Financial Firms

Firm Executives Reportedly Were Aware of Domestic Violence Allegations Against High-Earning Morgan Stanley Broker for Years

Published on: April 11, 2018 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

According to the New York Times, even though Morgan Stanley (MS) executives have known for years about the domestic violence allegations against Douglas E. Greenberg, who was one of their leading brokers, the firm continued to allow him to stay employed in its wealth management division. However, after the NY Times tried to contact the firm about him, Greenberg was finally suspended, pending review. Now, the media is reporting that Greenberg has been fired. Still, a number of the former-Morgan Stanley broker’s exes have retained their own lawyers in light of the fact that he wasn’t let go until now.

Four women have come forward accusing him of domestic abuse. Court filings indicate that not only did Greenberg’s accusers go to the police seeking protection against the now former Morgan Stanley financial adviser, but also, according to one of the women’s attorneys, the firm was issued a federal subpoena notifying it about at least one of the allegations. Morgan Stanley was also aware that Greenberg was charged for allegedly violating a restraining order.

Still, no action was taken against Greenberg, who belonged Morgan Stanley’s exclusive Chairman’s Club as one of the firm’s highest earning brokers. Ironically, the members of this club are expected to maintain certain standards when it comes to “conduct and compliance.” Greenberg is considered one of the leading wealth managers in Oregon. Firmwide, he was among Morgan Stanley’s top 2% of brokers when it came to bringing in revenue.

Barclays Settles DOJ’s Mortgage-Backed Securities Fraud Case for $2B

Published on: April 1, 2018 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Barclays Capital Inc. (BARC) and a number of its affiliates will pay $2B to settle the United States government’s civil case alleging fraud involving the underwriting and issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities. The settlement comes after a three-year probe. The case is US v. Barclays Capital Inc.

The US accused Barclays of taking part in a fraud to sell three dozen residential mortgage-backed securities deals, causing investors to suffer billions of losses. More than $31B of Alt-A and subprime mortgage loans were securitized and over half of these went on to default. The RMBSs were sold leading up to the 2007 financial crisis.

The bank and its affiliates allegedly misled investors about the quality of the loans backing the RMBS deals, including purposely misrepresenting key features of the loans that involved. The British bank, meantime, maintains that it did not mislead investors about the quality of the loans. The government, however, contends that Barclays committed wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, and violated the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989.

HSBC Settles Libor Rigging Lawsuit for $100M

Published on: March 31, 2018 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

To settle a private securities lawsuit in the US alleging Libor manipulation, HSBC Holdings Plc. (HSBC) has agreed to pay $100M. The bank is accused of conspiring to rig the London interbank offered rated (Libor) benchmark. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are a number “over-the-counter” investors, including Yale University and the Maryland city of Baltimore, that dealt directly with banks belonging to the panel tasked with determining the key benchmark interest rate. Now, a court will have to approve the preliminary settlement.

The plaintiffs sued 16 banks for alleged Libor rigging in 2011. According to their case, HSBC and other banks conspired together to submit artificially low borrowing costs so that they could appear more financially robust and increase earnings. These lower borrowing costs led to a lower Libor, which had an adverse effect on institutions and persons that invested in pension funds, money market funds, mutual funds, the bond market, a number of derivative products, and bank loan funds.

Libor is the benchmark used to establish rates on hundreds of trillions of dollars of transactions, including those involving credit cards, student loans, and mortgages. It also allows the banks to figure out what it would cost them to borrow from one another.

Wedbush Securities Faces Failure to Supervise Charges Over Broker’s Pump-And-Dump Scam

Published on: March 28, 2018 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has filed civil charges against Wedbush Securities Inc. The regulator is accusing the brokerage firm of not supervising registered representative Timary Delorme, 59, and disregarding warning signs that she was involved in a pump-and-dump fraud that targeted retail investors. Delorme has settled the SEC’s charges against her.

According to the SEC, Delorme took part in certain trades to manipulate the stocks. She received benefits, which were paid to her spouse, for getting customers to invest in microcap stocks that were part of a pump-and-dump fraud run by Izak Zirk Engelbrecht, who also has been subject to civil, as well as criminal charges. Engelbrecht, previously called Izak Zirk de Maison before adopting his wife’s last name, is accused of running the scam that involved microcap company Gepco Ltd.

Also, Delorme and her husband are accused of selling shares for Engelbrecht and sending him the money for the sales while she was paid a commission. This purportedly allowed Engelbrecht to hide the sales.

Bank of America to Pay $42M to New York Over Fraudulent “Masking” Involving Electronic Trading

Published on: March 24, 2018 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC) will pay a $42M penalty to New York State to settle allegations that it engaged in fraudulent practices involving electronic trading services.

According to a press release issued by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the bank admitted that over five years, it “systematically” hid from clients that it was “secretly routing” their equity securities orders to electronic liquidity providers, including Knight Capital, Citadel Securities, Two Sigma Securities, D.E. Shaw, and Madoff Securities, which then executed the transactions.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which is Bank of America’s corporate investment banking division, had “undisclosed” agreements with these providers. Its “masking” strategy was used in more than 16 million client orders that involved over 4 billion shares that were traded.

According to the probe by Schneiderman office, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s own admission, starting in 2008, the corporate investment banking division purposely took steps to hide that it was sending a number of equity securities orders made by clients to the electronic liquidity providers. Bank of America Merrill Lynch told investors that the orders were executed “in-house.”

Meantime, it committed fraud by modifying its electronic trading systems to “automatically doctor” the trade confirmation that clients received after these other firms executed the transactions. Internally, Bank of America Merrill Lynch called this action “masking,” which consisted of replacing the electronic liquidity provider’s identity with a code to make it appear as if a trade execution had taken place through the bank instead.

