The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association wants the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. to prevent brokers from being able to plead poverty to escape arbitration payment orders. The promissory notes provide money for retention and recruiting incentives, and as long as a broker agrees to stay with a financial…
This week, Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) issued a statement announcing that Raymond James Financial Inc. (RJF) will be paying it $930 million to purchase Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc. and related affiliates in a stock purchase agreement. (Regions Morgan Keegan Trust and Morgan Asset Management, however, are not part…
Spencer Barasch, a former Securities and Exchange Commission attorney, will reportedly settle the civil charges filed against him by the Department of Justice by paying a $50,0000 fine. He is accused of inappropriately representing Allen Stanford, the ex-billionaire who is facing trial for masterminding a $7B Ponzi scam. Per the…
A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel has ordered Oppenheimer & Co. to repurchase the $5.98 million in New Jersey Turnpike ARS that it sold Nicole Davi Perry in 2007. The investor reportedly purchased the securities through Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. (OPY). Perry, who, along with her father, filed her ARS…
A Minnesota securities fraud lawsuit, filed by court-appointed receiver R.J. Zayed, contends that because NRP Financial Inc. allegedly failed to properly supervise former broker Jason Bo-Alan Beckman, the brokerage firm ended up assisting in one of the largest Ponzi scams that the state has ever experienced. The $150M financial fraud…
According to Consumer Reports, many of online readers are “very satisfied” with the services rendered by almost all 13 major brokerage firms in the US. 7,327 online subscribers took part in the survey to respond to questions about their own experiences between October 2010 and October 2011. Customer service, website…
Cliff Popper, the South Florida trader and former Brookstreet Securities broker known for convincing retail investors to get to behind risky subprime mortgages and defrauding them of over $100 million, has died. Popper, who was awaiting the judge’s decision in a civil securities fraud trial where he was a defendant,…
The SEC has charged investment adviser Anthony Fields with selling bogus securities on LinkedIn and other social networking sites. The alleged financial fraud has prompted the agency to put out two alerts warning of the risks that advisory firms and investors must contend with in the social media era. According…
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed Texas securities fraud charges against Life Partners Holdings Inc. and three of the company’s senior executives over their alleged involvement in a life settlement scam. Life Partners, which is a Nasdaq-traded company, makes nearly all of its revenue from the life settlements it…
US President Barack Obama overrode a Republican blockade in the Senate today when he appointed Richard Cordray as director of The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The new agency, which was designated the key regulator and protector of the average citizen over the Wall Street wealthy when financial regulations were overhauled…