Investor Lawyers Blog

According to Survey by Vestment Advisors Inc., Many Financial Advisers Knowingly Work Around Their Firms’ Compliance Rules

Published on: May 30, 2007 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

In a recent survey of financial services professionals, many financial advisers said that they knowingly skirted their companies’ compliance regulations and are tired of complying with a regulatory framework that seems to be growing more complicated.

100 financial services professionals were surveyed by Shorewood, Minnesota-based consulting and training firm for the financial services industry Vestment Advisors Inc. 71 of the respondents were registered representatives.

One survey participant said that everyone violates compliance rules on a daily basis because it was not possible to work in the securities industry without regularly violating an SEC or NASD rule Another participant said that it was unlikely that anyone had “never violated a compliance rule,” seeing that hundreds of rules existed.

Proposed Act Requires SEC Registration of Hedge Fund Advisers

Published on: May 28, 2007 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

U.S. Senator Charles Grassley has introduced legislation that would require most hedge fund advisers to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Called the Hedge Fund Registration Act, the bill closes a loophole created by the U.S. Court of Appeals (DC) when it struck down a 2004 SEC rule requiring most hedge fund advisers to register with the agency.

That ruling lets hedge fund advisers count the different funds they manage as just one client, rather than noting the number of investors who have purchased into each fund. Because of this, the majority of hedge fund advisers do not have to register with the SEC because they fall under the 1940 Investment Advisers Act exemption.

Senator Grassley says that if the bill were passed, only advisers with less than 15 clients would be exempt from registering. An adviser exempted from registration would also have to oversee less than $50 million and could not publicly “hold himself out” as an adviser.

Former Reagan Budget Head Stockman Charged With Securities Fraud

Published on: May 27, 2007 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

David A. Stockman was chief architect of President Ronald Reagan’s economic plan (a plan dubbed “voodoo economics” by George H.W. Bush). Stockman then became a high-profile Wall Street money man, but was indicted Monday on charges of conspiracy, securities fraud and obstruction of justice.

Stockman, 60, who faces the prospect of three decades in prison, is accused of defrauding investors and banks during his tenure as head of Collins & Aikman, a large auto-parts maker that descended into bankruptcy in 2005.

First elected to the House of Representatives at age 30, after serving only two terms in the House, Stockman was then named Reagan’s first director of the Office of Management and Budget. He was the highly visible spokesman for the “trickle-down” economic theory of the Reagan administration. However, private conversations over budget with a journalist caused Reagan to, as Stockman states, take him to the “woodshed”. He soon matriculated to the New York world of investment banking.

Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and Lehman Ex-Brokers Face Retrial in Eavesdropping Case

Published on: May 27, 2007 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Three former brokers of Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers face a second trial on charges they conspired to commit fraud by allowing day traders to eavesdrop on orders being discussed on investment firms’ internal “squawk boxes.” Four current and former executives at the day trading firm A. B. Watley Group will also be retried for their alleged roles in the scheme.

After a seven-week trail seven defendants including these former brokers were acquitted of securities fraud and other charges, but the jury deadlocked on the conspiracy charges opening the door to a retrial.

Prosecutors assert the brokers conspired to give Watley traders access to large orders broadcast over intercoms, or “squawk boxes”, in exchange for cash and commissions. The traders bought or sold stock ahead of the orders in anticipation of share-price swings, prosecutors say.

SEC says AIG and Other Insurance Companys’ Products Used for Earnings Fraud

Published on: May 27, 2007 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Securities and Exchange Commission for the first time proved a company used insurance to hide its losses.

The agency accused an executive of cellphone distributor Brightpoint Inc. of overstating the company’s earnings through improper use of an insurance policy. A New York jury found the company’s director liable for assisting in Brightpoint’s fraud and other violations of securities law said the SEC

In November, the American International Group(AIG) paid $126 million to settle claims by the Department of Justice and SEC that it assisted companies, including Brightpoint and the PNC Financial Services Group, inflate earnings through AIG’s insurance products.

