In a recent securities case, manager BlackRock is accused of self-dealing and pilfering from iShares exchange-traded funds’ securities lending revenues. The plaintiffs are pension funds Plumbers and Pipefitters Local No. 572 Pension Fund of Nashville and Laborers’ Local 265 Pension Fund of Cincinnati. They contend that a number of the…
Over the years, the Texas courts have followed federal courts in that they are now showing a preference that business disputes be resolved in arbitration rather than with a trial. Many view arbitration as a less costly, faster, and more logical way to solve conflicts between a company’s employees and…
A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority panel has ruled that Focus Capital Wealth Management Inc. and its owner Nicholas Rowe must pay investors $1.8 million over securities fraud allegations related to the sale of high-risk exchange-traded funds. The investment adviser is accused of civil fraud, negligence, and other misdeeds related to…
A district court judge in Minnesota has ordered a $125 million auction-rate securities arbitration case filed by Allina Health System against UBS (UBS) to proceed. U.S. District Judge Michael Davis found that claimant Allina is indeed a UBS client even though the financial firm had argued that under Financial Industry…
Ex-Hedge Fund Exec Pleads Guilty to $1M Investment Fraud In the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, ex-hedge fund principal Berton Hochfeld pleaded guilty to wire fraud and securities charges over his alleged role in an investment scam that bilked investors of over $1M. He had…
A US District judge is ordering Morgan Keegan & Co. to repurchase auction-rate securities and make a payment of $110,500 in an ARS lawsuit filed by the SEC that accuses the financial firm of misleading investors about these investments’ risks. The SEC contends that the $2.2B in securities that the…
The US Justice Department has filed criminal charges against ex-Jefferies & Co. Inc. Director Jesse Litvak, who is accused of defrauding investors in residential mortgage-backed securities. The former senior trader allegedly also defrauded a federal bank bailout program and private and public funds when he falsified sellers’ identities and prices…
Dexia SA (DEXB) is suing JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM ) for over $1.7 billion. In its mortgage-backed securities lawsuit, the Belgian-French bank contends that the loans underlying the securities that the US bank sold it were riskier than what they were represented to be. JP Morgan and its…
The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved rule amendments that provide greater clarity about the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s right to examine and copy the records and books of its member financial firms and associated persons. Per amended Rule 8210, staff and adjudicators are entitled to copy and inspect “data…
A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel says that Oppenheimer & Co. has to pay US Airways Group Inc. (LCCC) $30 million for losses that the latter sustained in auction-rate securities. The securities arbitration case is related to the airline group’s contention that the financial firm and one of its…