Investor Lawyers Blog

Citigroup and Morgan Stanley to Pay Over $5.9M to Settle SEC Charges That They Misled Investors About Forex Trading Program

Published on: January 24, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (MS) and Citigroup Global Markets (MS) have settled civil charges brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission accusing the two firms of making misleading and false statements about the CitiFX Alpha, which is a foreign exchange trading program. Without denying or admitting to the regulator’s findings, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup will each pay more than $624K of disgorgement, interest of over $89K, and a $2.25M penalty.

Citigroup’s ownership interest in Morgan Stanley was a 49% stake during the period at issue, from 8/2010 to 11/2011, when the firms’ registered representatives were marketing the CitiFX Alpha to Morgan Stanley customers.

However, according to the regulator, the oral and written representations that these representatives made were based on previous risk metrics and performance. Meantime, they purportedly did not do an adequate enough job of disclosing to investors that the latter could be put into the forex trading program with the use of more leverage than what was promoted, as well as that there would be markups for each trade.

Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Cases: Société Générale Settles US Government’s Securities Fraud Case for $50M & Judge Rules that Institutional Investor Fraud Lawsuit Against Deutsche Bank May Proceed

Published on: January 24, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

In a deal reached with the US Justice Department, Société Générale will pay $50M to settle civil charges accusing the bank of hiding that the residential mortgaged-backed securities (RMBS) that it promoted and sold were of poor quality. According to the government, the French bank made false representations involving the SG Mortgage Securities Trust 2006-OPT2, a $780M debt issue that it organized more than a decade ago. As part of the settlement, Société Générale admitted that it hid how many of the loans underlying the RMBS shouldn’t have been securitized or were not properly underwritten.

In a statement of facts, Société Générale took responsibility for its conduct. The bank admitted that it falsely represented that loans underlying the residential mortgage-backed security had been originated according to the underwriting guidelines of the loan originator. It also represented to investors that when the SG 2006-OPT2 was originated, no loans in the RMBS had a combined loan-to-value ratio or loan-to-value greater than 100%–this is a claim that Societe General is now admitting was false.

As a result of the bank’s actions, said the DOJ, investors lost “significant” amounts of money and they may lose more. Investors that were impacted include a number of financial institutions that are federally insured.

MC2C Capital Accused of Ponzi Scam, Hedge Fund Fraud

Published on: January 21, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin has filed a securities fraud complaint against MC2 Capital. The state regulator is accusing the Boston-area hedge fund of running a Ponzi scam involving three hedge funds: the MC2 Capital Partners Fund, the MC2 Capital Value Partners Fund, and the MC2 Canadian Opportunities Fund. Alleged victims included a local institutional investor that invested $2M.

Galvin has taken action to bar the three MC2 Capital funds along with their fund operator Yasuna Murakami, from engaging in further securities business in Massachusetts. Murakami purportedly took more than $15M from over 45 investors.

He allegedly used investors’ money pay for luxury hotels, alcohol, specialty cars, and other personal expenses. The MC2 Capital Partners Fund, which was the original fund and founded in 2007, was marketed primarily to friends and family. Within a year of operation, however, the fund’s balance was negative and investors’ equity was erased.

State Street to Pay Over $64M to Settle US Probes Over Secret Fees Charged to Institutional Clients

Published on: January 20, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

State Street Corp. (STT) will pay $32.3M to the US Securities and Exchange Commission and $32.3 to the federal government to resolve probes accusing the firm of bilking six clients on billions of dollars of trades by charging them secret commissions. As part of the settlement, the Massachusetts-based bank agreed to a deferred prosecution deal and admitted to conspiring to include these secret commissions on the trades conducted. State Street reportedly made at least $20M in commissions without these clients knowing they were paying.

According to prosecutors, from ’10 to ’11, former State Street executive Ross McLellan and ex-senior managing director Edward Pennings conspired to charge the secret commissions involving equity and fixed income trades that were conducted for these clients.

These commissions were in addition to fees that clients had consented to pay even though there had been written instructions given to State Street traders noting that these six customers didn’t have to pay these fees. The clients had been working with a State Street unit that supports institutional customers in liquidating big investment portfolios or moving investments between asset managers.

Securities Fraud: Jury Convicts Former Visium Portfolio Manager, Boston-Ex-Hilliard Lyons Broker Accused of Unauthorized Trades is Barred by FINRA, and Utah Businessman is Charged with Bilking Investors In $100M Ponzi Scam

Published on: January 20, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Bond Fraud Case Leads to Conviction for Former Visium Asset Management

A jury has convicted Stefan Lumiere, a former Visium Asset Management LP portfolio manager, of wire fraud and securities fraud. Lumiere was accused of conspiring to artificially inflate the value of a fund that was invested in debt issued by healthcare companies. Prosecutors said that his actions caused the fund’s net asset value to become overstated by tens of millions of dollars, compelling investors to pay more than they should have for the securities. They argued that Lumiere got fraudulent price quotes from brokers who worked outside the firm in order to override prices that the credit fund’s administrator had calculated. They say that he mismarked securities for years.

