Hartford Financial Services Group will pay $115 million to settle market-timing and broker-compensation charges brought by the Attorney General offices of Connecticut, New York and Illinois. The three state regulators charged that the Hartford insurance unit failed to properly oversee hedge funds that were engaging in market-timing sales of its…
The New Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has fine Morgan Stanley $1.5 million and ordered restitution of $4.6 million for overcharging clients on bonds. FINRA is the former NASD, plus the NYSE regulatory unit, and is the primary regulator of the securities industry. FINRA discovered that Morgan Stanley’s retail unit…
MERRILL LYNCH: The firm’s retail brokerage revenues increased 13% to $3.3 billion, and new profits were up 23.7 %. Its broker count rose to 16,200 and it claims “net positive recruiting against all our major competitors, along with its lowest turnover of top producers in years. The firm also reported…
“There are two things I worry about: Clients dying and the government putting me out of business,” said a Merrill Lynch rep who says he gets about 80% of his revenue from B-shares shares and fee-based business. Apparently, the safety of his clients’ assets must be down the list. Meanwhile,…
Former Merrill Lynch employee Hydie Sumner sued that firm saying she was sexually harassed. She was represented by lawyer Linda Freidman. In 2004, a panel of three NASD arbitrators decided Hydie was right and awarded her $2.2 million. They also forced Merrill to reinstate her. Meanwhile, an email was allegedly…
Usually lawsuits must be filed within a few years after the wrongful acts, or when one knew or should have known of the wrongdoing. For example, federal and most state securities laws require lawsuits to be filed by 2 or 3 years after the problem is known or made public,…
For more almost forty years I could fell safe knowing that if a company’s stock symbol had three letters it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange or possibly the American Stock Exchange. If the symbol had four or five letters, it was listed on the NASDAQ. Delta Financial…
What do Bear Stearns, Deutsche Bank, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, UBS, Wachovia and Wells Fargo and other big securities firms have in common? No conscience. For decades we have thought that Wall Street will do anything for money. Now we are sure. Two years ago, about 250 people attended an…
FSC created “an extremely cozy environment for a man bent on defrauding his customers,” said three NASD Securities Arbitrators, “management ineptness was broad” and the firm ignored red flags that the broker had “selling away” issues (using one’s status at a firm to aid in the sale of investments not…
The Independent Directors Council (IDC) recently provided the Securities and Exchange Commission with a list of “reforms” regarding 12b-1 mutual funds, including that mutual fund directors should oversee the fees. The group claims that the fees are used to pay for advice and shareholder servicing, when the true use is…