Investor Lawyers Blog

DOJ Launches Criminal Probe Into JPMorgan, Citigroup Foreign Exchange Business

Published on: November 4, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The U.S. Department of Justice has begun a criminal probe into the foreign exchange businesses of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Citigroup (C). The investigations come in the wake of allegations that banks in the United States and abroad manipulated key reference rates in the foreign exchange currency markets.

On Monday, JPMorgan disclosed the criminal investigation in a regulatory filing. Noting that other regulators, including the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and UK’s Financial Conduct Authority are conducting civil probes, the firm estimated that current legal proceedings could reach $5.9 billion.

Last week, Citigroup announced that it too was facing a criminal probe over foreign currency trades and controls. The bank is also dealing with inquiries from regulators. Citigroup said it has put aside $600 million in legal provisions over what had been budgeted for the third quarter.

SEC Sanctions UBS, Charles Swab, Oppenheimer, & 10 Other Firms For Improper Sales of Puerto Rico Junk Bonds

Published on: November 3, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Securities and Exchange Commission has sanctioned thirteen financial firms, including UBS Financial Services (UBS), Charles Schwab and Co. (SCHW), J.P. Morgan Securities (JPM), and Stifel Nicolaus & Co. (SF), for the improper sales of Puerto Rican junk bonds. A $100,00 minimum denomination had been established in junk bonds of $3.5 billion made by Puerto Rico several months ago. An SEC probe, however, revealed that there had been 66 instances when firms sold the bonds in transactions of under $100,000.

Municipal bond offerings are supposed to have a set minimum denomination that determines the smallest amount that a firm can sell to an investor during a single transaction. Typically, municipal issuers will establish high minimum denominations for junk bonds with a greater default risk. This is done to limit the bonds from ending up in the accounts of investors who may not be able to handle the risks.

The firms and their fines: UBS Financial Services for $56,400, Charles Schwab & Co. for $61,800, Oppenheimer & Co. (OPY) for $61,200, Wedbush Securities Inc. for $67,200, Hapoalim Securities USA for $54,000, TD Ameritrade (AMTD) for $100,800, Interactive Brokers LLC for $56,000, Stifel Nicolaus & Co. (SF) for $60,000, Investment Professionals Inc. for $67,800, Riedl First Securities Co. of Kansas for $130,000, J.P. Morgan Securities for $54,000, National Securities Corporation for $60,000, and Lebenthal & Co. for $54,000.

National Planning Holding Temporarily Stops Selling American Reality Capital Properties’ Nontraded REIT sales After Disclosure of $23M Accounting Error

Published on: October 31, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

National Planning Holding, a broker-dealer network, says that it has temporarily stopped offering American Realty Capital Properties Inc.’s (ARCP) non-traded real estate investment trusts for sale. The move comes after the real estate investment trust, run by Nicholas Schorsch, disclosed a $23 million accounting mistake. American Realty Capital is the top sponsor of nontraded REITs. Schorsch is its chairman.

The National Planning Holding suspension impacts just one Schorsch product, the Phillips Edison – ARC Grocery Center REIT II. This is a new REIT with about $207 million in total assets.

The four brokerage firms who are temporarily suspending sponsorship and distribution of the nontraded REITs by American Realty Capital Properties and its affiliates are SII Investments Inc., National Planning Corp, Investment Centers of America Inc., and INVEST Financial Corp. They are asking for Realty Capital Securities, the wholesaling broker-dealer for ARC products, to return unprocessed sales orders from INVEST advisers. They don’t want the brokerage firm to process related new business.

Ex-LPL Financial Adviser, James Bashaw from Texas, Lands at New Brokerage Firm

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

James “Jeb” Bashaw, the former star financial adviser at LPL Financial (LPLA) from Texas is now registered with International Assets Advisory, a small brokerage firm. LPL Financial fired Bashaw last month over allegations involving selling away. Then, for a while this month, he was with Wunderlich Securities Inc.

Selling away typically involves engaging in private securities transactions sans the required written disclosure or brokerage firm approval. It can also include borrowing from a client, as well as engaging in a transaction that is a potential conflict interest, again without the required disclosure in writing or firm approval.

Responding to the selling away allegations, Bashaw noted that he was “home supervised” and underwent more than a dozen perfect audits while affiliated with LPL. After his firing, Wunderlich took steps to hire Bashaw but there was a delay in transferring his license to the firm. In the end, the broker-dealer and Bashaw reportedly decided not to pursue a working relationship.

Shareholders Settle with Fannie Mae for $170M

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

Fannie Mae (FNMA) and its shareholders have reached a $170M settlement in a lawsuit accusing the entity of misleading the plaintiffs about its risk management, finances, and mortgage exposure prior to its seizure by the U.S. government during the financial crisis of 2008. Now, a court must approve the agreement.

The lead plaintiffs are the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System, the State-Boston Retirement Board, and the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board, which are trying to obtain class action securities status for their case. The shareholders claim that Fannie Mae defrauded them, as well as inflated its stock via misleading and false statements about capitalization, internal controls, exposure to low-documentation “Alt-A” mortgages, subprime mortgages, and accounting.

