House Financial Services subcommittee chair Paul Kanjorski introduced a new draft bill that proposes making credit ratings agencies collectively liable for inaccuracies. The agencies received a lot of heat when they failed to properly warn investors about the risks associated with subprime mortgage securities before the market fell. One problem…
A judge has ordered a former Merrill Lynch employee, San Antonio stockbroker Bruce E. Hammonds, to serve almost five years in prison and three years supervised release for Texas securities fraud. Bruce E. Hammonds also must pay $1.1 million in restitution to the Merrill Lynch investors he defrauded and almost…
The Colorado Securities Division is suing Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. for securities fraud. State regulators are accusing the broker-dealer of making false assurances to investors about auction-rate securities. In its Colorado securities fraud complaint, the securities division accused Stifel Nifel, Nicolaus of violating the Colorado Securities Act by allowing investors…
The Indiana Secretary of State’s Office filed an administrative complaint today accusing Stifel Nicolaus & Co.’s local office of securities fraud, failing to properly train members of its sales team, and failing to disclose risks associated with purchasing auction-rate securities. As a result, some 141 Hoosiers who had invested $54.0…
The Securities and Exchange Commission is charging trader Reza Saleh with Texas securities fraud. The agency is accusing the Perot Systems employee of buying call options contracts just two weeks before Dell announced it was acquiring the services company. The SEC says that as a result of insider trading, Saleh…
Citigroup Global Markets, Deutsche Bank Securities, and UBS Securities have agreed to pay fines for Financial Industry Regulatory Authority sanctions over their handling of Vonage LLC stock’s initial public offering in 2006. FINRA says that the firms’ failure to adequately supervise communications with customers cost investors hundreds of thousands of…
House Financial Services capital markets subcommittee chairman Rep. Paul Kanjorski recently warned that unless “additional safeguards” are put in place, the growing securitization of life insurance settlements could lead to the next financial crisis. During a hearing on the issue, Kanjorski said regulators, Congress, and credit ratings agencies should have…
Regions Bank has agreed to a $1 million fine to settle SEC allegations that it helped defraud some 14,000 investors. Most of the affected investors are based in Latin America. According to the SEC, Regions Bank helped two unregistered broker-dealers, U.S. College Trust Corp. and U.S. Pension Trust Corp., commit…
Following a Texas securities fraud claim that Bank of America‘s Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. allowed unregistered sales persons to sell securities, the Bank of America unit has agreed to pay $26.5 million as part of a national settlement over the allegations. The state of Texas’s portion of…
A former broker who was fired from both AG Edwards, Inc.and Stifel Nicolaus & Co. has been ordered to serve a 21-month federal prison sentence for selling fraudulent investments to Stifel Nicolaus clients. Neil Rolla Harrison told clients that they were investing in commodities futures or the gold market when…