The American Bar Association is in strong favor of self-funding for both the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. It is calling on Congress to quickly deal with this need to increase the agencies’ resources. In a letter to lawmakers on the House Financial Services Committee…
According to a senior FINRA enforcement official, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority appears on schedule this year to bring about 1,500 enforcement actions-that’s about the same amount a last year, when this was then considered a record number. He said that the actions tend to be “isolated cases,” with dishonesty…
In U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, federal judge Manuel Real threw out five of the seven securities claims made by the Securities and Exchange Commission in its fraud lawsuit against ex-IndyMac Bancorp chief executive Michael Perry and former finance chief Scott Keys. The Commission is accusing the…
Citigroup Global Markets Inc. (CLQ) has consented to pay the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority a $3.5M fine to settle allegations that he gave out inaccurate information about subprime residential mortgage-backed securities. The SRO is also accusing the financial firm of supervisory failures and inadequate maintenance of records and books. Per…
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against fund manager Jason J. Konior and his Absolute Fund Management and Absolute Fund Advisors for running a Ponzi-like investment scheme that was supposed to maximize investors’ profits and instead allegedly funneled $2 million of clients’ money to pay for earlier investors’…
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. arbitrator Alvin Green is ordering David Lerner Associates Inc. to pay claimants Florence Hechtel and Joseph Graziose $24,450 for the Apple REITs that they bought from the firm. They will get the money after returning the Apple REIT 9 shares to the company. The Apple…
At a House Financial Services Committee hearing on May 17, a number of Democratic lawmakers spoke out against the Securities and Exchange Commission’s practice of settling securities enforcement actions without making defendants deny or admit to the allegations. There is concern that companies might see this solution as a mere…
A district court has approved ex-Morgan Stanley (MS) executive Garth Peterson’s civil settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over alleged Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations. In SEC v. Garth Peterson, the plaintiff agreed to pay $241,589 in disgorgement and give up his interest in an apartment building in China.…
The SEC has charged David M. Connolly with running a Ponzi-like scam involving investment vehicles that bought and managed Pennsylvania and New Jersey apartment rental buildings. According to prosecutors in New Jersey, Connolly’s alleged victims were defrauded of $9 million. He also faces criminal charges. None of Connolly’s securities offerings…
Whistleblower Rodolfo Michelon is suing the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Securities and Exchange Commission in an effort to obtain records connected to the their probe into his employer, Sempra Energy (SRE). He believes that the SEC may have violated federal securities laws through the “outsourcing” of their investigation…