SEC Allegations Against Broker Accused of Fraudulent Trading Scheme Involving Archer Alexander Securities Corp. Will Not Be Dismissed, Says Court

Published on: May 24, 2007 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

A Securities and Exchange Commission action against Jamie Solow, a former stockbroker who is accused of allegedly taking part in a fraudulent trading scheme involving unsuitable and risky securities, including collateralized mortgage obligations, will not be dismissed, says the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

According to the court, the SEC’s antifraud charges satisfied a “level of specificity” for this type of pleading’s particularity requirements. The complaint also gives Solow proper notice of the claims (and their basis) that he aided and abetted Archer Alexander Securities Corp. in their violation of securities laws.

The court has also said that Archer allegedly committed records and books violations and did not comply with FOCUS reporting requirements. The court says that since Solow knew that his conduct was improper, and because he was a registered Archer representative, the firm was obligated to maintain proper records.

SEC Says Credit Suisse First Boston Broker’s Tips on TXU Used by Pakistani Banker

Published on: May 22, 2007 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The SEC says it is requesting that the name of Pakistani banker Ajaz Rahim be added to the lawsuit charging the trading in of call options for TXU Corp that were based on insider information regarding an investment group’s leveraged buyout of the entity. The commission filed its third amended complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

The SEC is accusing Rahim of accepting tips offered by CSFP banker Hafiz Naseem, who is said to have misappropriated information from Credit Suisse, LLC, which advised TXU regarding the buyout.

Naseem was charged in connection to his alleged involvement in the controversy in the SEC’s second amended complaint. The SEC had issued allegations of insider trading just before the TXU buyout against “Certain Unknown Purchasers of TXU Call Options.

RBC Dain Rauscher Fined $90K for Compliance Program Flaws

Published on: May 21, 2007 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The New York Stock Exchange Regulation Inc. announced that RBC Dain Rauscher Inc. consented to be fined $90,000 for failures related to its anti-money laundering compliance program.

According to an exchange press release, the Minneapolis-based firm failed to establish written procedures regarding filing of suspicious activity reports. Additionally, the exchange alleged, the firm did not have an adequate monitoring system to review and document follow-up on exceptions found by the firm’s department, the release stated.

The firm, which neither admitted nor denied the allegations, consented to the fine and a censure, according to the release.

SIPC Insurance of Brokerage Accounts to be Disclosed to Investors But Not Explained

Published on: May 21, 2007 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

For decades investors have been told their accounts were protected by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) without being told what was covered by this insurance. Few realize this protection only provided that whatever securities and cash are in an account when a firm goes out of business would be returned to the investor. (Furthermore, such claims are difficult to file and often take years to process.)

Thus, if investors are defrauded into purchasing investments, if their accounts are churned for commissions or if other wrongdoing occurs in their accounts, they are NOT protected by this Federal insurance. Even claims for unauthorized transactions, including the sale of viable securities in order to purchase worthless securities from the firm or its officers are not always refunded. In short: Fraud is not covered by SIPC!

After years of complaints, efforts by attorneys representing investors and pressure by some consumer-friendly legislators, the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (NASD) and the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) were finally persuaded to act. However, rather than force brokerage firms to disclose the insurance coverage (or lack of it) the NASD and SEC passed a much less effective requirement.

“Pump and Dump”, Annuities, Real Estate, Affinity Fraud and “Free Lunch Seminars” Are Top Scams in 2007 Say State Securities Regulators

Published on: May 21, 2007 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The North American Securities Administrators Association released its “Top 10 Traps” likely to ensnare investors, a list that included real estate investment contracts, affinity fraud, foreign exchange trading, and Internet fraud.

Other problematic areas, according to NASAA, include: “free lunch” investment seminars; oil and gas scams; prime bank schemes; private securities offerings; unlicensed professionals and unregistered products; and unsuitable sales.

“The path to safe investing is littered with traps that are likely to catch unwary investors,” Joseph Borg, NASAA’s president and the director of the Alabama Securities Commission, said in the release. “It always pays to remember that any investment that sounds too good to be true usually is.”