Investor Lawyers Blog

US Hedge Fund Industry is Worried About Tax Implications Under EU Directive

Published on: November 27, 2013 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The hedge fund industry in the United States is worried about how managers will be treated under the proposed compensation guidance issued by the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority about the implementation of the E.U. Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive. The Managed Funds Association is primarily concerned with how tax is dealt with as it pertains to compensation paid to American and other non-EU hedge fund managers.

The Managed Funds Association wrote a letter to the FCA asking that the agency make sure that deferral requirements factor in tax implications for fund manager employees in the jurisdiction of covered employees. The MFA wants remuneration provisions to EU fund managers restricted and not extended to their delegates.

The MFA is worried about practical issues and costs that can occur when the hedge fund regulatory regime and the taxation regime for LLPs and Partnerships in the UK interact. In that country LLPs and Partnerships are treated as tax-transparent, with the result being that partners of partnerships and partnerships of LLPs are taxed to the degree where profits are distributed to them regardless of which one did the distributing. MFA is concerned that because of the deferred remuneration provisions, LLP members and partners could end up with tax liabilities on income that is deferred without corresponding incomes to cover the liabilities.

MF Global to Pay $1.2B to Customers

Published on: November 26, 2013 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

U.S. District Court Judge Victor Marrero has ordered MF Global to pay customers over $1.2 billion. The defunct brokerage firm left an about $1.6 billion shortfall for approximately 38,000 customers when it filed for bankruptcy protection in 2008.

Now, with this court order, along with the attempts of a liquidation trustee to get back the missing funds, customers are going to get almost all of their money back. Also, in addition to paying certain creditors and customers, MF Global will pay a $100 million penalty.

The brokerage tanked financially after it revealed that it had placed bets worth billions of dollars on high risk European debt. As customers started to leave MF Global in bulk and trading partners demanded bigger margin payments, the firm used customer funds for its own purposes (more than a billion dollars was taken out of their accounts) and did not replace them. This is not allowed. Also the estimated shortfall was about $1.6 billion.

High Commission Products are Wall Street Favorites

Published on: November 25, 2013 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Nontraded real estate investment trusts are getting a lot of intention from Wall Street lately. One reason for this is that LPL Financial (LPLA), Ameriprise Financial Services (AMP), and other independent brokerage firms are continuing to raise billions of dollars for deals and in sales.

Already, independent broker-dealers are headed toward selling $20 billion in nontraded REITS in 2013, which is nearly twice the amount that were sold in 2012. According to LPL Financial, its commissions for nontraded REITs and other alternative investments has gone soaring, hitting $81.2 million in revenue from July to September. Even the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) has been going after alternative investments by seeking a partnership with the CAIS Group, which is an exchange for such products, including private equity funds and hedge funds.

Meantime, the Blackstone Group (BX) and KKR & Co., both private equity firms, are handling private-loan portfolios worth billions of dollars in nontraded business development companies involving sellers such as LPL and Ameriprise. And even REITs are getting involved, with Starwood Property Trust Inc. (STWD) investing $250 million into the Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT Inc., which is a nontraded REIT, and purchasing 24.3 million shares in it.

$3.8M Colorado Securities Scam Defrauded Over 40 Elderly Seniors

Published on: November 24, 2013 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Securities and Exchange Commission is charging Gary C. Snisky with defrauding over 40 senior investors in a $3.8 million Colorado securities scheme. The regulator contends that Snisky, who describes himself as an institutional trader, used insurance agents to sell interests in Arete LLC, which was supposedly more profitable and safer than annuities. He is accused of targeting mainly retired annuity holders, many of whom live in in the state.

According to the SEC, investors were told that their money would go toward buying government-backed agency bonds at discount rates and that the bonds would be used in overnight banking sweeps. Instead, Snisky misappropriated about $2.8 million of investor money to pay for his mortgage and pay sales folk their commissions.

Snisky is accused of bringing in experienced insurance salespersons who could source their existing client base of annuity holders and get them to invest in Arete. He described Arete as an “annuity plus” investment that investors could take principal from and earn interest without penalty (even after a decade) while still benefitting from guaranteed annual returns of up to 7%. The SEC says that the purported institutional trader stressed that the investments were safe and claimed he could get agency bonds backed by the government at a reduced rate and without paying fees for middlemen. He also allegedly drafted documents that salespeople used as offering materials to attract investors, showed the staff fake investor account statements to make it appear as if there were actual earnings, and organized seminars where he met with salespeople and investors.

CommonWealth REIT Shareholders Gets New Vote on Whether to Oust Its Board

Published on: November 24, 2013 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

In the dispute between investors and CommonWealth REIT (CWH) over whether to oust its board, an arbitration panel said that attempts by shareholder to remove trustees were not valid but that a new vote could go forward. Related Cos. and Corvex Management LP, both CommonWealth shareholders, have been trying to get the board of trustees removed because they believe there was mismanagement and conflicts of interest.

They blamed this in part on CommonWealth President Adam Portnoy and his dad (and company founder) Barry owning external management firm REIT Management and Research LLC. The two of them are also on REIT’s board.

Corvex and Related claim that they were able to get support from holders that owned over 70% of the shares to get the trustees taken out. However, CommonWealth not only denies the conflict of interest claims but also contends that per its bylaws the vote was not valid.

