According to the Texas State Securities Board, Insignia Energy Group Inc. and its affiliate IEG Permian Basin LLC have violated state law because they are not registered to sell Texas securities. The Texas Securities Commissioner, which is accusing the Dallas-area emergency company of targeting laid-off teachers in the fraudulent sale…
Five of the six former Brooke executives accused of securities fraud have settled the charges filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. According to the SEC, the defendants misrepresented the deteriorating financial condition of Brooke, which eventually filed for bankruptcy. The agency says they employed “virtually any means necessary”…
Federal investigators are taking an even closer took at the securities-related practices of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS ). In a May 6 Filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, JPMorgan reported that an investigation into its municipal derivatives securities practices is being conducted…
Ambac Financial Group Inc. (ABKFQ), a number of its bank underwriters, and its insurers will pay $33 million to settle securities lawsuits accusing the bond insurer of concealing the risks it engaged in when it guaranteed risky mortgage debt. Ambac will pay $2.5 million, four insurance companies will pay $24.5…
UBS Financial Services Inc. has consented to a $160 million settlement over charges that it took part in anticompetitive practices in the municipal bond market. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Justice Department announced the settlement together. 25 state attorneys generals and 3 federal agencies had accused the…
Bruce Berkowitz, who is the Texas-based American International Group Inc.’s largest private shareholder, says he thinks the US government will sell its shares in the insurer at $27 to $29-that’s lower than the insurer’s “book value” and definitely lower than what he paid for most of his position. Berkowitz, who…
FINRA is fining Wells Fargo Advisors LLC $1 million over the allegations that the financial firm did not deliver mutual fund prospectuses within the three days (as required by federal securities laws) and delays in the updating of material information about former and current representatives. Wells Fargo has agreed to…
This week, Madoff trustee Irving Picard has filed a securities complaint against Safra National Bank of New York. Picard is seeking to recover about $111.7 millions for the investors who lost money in the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme. The funds he is trying to get back were allegedly transferred to…
According to SEC official Susan Ervin, fund directors are going to be find it increasingly harder to oversee derivative use by investment companies because the markets will become more differentiated. Ervin is the senior adviser to the SEC’s Division of Investment Management director. She made her statements before the Mutual…
A Securities and Exchange Commission administrative law judge has found several brokers liable for their alleged involvement in the unlawful sale of penny stocks to investors. In re Bloomfield, the SEC had filed securities charges against Robert Gorgia, Ronald S. Bloomfield, Victor Labi, John Earl Martin Sr. and Eugene Miller.…