Ex-Former Hilliard Lyons Broker Doesn’t Appear to Testify, Gets Barred by FINRA

BlackRock and HomeStreet Are Accused of Trying to Impede Potential Whistleblowers

Published on: January 19, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has announced that BlackRock Inc. (BLK) will pay $340K to settle civil charges accusing the New York-based asset manager of improperly utilizing separation agreements to get employees leaving the firm to waive their ability to receive an award as a whistleblower. BlackRock consented to the order brought by the regulator but did not deny or admit to the findings that it was in violation of any rules.

The SEC claims that over 1,000 BlackRock employees who exited the firm signed separation agreement that included language declaring that they were waiving any right to incentives that could be gained from reporting misconduct. The employees were required to sign these agreements if they wanted to receive any separation payments that BlackRock would owe them after their departure.

This waiver provision was added to BlackRock’s separation agreement in 2011 after the Commission had already put in place its Whistleblower Program rules. The firm continued to use the waiver with the agreements until early last year.

Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse Finalize Securities Mortgage Securities Fraud Settlements with the DOJ Are Now Final and JPMorgan Resolves for $55M Case Accusing Bank of Working With Racist Brokers

Published on: January 18, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The mortgage securities fraud deal arrived at between Deutsche Bank (DB) and the Department of Justice is now final. As part of the settlement, the German lender will pay a $3.1B civil penalty and $4.1B in relief to borrowers, homeowners, and others that were impacted because it purportedly misled investors about the mortgage securities it was selling before the housing market failed.

Although the agreement was announced last month, the details of the resolution have just been released to the public. This includes information that as far back as May 2006, a Deutsche Bank supervisor had cautioned one of the firm’s senior traders about one mortgage lender that had become too lax with its underwriting practices.

In a Statement of Facts that was part of the agreement, Deutsche Bank acknowledged that it was aware that it was not fully disclosing the risks involved with the loans that it was bundling and selling. Deutsche Bank CEO John Cryan issued a written statement apologizing “unreservedly” for the bank’s conduct. Cryan said that Deutsche Bank now has better standards in place.

SEC Cases: Morgan Stanley to Pay $13M for Custody Rule Violations and Overbilling Clients, BNY Mellon to Settles Allegations of Reported Miscalculations By Paying $6.6M, and Citadel Securities to Pay $22M for Purportedly Misleading Clients About Pricing Trades

Published on: January 17, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Morgan Stanley Accused of Overbilling Investment Advisory Clients

The US Securities and Exchange Commission announced that Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (MS) will pay a $13M penalty to resolve charges accusing the firm of overbilling clients through billing system and coding mistakes and violating the custody rule regarding yearly surprise exams.

As a result, said the regulator’s order, Morgan Stanley has agreed to pay over $16M in excess fees because of billing mistakes that took place from ’02 to ’16. Investment advisory clients that were affected have been paid back the excess fees in addition to interest.

According to the Commission, Morgan Stanley overcharged over 149,000 investment advisory clients. The reason for this is that the firm did not put into place compliance policies and procedures that were designed reasonably enough to make sure that clients were accurately billed according to their advisory agreements. The SEC said that Morgan Stanley did not validate billing rates that were in its billing system against client billing histories, contracts, and other documents.

Moody’s Corp. Settles With US Government, States Over Pre-Crisis Mortgage Securities Ratings for Almost $864M

Published on: January 16, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Moody’s Corp. (MCO) will pay nearly $864M to settle allegations about the way that credit ratings agency rated high-risk mortgage securities, including residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBSs) and collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. The settlement was reached between Moody’s Corporation, Moody’s Analytics Inc., and Moodys’ Investors Services, and the US Department of Justice, the District of Columbia, and 21 US states. Moody’s is accused of knowing that it was inflating the ratings of mortgage securities that were toxic.

As part of the agreement, $437M will be paid as penalty to the DOJ. The rest of the $426.3M would be divided between DC and the states. Moody’s consented to measures that would make sure of its credit ratings’ integrity moving forward, and its chief executive will have to certify measures of compliance for a minimum of five years.

Despite settling, Moody’s maintains that its ratings pre-the 2008 crisis were valid. The credit rater also pointed out that this case has been resolved without any findings that it violated any laws. Moody’s is not admitting any liability. However, in a Statement of Facts, the company admitted to key parts of its purported behavior.

UBS Ordered to Pay Another $18M in Puerto Rico Bond Fraud Case

Published on: January 14, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

A few weeks after a FINRA arbitration panel ordered UBS (UBS) to pay $18 million in a Puerto Rico bond fraud case, the firm has been ordered to pay another customer a large amount in a similar municipal bond claim. In this latest ruling, the Gomez family claimed they lost $22.87 million from investing in Puerto Rico securities. UBS Puerto Rico (UBS-PR) brokers had purportedly suggested the Gomez family invest in Puerto Rico bonds despite the fact that they wanted investments that were safe. The family relied on the funds from their investments to cover their living expenses.

UBS argued that Mr. Gomez was an experienced investor. The firm claimed that when Gomez opted to concentrate his portfolio in Puerto Rico bonds, he knew what he was doing.

The FINRA panel disagreed with UBS’s assessment, awarding the Gomez family almost $20 million in cash and refusing to enforce almost $6 million is loans the Gomez family owed to UBS. The securities arbitration award to the Gomezes includes $4 million in punitive damages.