Investor Lawyers Blog

JPMorgan and Schwab Are Sued in 401(K) Lawsuits

Published on: January 27, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Participants in JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s (JPM) $21B 401(K) plan are suing the bank. The plaintiffs, who have filed a proposed class-action securities case, claim that the firm caused employees to pay excessive fees of millions of dollars.

According to the complaint, JPMorgan and a number of committee and board members were in breach of their fiduciary duties when they purportedly kept proprietary mutual funds that came from affiliate companies and the bank in the retirement plan for several years even though these options were almost identical to less expensive funds that were not only available but also were performing better.

The plaintiffs contend that during the class period at issue—from ’10-’15—about half of the investment choices in the retirement plan consisted of proprietary funds. They are accusing JPMorgan of keeping up business deals that were lucrative for the firm with BlackRock Institutional Trust Co. , which allowed BlackRock to inundate the 401(k) plan with its funds.

Windsor Street Capital Charged in Connection with Pump-and-Dump Scam

Published on: January 25, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has filed an administrative case against Windsor Street Capital and John D. Telfer, its ex-anti-money laundering officer. The regulator’s enforcement division claims that the New York-based broker dealer did not file Suspicious Activity Reports for $24.8M of suspect transactions, including those connected to an alleged pump-and-dump scam.

The regulator claims that Windsor Street Capital, at the time known as Meyers Associates LP, and Telfer should have been aware of the suspect circumstances involving a lot of these transactions and conducted a probe—in particular, into transactions involving William Goode and Raymond Barton. These men are microcap stock financiers accused of running a multi-million dollar pump-and=dump scam.

The SEC has filed separate charges against them, as well as against Kenneth Manzo, Matthew Briggs, and Justin Sindelman. The five of them are accused of acquiring shares of dormant shell companies that were supposed to be part of the dietary supplement industry, falsely marketing products and news related to the company, and then dumping the shares onto the market for investors to buy at inflated rates.

SEC Issues $7M Whistleblower Award

Published on: January 25, 2017 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is awarding $7M, to be split between the three whistleblowers who helped the regulator go after an investment scam. This latest whistleblower award, the second issued this year, ups the collective total that the SEC has granted to 41 whistleblowers to $149M.

Of the $7M, about $4M will go to the whistleblower who gave the SEC information that helped start the regulator’s investigation. The other two whistleblowers, who provided additional new information during the probe, will split the $3M.

To date, SEC enforcement actions resulting from whistleblower tips have led to over $935M in financial remedies. Whistleblowers who provide the tips that lead to successful enforcement actions resulting in at least a $1M remedy are eligible to receive 10-30% of the money collected. Because the SEC is committed to protecting the identity and confidentiality of whistleblowers, details from these enforcement cases that could reveal their identities are kept confidential.

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.