industry, currently valued at $3.7 trillion, because these bonds are considered…