Securities America, Inc. agreed to a $375,000 fine to settle charges by the NASD that it received improperly directed mutual fund commissions on behalf of one of its brokers, failed to supervise and failed to disclose the arrangements to the affected mutual fund owners. The NASD said that this situation,…
Margin debt owed on stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange has surpassed $350 billion. This is up to $35 billion, or over 10%, in just one month. The jump in margin debt brings new warnings to investors concerning the risks of leveraged investments. Traditional theories concerning the stock…
After sale if its U.S. Trust subsidiary to Bank of America for $3.3 billion, Charles Schwab Corporation has decided to distribute even more than the proceeds of that sale to its shareholders by buying back shares and paying a special dividend. Under the plan, San Francisco-based Schwab will pay up…
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently made a $37 million disbursement to more than 300,000 investors in the Columbia Funds who were injured in the widespread fraudulent mutual fund market timing scandal. The SEC said this was the first of four anticipated distributions of approximately $140 million total to be…
The Securities and Exchange Commission has published a 121-page proposal for dropping the requirement that non-U.S. companies reconcile to the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) as required by U.S. firms in financial reports. The proposal would apply to foreign private issuers that file financial statements to comply with the English…
Massachusetts securities regulators fined Oppenheimer & Company, Inc. a million dollars for failing to supervise its representatives and ordered the company to also pay $135,000 to the victim, the difference between the losses she sustained and the amount Oppenheimer earlier paid her. Oppenheimer was charged with failing to supervise a…
The former chief administrative officer of Trautman Wasserman & Co. Inc. agreed to pay a $50,000 fine to settle SEC administrative charges he helped facilitate a scheme to engage in late-trading in mutual funds shares on behalf of certain favored customers and for the firm’s own account. The man who…
Authorities in Knoxville have arrested an Ameriprise Financial Services broker who is accused of defrauding Tennessee residents. The charges include theft and forgery. At least five alleged victims have come forward claiming losses of almost $1 million. A client in another state claims damages of more than a million dollars…
Enemies of Wall Street learned even before the recent Alberto Gonzales affair that indictments by U.S. Prosecutors can be in their future. King of securities class action suits was the law firm of Milberg Weiss & Bershad LLP. Federal prosecutors indicted the firm last year on charges of paying kickbacks…
Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc. agreed to pay a $250,000 civil penalty to end claims by Rhode Island Regulators that it failed to supervise sales representatives who engaged in unethical and dishonest practices in the sale of mutual funds and variable annuities. According to the director of the Rhode Island…