Investor Lawyers Blog

Ex-Ameriprise Adviser Pleads Guilty To Nearly $1M Fraud

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

SusanWalker, an ex investment adviser with Ameriprise Financial Inc. (AMP), has pleaded guilty to bilking two dozen clients of $980,000. She stole the funds from clients between ’08 and ’13, using the money to cover her own spending, including costly vacations.

Walker is accused of setting up investment accounts under several customers’ names but without their consent. She took money from clients’ retirement and brokerage accounts, placed the funds into the accounts under her control, and took out the funds to spend as she pleased. Ameriprise has paid back the customers that were harmed.

The firm fired Walker and her mother Barbara Stark in early 2013. Stark is not charged in this criminal case.

DOJ Charges Another Two Ex-Rabobank Traders Over Libor Manipulation

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

The U.S. Department of Justice has indicted another two ex-Rabobank (RABO) traders over their alleged involvement in a London interbank offered rate manipulation scam. The charges widen the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s probe into the Dutch bank to include U.S. dollar Libor, as well as yen libor.

Anthony Allen and Anthony Conti, both from England, are the two ex-Rabobank derivatives traders that have been indicted. The charges accuse them of taking part in a Libor manipulation scam involving derivatives linked to both the yen and U.S. libor benchmark rates to benefit themselves and the bank.

In 2013, Rabobank reached a settlement with the Justice Department and consented to pay a $325 million penalty to resolve allegations related to the bank’s submissions for LIBOR and the Euro Interbank Offered Rate. The government had charged Rabobank with wire fraud for its involvement in manipulating both benchmark interest rates.

LPL Financial Fires Texas Branch Manager Over Selling Away Claims, Settles with Senior Investors in Massachusetts for $541,000 Over Faulty Variable Annuity Switches

Published on: October 15, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

According to his report on the central registration depository, LPL Financial (LPLA) branch manager James Bashaw was fired last month for allegedly engaging in selling away, which involves taking part in private securities transactions without written disclosure or approval from a brokerage firm, as well as borrowing from a client and taking part in a business transaction that created a possible conflict, again without obtaining the necessary firm approval or written disclosure.

Bashaw, also known as “Jeb” Bashaw, is considered one of the leading financial advisers in Texas. Barron’s magazine ranks him as number one in the state with assets totaling $3.8 billion.

According to Investment News, while the CRD, which is the central licensing and registration system for the securities industries and regulators, provided these details regarding Bashaw’s termination, LPL has not elaborated, except to report on his BrokerCheck profile that the broker did not follow industry regulations and firm policies. Bashaw is now registered with Wunderlich Securities Inc.

UBS is Fined $3.6M, Plus Must Pay $1.7M in Restitution Over Puerto Rico Closed-End Mutual Fund Sales

Published on: October 14, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

UBS Financial Services Incorporated of Puerto Rico (UBS) has reached a settlement with the Commonwealth’s Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions (OCIF) over UBS’s offering and sale of closed-end mutual funds in Puerto Rico. As part of the agreement, UBS will pay a $3.5 million fine, as well as $1.7 million in restitution to 34 clients. As is typical with such settlements, UBS is not denying or admitting to any wrongdoing.

After examining UBS’s operations between the periods of 1/1/06 through 9/30/13, OCFI discovered that UBS had placed clients with conservative risk tolerances in high concentrations of Puerto Rico Closed-End Funds (PRCEF). OCIF further alleged that UBS recommended or allowed these clients to use “non-purpose” loans to buy more PRCEF, which should have never happened. OCFI also reported irregularities in the way some clients’ accounts were managed and said UBS had engaged in inadequate supervision and recordkeeping.

The clients that are entitled to restitution are primarily elderly investors with low net worth and conservative financial profiles. UBS is going to pay them almost $1.7 million in restitution. This offer has to be made within 45 days of the settlement’s execution. The $3.5 million penalty will go to the Securities Trading, Investor Education and Training Fund.

Barclays to Pay $20M To Settle Libor Manipulation

Published on: October 14, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Barclays PLC (BARC) has consented to pay $20 million to settle complaints over the manipulation of the London interbank offered rate benchmark. As part of the accord, the bank will cooperate with a group of Eurodollar-futures traders that have filed lawsuits against other banks over Libor manipulation.

The deal resolves claims by firms and individuals that traded in Eurollar futures contracts and options on exchanges that were Libor based from 1/1/05 to 5/31/10. Now, a district court judge in Manhattan must approve the settlement.

