According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Citigroup Global Markets Inc. has consented to pay $1.5 million in disgorgement and fines for failing to properly supervise broker Mark Singer and his handling of trust funds belonging to two cemeteries. By agreeing to settle, Citigroup is not denying or admitting to…
Investor Lawyers Blog
Republican Senator Seeks to Water Down Fiduciary Standards in Pending Investor Rights Bill and Exempt Insurance Companies from Liability
The North American Securities Administrators Association is criticizing an amendment introduced by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). SA 4009, an amendment to the Senate financial regulatory reform bill (S. 3217), would protect variable annuities sellers from the fiduciary standard. While her amendment imposes a fiduciary standard on broker-dealers that offer investment…
Leahy Amendment Would Provide Whistleblower Protection While Holding SEC and CFTC Accountable If They Don’t Follow Up on Tips
A number of watchdog groups want Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) to support an amendment to the financial regulatory reform bill that he is sponsoring. The bill lets the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission set up bounty programs for whistleblowers that approach them…
Deutsche Bank Securities & National Financial Services Fined $925,000 for Regulation SHO Short Sale Restrictions & Supervisory Violations
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority says that Deutsche Bank Securities and National Financial Services LLC have consented to be fined $925,000 in total for supervisory violations, as well as Regulation SHO short sale restrictions violations. By agreeing to settle, the broker-dealers are not denying or admitting to the charges. FINRA…
JP Morgan Chase & Co. Accused of Securities Violations Involving Guaranteed Investment Contracts and Derivatives
In a May 10 Securities and Exchange Commission filing, JP Morgan Chase & Co. says that an SEC regional office intends to recommend that the agency file charges against the investment bank for securities violations involving the selling or bidding of derivatives and guaranteed investment contracts (GICs). JP Morgan says…
State of Connecticut Retirement and Trust Funds to Get Back $795,000 Lost in Securities Fraud Carried by Former Connecticut State Senate Fresident
The Securities and Exchange Commission says that the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut has approved a Fair Fund distribution that will give back $795,000 to the State of Connecticut Retirement and Trust Funds, which suffered financial losses because of an investment scam involving William A. DiBella, the…
SEC’s Division of Investment Management to Make 12b-1 Fee and Form ADV Recommendations Soon
According to the director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Investment Management Andrew Donohue, its staff is close to recommending that the SEC adopt a proposed rule mandating that mutual funds give clients better information about the uses of Rule 12b-1 distribution fees and their amounts. The fees…
Private Equity Firm Onyx Capital Advisors LLC Charged with Securities Fraud by SEC
The SEC has filed securities fraud charges against the private equity firm, Onyx Capital Advisors LLC, its founder Roy Dixon Jr., and his friend Michael Farr. The agency is accusing the defendants of stealing over $3 million from three area public pension funds. According to the SEC, Onyx Capital Advisors…
Supreme Court Nominee Elana Kagan Took Investors Side on Two Significant Securities Cases
The Wall Street Journal reports that as Solicitor General of the United States, US Supreme Court nominee Elana Kagan has sided with investor interests in two high profile lawsuits. In one securities fraud complaint that looked at when shareholders can sue mutual–fund mangers that had allegedly charged fees that were…
New Braunfels Firm Accused of Texas Securities Fraud In Sales of Viatical (Insurance) Investments
State District Court Judge Stephen Yelenosky has frozen the assets of Retirement Value LLC and appointed a receiver to take control of the New Braunfels company, which faces allegations of Texas securities fraud related to the sale of investments linked to death benefits from life insurance policies. The Texas State…