Financial Firms

Former Axa Advisors Broker Faces SEC Charges Over Alleged $1.5M Ponzi Scam

Published on: September 30, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The SEC is charging Dennis Wright, an ex-Axa Advisors broker, with operating a Ponzi scam for 14 years and bilking customers of $1.5 million. According to the regulator, from 1998 and into 2012, Wright allegedly persuaded at least 28 customers to take money out of Axa variable annuity accounts under the guise that he would move the money to mutual fund accounts that had higher returns and also were run by the brokerage firm.

The Commission claims that rather than invest clients’ money, what ended up happening is that Wright put the money into a bank account under his control and used the funds to pay other investors. The SEC says that Wright purposely manipulated Axa Advisor clients so he could steal their savings. Alleged victims included members of Wright’s community, including childhood friends, and unsophisticated investors.

Axa Advisors let Wright go in 2012 after the firm found out about the alleged fraud. Axa has since paid back the customers whose funds were misappropriated.

Citigroup Inc. Must Turn Over Bank Records Over Banamex Unit to Oklahoma Pension Fund

Published on: September 30, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

A judge has ordered Citigroup Inc. (C) to give over certain internal records to the Oklahoma Firefighters Pension and Retirement System related to the bank’s Banamex unit. The pension fund is a Citigroup shareholder.

Earlier this year, Citigroup revealed that its retail bank in Mexico City had been deceived in an accounting fraud involving Oceanografia, an oil-services company. Meantime, federal prosecutors have also been looking into whether Banamex USA did enough to protect itself so that customers couldn’t use it to launder money. Now, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are examining Banamex USA and Banamex.

The Oklahoma fund submitted a complaint earlier this year asking to be able to look into whether Citigroup board members and executives had violated their fiduciary duty to shareholders related to the loan fraud scandal involving the Mexican unit. In its complaint, the pension fund alleged that Citigroup’s officers and directors may have known of the risks or existence of illegal activities and fraud but ignored them, as well as the likely civil and criminal penalties that could result.

Bank America to Pay $7.65M to SEC Over $4B Capital Error

Published on: September 28, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Bank of America Corp. (BAC) will pay a $7.75 million penalty to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges alleging violations of civil securities laws involving record keeping and internal controls. The case is over the $4 billion capital error that the bank disclosed earlier in the year.

In April, Bank of America said that it had been miscalculating certain capital levels since 2009. By the end of last year the error was over $4.3 billion. The violations took place after the firm took on a huge portfolio that included structured notes when it acquired Merrill Lynch.

The SEC says that when Bank of America acquired Merrill Lynch it permissibly recorded the notes it inherited at a discount to par. Bank of America then should have realized losses on the notes while they matured and deducted them for purposes of figuring out and reporting regulatory capital.

Virginia Files $1.15B Securities Lawsuit Against Citigroup, Credit Suisse, JPMorgan Chase, and Other Big Banks

Published on: September 27, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The state of Virginia is suing 13 of the biggest banks in the U.S. for $1.15 billion. The state’s Attorney General Mark R. Herring claims that they misled the Virginia Retirement System about the quality of bonds in residential mortgages. The retirement fund bought the mortgage bonds between 2004 and 2010.

The defendants include Citigroup (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Credit Suisse AG (CS), Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Deutsche Bank (DB), RBS Securities (RBS), HSBC Holdings Inc. (HSBC), Barclays Group (BARC), Countrywide Securities, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc., and WAMU Capital (WAMUQ). According to Herring, nearly 40% of the 785,000 mortgages backing the 220 securities that the retirement fund bought were misrepresented as at lower risk of default than they actually were. When the Virginia Retirement System ended up having to sell the securities, it lost $383 million.

The mortgage bond fraud claims are based on allegations from Integra REC, which is a financial modeling firm and the identified whistleblower in this fraud case. Herring’s office wants each bank to pay $5,000 or greater per violation. As a whistleblower, Integra could get 15-25% of any recovery for its whistleblower claims.

Resource Horizons Group’s Future Hangs in Balance Following $4M FINRA Arbitration Award

Published on: September 25, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Resource Horizons Group, a regional brokerage firm and investment adviser, may no longer be able to stay in business after a $4 million Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration award was issued against it. The self-regulatory organization blames the firm for almost $3.5 million in investor losses after Robert Gist, one of the firm’s brokers, allegedly took the money. Part of the award is $1 million in punitive damages.

Last year, Gist consented to pay $5.4 million to settle SEC charges claiming that he converted about that much from at least 32 customers for his own use over a ten-year period. He went through Gist, Kennedy & Associates, Inc., which was an unregistered entity with no connection to Resource Horizons, in that financial scam.

Resource Horizons hired Gist in 2001. Even before that there already were a number of customers disputes and other disclosures on his record. Both the SEC and FINRA have now barred Gist from the securities industry.

