Investor Lawyers Blog

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.

FINRA Bars Former Raymond James Advisor for Elder Financial Fraud, Charges SWS Over Variable Annuity Supervision

Published on: October 6, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has barred Jo Ellen Fischer, an Raymond James independent financial advisor, for purportedly stealing nearly $1 million from a 95-year-old client. At the time, Fisher worked for Peoples Bancorp.

According to the self-regulatory organization, from July to December 2013, the Raymond James advisor converted $924,750 from the elderly customer’s trust without permission. She did this by moving funds and securities into a brokerage account under her daughter’s name. Fisher then liquidated securities and used the money to cover her personal spending, including two Rolexes, motor vehicles, a 2-carat diamond ring, and other expenses.

FINRA says that Fisher claimed that the elderly client was her daughter’s godfather and he wanted her to have the money when she was older. The SRO, however, contends that the Raymond James advisor falsified documents regarding this matter. She has agreed to the bar without denying or admitting to the findings alleging elder financial fraud.

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.