Carlyle Group will no longer be including a controversial arbitration clause initial public offering filing. The private equity giant had filed its IPO documents last year but has since been pressed by regulators and investors to drop the clause, which would have prevented company shareholders from submitting class action lawsuits…
Investor Lawyers Blog
FINRA Says Charles Schwab Corp. is Making Customers Waive Right to Pursue Class Action Lawsuits
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has filed a complaint against Charles Schwab Corp. The SRO says the online brokerage is in violation of FINRA rules because it makes clients waive their rights to pursue class actions against it. Per a new provision added to over 6.8 million customer account agreements,…
Senate Passes Bill Banning Congressional Insider Trading
Two days after the US Senate votes 92 to 2 to take up a measure that would ban Congressional members from engaging in insider trading, the legislation has passed by a 96 to 3 vote. The bill, which bars members of Congress from using confidential information obtained as a result…
Two Ex-Credit Suisse Executives Plead Guilty to Mortgage-Backed Securities Fraud
Salmaan Siddiqui and David Higgs have pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to falsify books in the mortgage-backed securities fraud case against them. Higgs was former a Credit Suisse managing director while Siddiqui had been vice president. The US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice…
SEC and SIPC Go to Court Over Whether SIPA Protects Stanford Ponzi Fraud Investors
The US Securities and Exchange Commission is asking District Judge Robert Wilkins to make the federal Securities Investor Protection Corp. set up a claims process for the Ponzi fraud victims of R. Allen Stanford. These investors had purchased $7.2B in certificates of deposit that allegedly ended up being bogus. The…
AmeriFirst Funding Corp. Owner Convicted of Texas Securities Fraud
The former COO of AmeriFirst Acceptance Corp. and AmeriFirst Funding Corp. was recently convicted of multiple counts of Texas securities fraud and mail fraud for his involvement in bilking over 500 investors of over $50 million. A lot of the victims of Dennis Woods Bowden were retirees. Per evidence that…
FINRA Investor Education Foundation and NFL Player Join Forces To Protect Pro Football Players from Investment Fraud
In an effort to help incoming National Football League members from getting their careers started on solid financial ground, the NFL and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Investor Education Foundation are working with each other to help educate players and their families about investment fraud. The joint efforts come in…
CFTC and SEC May Need to Work Out Key Differences Related to Over-the-Counter Derivatives Rulemaking
In their efforts to move forward with rulemaking for over-the-counter derivatives, some are saying that the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission may find themselves grappling with differences that could pose a challenge for industry participants. For example, differences between proposed and final regulations could set…
FINRA Tells Financial Firms to Heighten Supervision of Complex Products
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has put out a formal notice to stockbrokers to let them know that complex financial products must come under the focus of heightened supervision. According to the SRO, a complex product is one with numerous features that can impact its investment returns depending on different…
Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group Brings Federal Investigators and State Law Enforcement Officials Together to Investigate How MBS Abuses Contributed to 2008 Financial Crisis
55 Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, prosecutors, and analysts have been dispatched by the US government to join up with state law enforcement officials as part of a financial crimes enforcement unit that will investigate how home mortgage abuses played a part in creating the economic meltdown of 2008. The…