Goldman Sachs Gives LPL Financial Holdings Clients Access to Securities Lending

Published on: March 20, 2018 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

LPL Financial Holdings (LPLA) brokers and investment advisers will now be able to offer their clients securities lending services through Goldman Sachs (GS). Under the new arrangement, LPL clients can borrow anywhere from $75,000 to $25 million against the securities held in their accounts.

In a press release, Goldman Sachs spoke about how through its Goldman Sachs Private Bank Select, LPL clients would be able to borrow these funds for “life events,” including travel or education, without having to sell their investments. However, the money borrowed cannot be used to purchase more investments. Goldman noted that its “high-tech platform” would be able to reduce wait time for a non-purpose securities- based loan from weeks to days, with no fees charged.

Over 15,000 LPL financial advisors will now be able to offer clients access to Goldman’s securities lending capabilities. The independent investment advisory firm joins 40 other such firms and broker-dealers on Goldman’s GS Select platform.

Securities Lending Comes with Significant Risks

The ability to borrow against securities is often touted as a benefit to investors. However, securities lending may not be the best choice in the long run for many investors. While such loans allow clients to borrow against what is in their accounts, certain risks come with this advantage, including forced liquidation of accounts during bad market moves.

SEC Grants $83M in Whistleblower Awards in $415M Bank of America Settlement

Published on: March 19, 2018 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has awarded two whistleblowers almost $50M and another over $33M in the largest whistleblower awards that the regulator has issued to date. This ups the total of SEC whistleblower awards granted to $262M to 53 individuals in the last six years.

According to the SEC Office of the Whistleblower Chief Jane Norberg, these latest awards show that whistleblowers can offer information that is “incredibly significant,” making it possible for the regulator to go after serious violations that could have gone “unnoticed. “ Until these latest awards, the largest SEC whistleblower award granted was $30M in 2014.

Whistleblowers who provide quality, unique information involving securities law violations that lead to a successful enforcement action rendering over $1M in monetary sanctions may be eligible to receive an award that is 10-30% of the funds collected.

Massachusetts Investigates Wells Fargo Advisers

Published on: March 16, 2018 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The US state of Massachusetts is investigating Wells Fargo Advisors (WFC) over whether the firm engaged in unsuitable recommendations, inappropriate referrals, and other actions related to its sales of certain investment products to customers. The news of the probe comes after Wells Fargo disclosed that it was evaluating whether inappropriate recommendations and referrals were made related to 401(K) rollovers, alternative investments, and the referral of customers from its brokerage unit to its own investment and fiduciary services business.

Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin said it would examine Wells Fargo’s own internal probe and wants to make sure that Massachusetts investors who were impacted by “unsuitable recommendations” would be “made whole.” He noted that while moving investors toward wealth management accounts brings “more revenues to firms,” these accounts are “not suitable for all investors.”

As Barrons reports, referring clients to managed accounts tend to earn fee-based advisors significantly more. The article goes on to note that Galvin is looking into the use of managed accounts related to the US Department of Labor’s Fiduciary Rule, which includes best practices standards for the protection of consumers. The Massachusetts regulator recently referred to that same rule when the state became the first one to file such related charges in its case against Scottrade over sales contests. In that case, Galvin accused the broker-dealer of improper sales practices, including contests that offered incentives to agents who targeted retiree clients and prospective retiree clients in particular.

Securities Industry Headlines: Convicted Hedge Fund Manager Martin Shkreli Gets Seven Years, Zohar Investment Funds File for Bankruptcy Protection, and Ex-Morgan Stanley Investment Adviser Named in $34M Securities Arbitration Loss Lands at Pinnacle

Published on: March 13, 2018 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Martin Shkreli to Go to Prison for Seven Years

A federal judge has sentenced former hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli to seven years behind bars. Shkreli was found guilty of defrauding investors of his MSMB Capital Management hedge fund while manipulating the stock of his drug company Retrophin.

His defense team had fought for a lower sentence—12 to 18 months. They pointed out that ultimately none of the investors that Shkreli bilked lost money and he didn’t profit from his fraud. Prosecutors countered that, in fact, Shkreli had caused anywhere from $9M to $20M in losses.

A few days before his criminal sentence was issued, Judge Kiyo Matsumoto ordered that about $7.36M of the ex-hedge fund manager’s assets be surrendered, including a rare Wu-Tang Clan album that he purchased for $2M. Shkreli’s legal team plans to appeal the sentence.

Royal Bank of Scotland Settles NY’s RMBS Fraud Case for $500M

Published on: March 9, 2018 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

In yet another mortgaged securities-related resettlement, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has agreed to pay $500M to settle New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s case accusing the bank of misrepresentations and deceptive practices related to it sale residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). $400M of the payment is consumer relief, while $100M is a fine that will go to the state.

NY’s probe concentrated on 44 mortgage securitizations that RBS issued leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. The NY AG said that during that time, due diligence vendors cautioned the bank that a lot of the loans it was buying were not in compliance with underwriting guidelines. Still, the bank bundled the loans and touted them as secure to investors, many of whom bought the RMBSs.

Schneiderman’s probe found that some of the mortgages backing the bonds at issue had over 100% loan to value ratios, meaning that “they were ‘underwater’.” Now, RBS is admitting that it sold mortgage bonds backed by loans that failed to abide by underwriting guidelines even as the bank maintained that they were, in fact, in compliance.

The bank also acknowledged that it had limited how much diligence it performed on mortgages, resulting in a lot of the loans being securitized even though no due diligence was conducted at all.