Oppenheimer Champion Income Fund (OPCHX; OCHBX; OCHCX; OCHNX; OCHYX) plummeted 82% overall making it the worst performing taxable high yield bond fund of 2008. The investors believed they were in a conservative high yield fund when in fact they were exposed to illiquid derivatives and high risk mortgage backed securities.…
Bank of America Merrill Lynch has agreed to settle for $2.5 million Financial Industry Regulatory Authority allegations that it did not provide “sales charge discounts” to clients with eligible unit investment trusts purchases. By agreeing to settle, the broker-dealer is not admitting to or denying the charges. Of the $2.5…
John Gardner Black, who spent three years in prison after pleading guilty to 21 counts of securities fraud, two counts of false documents, and three counts of mail fraud in 2001, says he doesn’t think that he should have to pay $61.3 million in restitution. Prosecutors had accused Black of…
According to state authorities, there are more Texas securities schemes happening than ever before. One of the reasons for this is that many investors are looking for opportunities to make money during these tough economic times as they try to rebuild their savings. Securities officials are working hard to combat…
If you are an investor who suffered losses because you invested in the Oppenheimer Champion Income Fund, do not hesitate to contact our securities fraud law firm to request your free case evaluation. Unfortunately, many investors were not apprised of the risks they were taking on when they placed their…
Bloomberg recently reported on a report by Institutional Risk Analytics Managing Director Christopher Whalen. According to the former Federal Reserve Bank of New York official, structured notes are about to become the “next investment bubble.” Whalen is the one who predicted a little over three years ago that the mortgage-backed…
A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel has ordered UBS Financial Services Inc. to pay investor Kajeet Inc. $80.8 million for failed auction-rate securities. The brokerage firm disagrees with the decision and intends to file a motion to have the claim vacated. Although Kajeet had only invested $8 million in…
As the credit markets started to close for over a dozen companies, including Prudential Financial, CIT Group, and GMAC Inc., the firms began to get their funding for debt financing from retirees-reports Bloomberg in an August 2009 article. For example, between December 2007 and 2008, CIT sold $827 million of…
The Securities and Exchange Commission staff report is recommending that the US Congress define life settlements as securities to make sure that investors of these types of transactions receive federal securities law protection. The SEC says there are several benefits to making such an amendment to securities laws: • This…
For $75 million, Citigroup will settle federal allegations that it failed to disclose that its subprime mortgage investments were failing while the market was collapsing. This is the first securities fraud case centered on whether investment banks fairly disclosed their own financial woes to shareholders. Unlike the Goldman Sachs case,…