This is the first settlement reached in the U.S. antitrust litigation involving investments linked to Libor. In addition to paying the $20 million, Barclays will help traders with their claims against other banks. This will include giving documents and information and other support to the plaintiffs so that they can bolsters their cases.

Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and 16 Other Banks Agree to Swaps Contract Modifications to Assist Failed Firms

Published on: October 11, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), Credit Suisse (CS), and fourteen other big banks have agreed to changes that will be made to swaps contracts. The modifications are designed to assist in the unwinding of firms that have failed.

Under the plan, which was announced by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, banks’ counterparties that are in resolution proceedings will postpone contract termination rights and collateral demands. According to ISDA CEO Scott O’Malia, the industry initiative seeks to deal with the too-big-to-fail issue while lowing systemic risks.

Regulators have pressed for a pause in swaps collateral collection. They believe this could allow banks the time they need to recapitalize and prevent the panic that ensued after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. failed in 2008. Regulators can then move the assets of a failing firm, as well as its other obligations, into a “bridge” company so that derivatives contracts won’t need to be unwound and asset sales won’t have to be conducted when the company is in trouble. Delaying when firms can terminate swaps after a company gets into trouble prevents assets from disappearing and payments from being sent out in disorderly, too swift fashion as a bank is dismantled.

SEC Panel Recommends Changes to Accredited Investor Definition

Published on: October 10, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The SEC Investor Advisory Committee (IAC) is recommending that the agency to make substantial revision to who should be considered a sophisticated investor. This could change who can get involved in private placements as investors.

Currently, there are about 8.5 million accredited investors. The Dodd-Frank Act obligates the SEC to reexamine the accredited-investor definition every four years.

At the moment, accredited investor standard only allows individuals who make a minimum of $200K or have a net worth of $1M—the value of their primary residence not included—to invest in private placement purchases. If a couple’s net worth is $300K together, they may qualify too.

Securities Fraud: Ex-Ameriprise Adviser to Pay $3M for Ponzi Scam, Four Insurance Agents Allegedly Defrauded Senior Investors, and Trading in Nine Penny Stocks is Suspended

Published on: October 8, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Former Ameriprise Adviser Ordered to Jail, Must Pay $3M Restitution

Oscar Donald Overbey Jr., an ex-Ameriprise Financial Services (AMP) financial adviser, must pay back the $3 million he allegedly stole from investors while operating a Ponzi scam. The 47-year-old has been sentenced to three and a half years behind bars.

Court documents say that from 1996 into 2007, Overbey stole about $4 million of client funds that he was supposed to invest. Instead, the money was used to pay earlier investors, cover his personal expenses, and pay off his gambling debts.

As SEC Examines Private-Equity Consultant Salaries, Blackstone Stops Monitoring Fees

Published on: October 8, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

According to The Wall Street Journal, the operating partners of private equity firms, are coming under closer scrutiny. These professionals are typically retained when acquiring a company with the intention of enhancing its operations.

These operating partners are usually listed with full-time employees. Regulators are worried that buyout firms are not providing private equity fund investors enough information about the way these consultants are compensated.

The firm usually doesn’t pay its operating partners. Instead, their salary usually comes from the company they are advising or the investors of the buyout firm. However, the WSJ’s examination of regulator filings regarding 80 private equity companies found that only about fifty percent of them disclosed where the money paid to operating partners comes from.

Rabobank Groep NV Suspends Currencies Traders, British Banker Pleads Guilty in Libor Probe

Published on: October 7, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

In London, Rabobank Groep NV (RABN.UL) has suspended two senior currencies traders in the wake of an internal probe into the bank’s forex business. Chris Twort and Gary Andrews were placed on leave of absence after their names were discovered in chat rooms along with a currencies trader from another bank who was also suspended.

Last year, the Dutch bank paid $979.5 million to resolve investigations related to attempts to manipulate the London interbank offered rate. Other banks that have paid to settle Libor rigging charges include ICAP (IAP), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), UBS (UBS), and JPMorgan (JPM).

Meantime, according to the Serious Fraud Office in London, a banker who works for a top British bank agreed to plea guilty to the criminal charge of conspiracy to defraud related to the agency’s probe into Libor manipulation. This individual is the first to plead guilty to manipulation charges of the rate in the United Kingdom. SFO has charged 12 men with the manipulation of Libor.