Per the agreement, $123.8 million would go to common stockholder and Preferred stockholders would get $46.2 million. The stockholders would come from the period running from 11/8/06 to 9/5/08. During that time, Fannie Mae’s market value hit a peak of over $60 billion. Its current market value is $2.71 million.

Investors File Close to $1B of Puerto Rico Bond Fraud Claims against UBS

Published on: October 29, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

In its third-quarter earnings reports this week, UBS noted that claims involving its Puerto Rico closed-end municipal bond funds are reaching close to $1 billion. That is a significant jump from the $600M mark those cases reached during the second quarter of this year, and this shows that the number of cases being filed against UBS continue to grow. According to multiple reports, the investors seeking almost $1 billion in losses are alleging unsuitability, fraud, and misrepresentation.

The third quarter has been a rough one for the Swiss banking giant. Reuters reports that the entity has put aside $1.9 billion for possible legal costs.

In the past year, UBS has been in the spotlight over claims that brokers in UBS’s Puerto Rico unit persuaded customers to get involved in the proprietary bond funds even if the funds were not suitable for the investors’ portfolios. Some clients reportedly were even encouraged to borrow so they could invest more.

SEC Adds Children and Spouses of Texas Wyly Brothers to Securities Fraud Case Following $187M Verdict

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

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has added the children and wives of Texans Charles and Samuel Wily to the fraud case that has already rendered a $187.7M award, plus interest, in its favor. The move would come following Sam Wiley’s decision to file for bankruptcy earlier this month.

Over a dozen relatives are now on the lawsuit, including Caroline Wyly, who is the widow of Charles Wyly. He died in a car crash in 2011. Carolyn also has filed for bankruptcy. Also now included are the children of both Charles and Sam.

Regulators say the family members needed to be added to stop the dissipation of the two men’s assets. However, they noted that the relatives possess no legal rights or are traceable to the defendants ill-gotten gains.

FINRA Fines Merrill Lynch $6M For Supervisory Failures and REG SHO Violations

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

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is fining and censuring Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated $2.5M for not setting up, maintaining, and enforcing supervisory procedures and systems related to certain areas, including Regulation SHO. The self-regulatory organization is fining Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corp. $3.5M, also for Reg SHO violations. Bank of America (BAC), which acquired Merrill Lynch in 2008, will pay the $6M fines to FINRA.

Reg SHO is an SEC rule governing short sales. One of its purposes is to curb abusive naked short selling. The regulation also seeks to lower the incidents of sellers neglecting to deliver securities in a timely manner by requiring firms to timely “close out” fail-to-deliver positions by purchasing or borrowing securities of similar type and quantity. It lets firms reasonably allocate fail-to-deliver positions to brokerage firm clients that contributed or caused those positions.

According to the SRO, from 9/08 through 7/12, Merrill Lynch PRO failed to close out certain fail-to-deliver position, and, for most of that period, lacked the necessary procedures and systems to handle REG Show close-out requirements. FINRA said that from 09/08 through 3/011, the firm’s supervisory systems and procedures were not sufficient, making it possible for the firm to improperly allocate fail-to-deliver positions to the brokerage firm’s clients on the basis of clients’ short positions while not having to heed clients played a part in the fail-to-deliver positions.

Investment Adviser Pleads Guilty to Involvement in $2M Cherry Picking Securities Scam

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

Noah Myers waved his right to indictment and pleaded guilty to defrauding clients of over $2M. The investment adviser admitted to his involvement in a cherry picking scam. Myers, 43, owns MiddleCove Capital LLC, which is located in Connecticut. He faces up to 20 years behind bars and a maximum fine of $5 million.

As part of his guilty plea, Myers admitted to taking profits from investments for himself and other accounts he favored. Losses were distributed to accounts he did not favor. He accomplished this imbalanced distribution by waiting to assign a trade to an account until after he was able to determine whether it was profitable.

Because of his securities scam, clients lost over $2 million. Meantime, he made $460,000 in profits. A lot of the investors he bilked were retired and had asked MiddleCove to involve them in investments that were low risk.

European Commission Takes Action Against JPMorgan, UBS, RBS & Credit Swiss for Cartel Conduct

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

The European Commission has found that Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), JPMorgan (JPM), UBS AG (UBS) and Credit Suisse (CS) engaged in cartel behavior. Except for RBS, which received immunity from having to pay any fines by disclosing the cartel conduct, the other banks were fined $120 million for their activities. For cooperating, UBS and JPMorgan received fine reductions. Along with Credit Suisse, both banks got a 10% reduction for consenting to settle.

All four financial institutions are accused of running a cartel involving bid-ask spreads of Swiss franc interest-rate derivatives in the European Economic Area. Banks and companies typically use interest rate derivatives to manage interest rate fluctuation risks. A “bid-ask spread” is the difference between how much a market maker is willing to sell and purchase a product.

According to the European Commission, between May and September ’07, the four banks agreed to quote to third parties wider fixed bid-ask spreads on certain short-term, over-the-counter Swiss franc interest rate derivatives while keeping narrower spreads for trades between them. The purpose was to reduce their transaction costs and keep liquidity among themselves, as well as keep other market makers from competing on equal terms in the Swiss franc derivatives market. In one action, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) was fined €61.7 million euros for purportedly manipulating the Swiss franc Libor benchmark interest rate in an illegal cartel with RBS, which, again, had immunity from fees.