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…
First, a recap: The Investment Advisors Act of 1940 states that investment advisors have a fiduciary duty to clients. Stock Brokerage firms have worked for decades attempting to escape any fiduciary duty to their clients. When they decided that, in addition to being brokerage firms, becoming investment advisors was also…
As we reported in June: Brookstreet Securities Corp. reported severe problems with CMO securities and soon announced its closing. Scott Brooks (son of Stan Brooks, founder of Brookstreet) left for Wedbush Morgan Securities Inc. of Los Angeles, inviting Brookstreet’s representatives to join him. Brookstreet operated using independent contractors almost exclusively…
As a sub-prime mortgage hedge fund managed by Bear Stearns encountered margin calls and was on the brink of liquidation, the situation apparently did not faze the golfing of its chief executive, John Cayne. Weather permitting, Mr. Cayne hops a helicopter from Manhattan to a golf club in Ocean Township,…
The SEC has stirred controversy with its new online tool that allows investors to search for companies with ties to countries the State Department has designated as “state sponsors of terrorism.” The official list includes Sudan, Syria, North Korea, Iran and Cuba. The SEC initiated the online search site on…
According to the Government Accounting Office (GAO) Americans over 65 hold more than $15 trillion in assets and, with “Baby Boomers” soon reaching retirement age, that figure will likely balloon. As financial firms, including insurance companies, design products aimed at this pot of gold, scam artists lick their chops for…
A judge in The U.S. District Court in Honolulu ruled that those who lost in annuities cannot bring a class-action suit against the annuity insurer, despite potential misleading and deceptive actions by the insurance firm. [Yokoyama et al. vs. Midland National Life Insurance Company.] Lawyers representing the plaintiffs in the…
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed an emergency action in a Dallas federal court against Amerifirst Funding, Inc. and Amerifirst Acceptance Corporation alleging fraud. The SEC contends that the offering of securities, known as Secured Debt Obligations (“SDOs”), are notes purportedly secured by automobile financing receivables created or purchased by…