Puerto Rico Paid Wall Street Securities Firms $1.4B in $61B of Bond Sales

Published on: November 23, 2013 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

As most investors in Puerto Rican bonds are aware, the territory is billions of dollars of debt and the ratings on many of the bonds the Commonwealth has issued have recently fallen. As a result the value of many Puerto Rican municipal bonds has plummeted over the last few months. Still, even with falling ratings and prices and a looming crisis for the Puerto Rican government, Wall Street firms continue to help the territory borrow money.

Reportedly, Puerto Rico and its public agencies have sold $61 billion of bonds in 87 deals since 2006. With these deals the island paid these US securities firms, their attorneys, and others approximately $1.4 billion. Also, the financial firms were able to charge higher underwriting fees for Puerto Rican municipalities than what they imposed on US cities and states when they were in trouble.

According to the Wall Street Journal the territory has paid approximately $764 million in fees to underwriters, credit raters, attorneys, and insurers in the last seven years while backstopping a lot of the bonds. Citigroup (C) and UBS (UBS) received over half this money for underwriting. And just this August, Morgan Stanley (MS) was a lead underwriter when Puerto Rico’s electric power authority sold $673 million in bonds.

FINRA Bars Broker Accused of Selling Over $18M in Fraudulent Promissory Notes to NBA, NFL Athletes, & Others

Published on: November 21, 2013 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has banned ex-Success Trade Securities Inc. broker Jinesh “Hodge” Brahmbhatt from the industry. The broker is accused of selling over $18 million in fraudulent promissory notes to 58 investors, which included many National Football League and National Basketball Association athletes. Brahmbhatt’s registered investment adviser firm is Jade Private Wealth Management LLC.

In its letter of acceptance, waiver and consent, FINRA cites Brahmbhatt for failing to show up and testify at a disciplinary hearing about his former employer and its CEO Fuad Ahmed. The SRO is accusing the firm and its chief executive of fraudulent promissory notes sales and filed its complaint in April.

FINRA said that the notes, put out by parent company Success Trade, were sold with the promise of yearly 12% to 26% interest rates. Sale proceeds purportedly went to personal unsecured loans to Ahmad, paid for firm operations, and paid off past investors. FINRA has alleged that Success Trade tried to get note holders to either get stock in the company or roll over notes that were maturing at higher rates.

Municipal Bond News : SEC Offers Small Entity Compliance Guide, MSRB Puts Out Video on Issuance Process, CFTC Offers SEF Regulatory Guidance, & Lawmakers Consider SIPC Reforms

Published on: November 21, 2013 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

SEC Issues Small Entity Compliance Guide

The Securities and Exchange Commission has put out a small entity compliance guide that explains the new forms and rules involved with the municipal advisers registration regime. Issued in September, the rules and forms implement the Dodd-Frank Act’s Section 975, which mandates that municipal advisers register with the regulator.

Permanent registration dates start the first of next year through October 31, 2014. If an adviser joins up after this time, it will have to apply to register under the permanent regime before engaging in any activities.

RBS Securities Inc. Settles SEC’s Subprime RMBS Lawsuit for $150M

Published on: November 20, 2013 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

RBS Securities Inc., which is a Royal Bank of Scotland PLC. Subsidiary (RBS), has agreed to pay $150 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that it misled investors in a $2.2 billion subprime residential mortgage-backed security offering in 2007. The money will be used to pay back investors who were harmed.

The SEC claims the RBS said that the loans backing the offering “generally” satisfied underwriting guidelines even though close to 30% of them actually were so far off from meeting them that they should not have been part of the offering. As lead underwriters, RBS (then known as Greenwich Capital Markets,) had only (and briefly) looked at a small percentage of the loans while receiving $4.4 million as the transaction’s lead underwriter.

SEC Division Enforcement co-director George Cannellos said that inadequate due diligence by RBS was involved. The Commissions also says that because RBS was in a hurry to meet a deadline established by the seller, the firm misled investors about not just the quality of the loans but also regarding their chances for repayment.

US Senator Elizabeth Wants Obama Administration to Break Up Our Biggest Banks

Published on: November 19, 2013 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

At a recent event hosted by the Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) and the Roosevelt Institute, US Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) called on the Obama Administration to break up Wall Street’s biggest banks. She also chastised regulators for not dealing with financial institutions that cannot fail because they are just “too big.” This means that because they are so integral to the economy, if the banks are ever in financial trouble, the US government would inevitably have to step in like it did during the 2008 economic crisis so that the entire financial system doesn’t fall apart.

During her speech, Warren spoke about the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, observing that three years after its enactment it the hasn’t solved this “too big to fail” dilemma. She pointed out that clearly not much has changed between then and now, observing that the four biggest banks (Citigroup (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), and Bank of America (BAC) are 30% bigger than they were five years ago. She also noted that the five largest institutions hold over half of the bank assets in the US.

Warren wants to know when the government was going to start ensuring that large Wall Street institutions can’t take the economy down again while leaving taxpayers to foot the bill. She believes her 21st Century Glass Steagall Act could solve this “too big to fail” problem, while making turning these dismantled, smaller banks into institutions that are no longer too big to run, regulate, pursue, or prosecute.