The Wall Street Journal is reporting that JP Morgan Chase & Co., in its yearly Securities and Exchange Commission filing, said it may be facing up to $4.5 billion in legal losses over the losses it accounts for in its established litigation reserves. The SEC had asked for this additional…
Joseph Shereshevsky, the ex-COO of Wextrust Capital LLC (Wextrust), has pled guilty to securities fraud, conspiracy and mail fraud charges over his involvement in a $255 million dollar affinity fraud scam. Shereshevsky entered his guilty plea in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He and…
An indictment has been unsealed today accusing six people of securities fraud in a stock manipulation scam that bilked investors between 2003 and 2008. The Securities and Exchange Commission has also filed a civil complaint related to this case. The defendants are securities attorney Michael Simon Krome, Jonathan Randall Curshen,…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is ordering Merrill Lynch, a Bank of America Corp. unit, to pay a $500,000 fine over alleged oversight failures involving 529 plans, a college-savings product. Merrill Lynch has also been censured by FINRA in a disciplinary action. According to the SRO, Merrill Lynch lacked the…
State auditor Crit Luallen is accusing the Kentucky Workers’ Compensation Funding Commission of breaking the law when, rather than seeking financial advice from the Kentucky Finance and Administration Cabinet’s Office of Fiscal Management, it paid Morgan Stanley Smith Barney for private financial advice. Luallen contends that the workers’ compensation agency…
In what Investment News is describing as a legal victory for Securities America, a federal judge in Dallas has placed a restraining order on three upcoming FINRA arbitration claims against the broker-dealer and its brokers. The cases will be combined with two class action. This will likely limit Securities America’s…
The SEC has obtained an order to freeze the assets of investment adviser Michael Kenwood Capital Management LLC and firm principal Francisco Illarramendi, who is accused of taking at least $53M from a hedge fund and fraudulently transferring investor money from several funds to bank accounts he controlled. Illarramendi then…
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is currently asking for public comment on several rulemaking proposals and draft interpretive guidance, including the proposed Rule G-36, a new fiduciary duty rule for municipal advisors. Comment is also being sought on proposed rule amendments and guidances related to gifts by municipal advisors and…
Gregg M. Berger, an ex-Gilford Securities broker, has been indicted for conspiracy over his alleged involvement in a global pump and dump stock fraud scheme involving thinly traded Israeli and Chinese securities. He is charged with wire fraud and securities fraud. The SEC has also filed related civil securities fraud…
The securities case accusing Merrill Lynch International alleging breach of contract related to the $18 million credit default swap purchased by DKR Soundshore Oasis Holding Fund Ltd has been reinstated. The Appellate Division (First Department) of the New York Supreme Court rejected the financial firm’s efforts to get the case…