Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corporation must pay hedge funds Rosen Capital Partners LP and Rosen Capital Institutional LP $63,665,202.00 in compensatory damages plus interest (9% from October 7, 2008). A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel issued the order which found the respondent liable. In their statement of claim, made…
Steven T. Kobayashi has pleaded guilty to money laundering and wire fraud. The former UBS financial adviser is accused of bilking his private investment fund investors. As part of his plea agreement, he will pay $5,431,600 in restitution and serve a 65-month prison term. Per the criminal charges, beginning in…
According to US Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Mary Schapiro, the General Securities Administration will likely take over the SEC’s leasing space system following the agency’s $550 million deal for 900,000 square feet of office space that it ended up not needing. Schapiro made her statements during testimony before a…
According to ex- SEC’s Office of International Corporate Finance chief Sarah Hanks, there is the strong possibility that Congress or the Securities and Exchange Commission will modify the agency’s ban on the general solicitation for private securities offerings and the number of shareholders that trigger reporting requirements. Hanks says that…
JPMorgan Chase & Co. will pay $211 million to settle charges that its JP Morgan Securities LLC Division rigged dozens of bidding competitions for reinvesting the proceeds from municipal bond transactions to win business from local and state governments. The settlement is for complaints that the US Securities and Exchange…
In Erica P. John Fund Inc. v. Halliburton Co., the US Supreme Court said that securities fraud plaintiffs don’t have to demonstrate loss causation to receive class certification. The unanimous ruling reinstated claims made by investors that defendant Halliburton Inc. (HAL) made material misrepresentations and misstatements. In its securities complaint,…
Federal regulators have approved a plan that would make Wall Street executives forfeit two years’ pay if it was discovered that he/she played a part in a major financial firm’s collapse. Executives who are considered “negligent” and “substantially responsible” are subject to this rule, which clarifies that “negligence,” rather than…
According to Ex-Texas State Securities Board Denise Voigt Crawford, giving oversight of nearly 12,000 investment advisers to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to cut costs is a bad idea and one for which investors will end up paying the price. FINRA is Wall Street’s self-funded regulator. Already charged with overseeing…
Allstate Insurance Co., which bought over $104M in residential mortgage-backed securities in 6 offerings from Morgan Stanley between ‘05 and ’07 is suing the broker-dealer for securities fraud. The insurer claims that the financial firm sold it RMBS under the assurances that they were in alignment with “conservative” underwriting standards…
According to the Insured Retirement Institute, the majority of consumers don’t read the prospectus that accompanies a variable annuity purchase. IRI, which issued its report last week, also found that: • 94% of consumers would like to get a prospectus summary that is shorter and is available either online or…