SEC Investigates Pimco Exchange-Traded Fund for Artificial Inflation

Published on: September 25, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking at whether Pacific Investment Management Co, artificially upped the returns of a fund that targeted smaller investors. At issue is the way the $3.6B Pimco Total Return ETF (BOND) purchased investments at a discount but depended on higher valuations for the investments when the fund worked out its holdings’ value soon after. This type of move could make it appear as if the fund made rapid gains when it was actually just availing of the variations in how certain investments are valued.

According to The Wall Street Journal, sources familiar with the probe say that SEC investigators have already interviewed firm owner Bill Gross. The regulator could be looking at whether investors ended up with inaccurate data about the performance of the fund. If so, this could be a breach of securities law, even if the wrongdoing wasn’t intentional.

While the probe has been going on for at least a year, it seems to have recently escalated. Other Pimco executives have also been interviewed.

Barclays to Pay $15M SEC Settlement Over Compliance Failures Following Lehman Brothers Acquisition, Pays $61.7M Fine to U.K.’s FCA Over Client Asset Issues

Published on: September 24, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Barclays Capital Inc. (BARC) has consented to pay $15 million to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve civil charges claiming that it did not make sure the financial institution was in proper compliance with securities laws and its own rules after acquiring Lehman Brothers’ advisory division. According to the regulator, the firm did not adopt and execute written procedures and policies or keep up the needed records and books to stop certain violations.

For example, says the SEC, Barclays executed over 1,500 principal transactions with advisory client accounts but did not seek the necessary written disclosures and get the requisite customer consent. It also made money and charged fees and commissions that were not consistent with disclosures for 2,785 advisory client accounts, underreported assets under management by $754 million when amending its Form ADV a few years ago, and violated the Advisers Act’s custody provisions.

The violations caused clients to lose about $472,000 and pay more than they should have, while Barclays made additional revenue that was greater than $3.1 million. Barclays has since paid back or credited $3.8 million plus interest to customers who were affected. It also consented to remedial action and will retain a compliance consultant to perform an internal review.

FINRA Bars Ex-Wells Fargo Broker From Industry For Allegedly Bilking Customers, Expels HFP Capital Markets LLC for Securities Fraud

Published on: September 19, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has barred a former Wells Fargo (WFC) registered representative from the brokerage industry. According to the self-regulatory organization, Ane S. Plate, who previously worked with Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network in Florida, allegedly made fifteen unauthorized trades in a joint brokerage account of two customers between October 2013 and April 2014. The transactions resulted in $176,080 of cash proceeds, of which Plate is accused of pocketing $132,358.

The former Wells Fargo broker is also accused of setting up bi-weekly transfers from the brokerage account to a bank account that was in the name of one of her relatives. She then allegedly moved $7,700 to that account between December 2013 and May 2014.

Plate, who was working with Wachovia Securities when Wells Fargo acquired that firm, has since been fired after the latter discovered the purported theft. FINRA’s BrokerCheck reports that the customers that were harmed were fully reimbursed for the amount taken from them.

Morgan Stanley to Pay a $280,000 Fine to CFTC for Records and Supervision Failures Involving SureInvestment and $35M Ponzi Scam

Published on: September 16, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, LLC (MS) has settled civil charges by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) accusing the firm of records violations and inadequate supervision involving its know-your-customer procedures. Aside from a $280,000 fine, the broker-dealer will have to disgorge commissions from the subject accounts involved.

According to the regulator, Morgan Stanley did not diligently oversee its employees, officers, and agents when they opened firm accounts for a family of companies known as SureInvestment, which purportedly ran a hedge fund that was partially based in the British Virgin Islands-considered to be a risky jurisdiction. Because of this geographic circumstance, when the accounts were opened the firm should have subjected them to special observation pursuant to its procedures, including watching out for red flags indicating suspect activities.

The CFTC’s order, however, notes that even though there were a number of red flags in the account opening documents for SureInvestments, Morgan Stanley failed to identify them. Later, it was discovered that SureInvestment doesn’t even exist and that its owner, Benjamin Wilson, was conducting a $35 million Ponzi scam based in the U.K. (Wilson, who has pleaded to criminal charges brought by the Financial Conduct Authority, has been sentenced to time behind bars.)

Fidelity Investments Settles Class Action Lawsuits Over 401(K) Plan for $12 million

Published on: September 5, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Fidelity Investments has consented to pay $12 million to settle two class action employee lawsuits. The plaintiffs contend that the retirement plan provider was self-dealing in the FMR LLC Profit Sharing Plan and making money at their expense by offering employees high-cost fund options and making them pay excessive fees.

Over 50,000 ex- and present employees are eligible to receive from the settlement. Fidelity is accused of providing just its own funds in the retirement plan for its workers, with certain investment options having little (if any) track record, while failing to use an impartial process when choosing the investment options.

As part of the agreement, Fidelity Investments will now give employees a choice of non-Fidelity and Fidelity mutual funds, increase auto-enrollment to 7%, and allow participants of non-Fidelity mutual funds to benefit from revenue sharing, just like the participants of Fidelity mutual funds and collective trusts. The company also will keep offering a default investment alternative, the Fidelity Freedom Funds-Class. The Portfolio Advisory Services at Work program will be provided for free.