The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is barring a former Citigroup broker from membership. The sanction comes following allegations of Texas securities fraud. According to the findings, Jose Luis Vinas converted about $3.3 million from customers while he served as a registered representative for both UBS Securities and Citigroup. The clients…
In Wilson v. Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and the Securities and Exchange Commission have submitted separate amicus curiae briefs to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that differ on whether Merrill Lynch can be held liable for allegedly manipulating…
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the sales practices that broker-dealers engage in when structured securities are hurting investors. The SEC released this recent finding in a report this week. Structured securities products are derivatives whose value is determined from baskets of indexes, other securities, options, debt issuances, commodities,…
According to Sean McKessy, the head of Securities and Exchange Commission’s Whistleblower Office, the agency has a $453 million fund from which to award bounties under its new whistleblower program. Kessey recently spoke during a BNA webinar. The 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act requires that certain…
The National Credit Union Administration has filed a $629 million securities fraud lawsuit against RBS Securities, Wachovia Mortgage Loan Trust LLC, Nomura Home Equity Loan Inc., Greenwich Capital Acceptance Inc., Lares Asset Securitization Inc., IndyMac MBS Inc., and American Home Mortgage Assets LLC. The NCUA is accusing the financial firms…
In district court, Judge Samuel Conti has confirmed a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority panel’s $75,000 arbitration award to Kenneth Schaffer against Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC. It was the financial firm that began proceedings against its former employer last year. Schaffer accused Wells Fargo of “ending” his career when on a…
Following SEC charges that they used material misrepresentations and omissions to misappropriate about $8.7 million from clients, family, and friends, Sam Otto Folin, Benchmark Asset Managers LLC and Harvest Managers, LLC have agreed to pay $11.6M in disgorgement, civil penalties, and prejudgment interests to settle the securities fraud allegations. By…
A new bill introduced by Republicans in the House is mandating that to be able to qualify for the SEC’s new Whistleblower program employees would have to first notify their firms of possible securities violations before going to the Commission. Commenting on the proposed legislation, which is known as the…
According to six Federal Home Loan Banks, the investors of Countrywide Financial Corp.’s mortgage bonds may be entitled to three or more times more than what the proposed $8.5 billion securities settlement reached with Bank of America Corp (BAC) is offering. Bank of America acquired Countrywide in 2008. Under the…
Janney Montgomery Scott LLC has consented to pay $850,000 to resolve Securities and Exchange Commission charges that it failed to set up and enforce policies to prevent possible insider trading. The financial services firm also agreed to cease from further violations of laws that prevent the misuse of material, nonpublic…