Founded 99 years ago, Moody’s Investors Service claims it “is among the world’s most respected and widely utilized sources for credit ratings, research and risk analysis.” Standard & Poor’s traces its origins to the 1860 publication of Henry Varnum Poor’s History of Railroads and Canals in the United States, a…
As discussed in earlier postings, after a court overturned the “Merrill Rule,” which exempted brokerage firms from duties of Investment Advisors Act of 1940, brokerage firms say they will cease “fee based” accounts rather than assume duties to clients mandated my that legislation. However, as predicted, regulators and legislators will…
Regulators in Massachusetts have charged Morgan Stanley and three of its employees with illegally cold calling people that had posted their resumes on CareerBuilder.com. According to the complaint by the stae, Arlen Fox, a Morgan Stanley broker in Boston, regularly downloaded thousands of resumes off the Web site. He and…
Legacy Financial Services Inc., an independent broker-dealer, has closed shop. Last July, the Petaluma, California company sold most of its affiliated registered representatives and their accounts to Multi-Financial Securities Corp. Some 125 advisers with close to $10 million in gross dealer concession were transferred by Multi-Financial. A number of Legacy…
FINRA, SEC, and state regulators are saying that the “free lunch” investment seminars for senior citizens are actually high-pressure sales pitches, involving fraud and misleading claims about financial products that are not suitable for its elderly audience. A report of these findings will be issued to the public this week.…
Only a tiny fraction of whistleblower claims against companies have been successful since the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley law five years ago, raising questions about the ability of employees to raise the alarm about corporate malfeasance, a study claims. While corporate America whines almost daily about “burdens” placed by it…
“Mr. Chairman, there is no doubt financial fraud aimed at older Americans is real.” This astounding statement was made at the SEC’s Senior Summit by Mary L. Schapiro, the Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the regulatory body formed by the merger of the National Association…
Sentinel Management Group, the Chicago-based money manager that the Securities and Exchange Commission has accused of misappropriating client assets and defrauding clients, is reportedly missing $505 million in its accounts. The National Futures Association found the shortfall during a recent investigation. The missing funds could bring up questions regarding a…
Industry arbitration critics want the Financial Industry Regulator Authority to forbid “public” arbitrators from having any connections to the industry. Although the majority of arbitration panels in the industry continue to be made up of one industry member and two “public” panelists, critics say that the public members are not…
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges against 26 defendants for their alleged involvement in a $428 million securities fraud scheme targeting thousands of senior citizens and other investors in the United States. According to the SEC action, filed in Chicago’s federal district court, the defendants participated in selling “Universal…