In a 3-2 vote, the SEC adopted rules to provide substantially more protections to investors who have assets held by registered broker-dealers. SEC Chairman Mary Jo White issued a statement saying she was confident the rules would give customers’ assets key “additional safeguards,” including the strengthening of audit requirements and…
A FINRA arbitration panel has decided that Citigroup (C) and Edward J. Mulcahy, one of the firm’s ex-branch managers, has to pay $11 million to investor John Fiorilla. Fiorilla is a legal adviser to the Holy See who went to Citigroup because he wanted to de-risk a $16 million stock…
The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have filed separate yet parallel securities fraud lawsuits against a Texas money manager accused of bilking investors in a foreign-exchange trading scheme. Kevin G. White allegedly took approximately $1.7 million of the $7 million of investor funds he raised…
Liquidators are suing Moody’s Investors Service (MCO), Standard & Poor’s, and Fitch Ratings over their issuing of allegedly fraudulent and inflated ratings for the securities belonging to two offshore Bear Stearns (BSC) hedge funds. The plaintiffs are seeking $1.12 billion. The credit raters are accused of misrepresenting their autonomy, the…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority says that Oppenheimer & Co. (OPY) will pay a $1,425,000 fine for the purported sale of penny stock shares that were unregistered and for not having an anti-money laundering (AML) compliance program that was adequate enough to identify and report suspect transactions. The financial firm…
Two China Companies Slapped With SEC Securities Lawsuit For Allegedly Fraudulent Scams In the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the Securities and Exchange Commission is suing consumer electronic company NIVS IntelliMedia Technology Group Inc., lighting company China Intelligent Lighting and Electronics Inc., and the Chinese…
The Government Accountability Office is recommending that the SEC look at eight other criteria for who should qualify as an accredited investor for purposes of the 1933 Securities Act Regulation D Rule 506. The criteria is divided into two categories: understanding financial risk and financial resources. The independent, nonpartisan agency…
Morgan Stanley will pay $100,000 to the New Jersey Bureau of Securities for allegedly selling exotic exchange-traded funds to investors. The state’s regulators say that the firm’s financial advisers were not properly trained and sold inverse and leveraged ETFs to senior investors that wanted to earn additional income. These clients…
Investor Jon Hanson is suing Berthel Fisher & Co. Financial Services Inc. for allegedly not conducting the necessary due diligence on the TNP 2008 Participating Notes Program or making the proper disclosures to parties like him that backed the high-risk investment. The private placement went into default in 2012. The…
In federal court, both the Securities and Exchange Commission and former Goldman Sachs Group (GS) vice president Fabrice Tourre have both rested their case in the civil trial against the bond trader. Tourre is accused of MBS fraud for his alleged involvement in a failed $1 billion investment connected to…