Investor Lawyers Blog

Morgan Keegan Settles Arbitration Claim Made By Indiana Children’s Wish Fund

Published on: January 7, 2008 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Last month, brokerage firm Morgan Keegan made an undisclosed payment to the Indiana Children’s Wish Fund to settle an arbitration dispute. The wish granting organization had lost $48,000 in a mutual fund that was heavily invested in mortgage securities.

The Indiana Children’s Wish Fund has about $1 million in assets. The Wish Fund was founded by Richard Culley, a blind attorney, in 1984. The charity has granted some 1800 wishes to children who have been diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses. If the charity had not received its settlement sum, it would not have been able to realize the wishes of nine children.

Last June, a banker at Regions Bank in Indiana recommended that the Wish Fund invest money in a bond that Morgan Keegan offered. Regions Bank and Morgan Keegan are affiliated with one another. Terry Ceaser-Hudson, the Wish Fund’s executive director, says that the Morgan Keegan broker told her that the fund was very safe.

Senior Vice President of Questar Capital (now Allianz Insurance) Claims He’s a Victim of Ponzi Scheme

Published on: January 3, 2008 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Questar Capital Corp’s senior vice president of mergers and acquisitions claims he too was victim of a $250 million alleged Ponzi scheme that affected up to 1,200 investors-many senior citizens residing in Michigan, California, Illinois, New York, Florida, New Jersey, and Ohio.

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Edward May and E-M Management Co. LLC with selling bogus investments which involved shares in fake Las Vegas casino and resort telecom transactions. “Investment seminars” were held to persuade investors to buy shares. The investors were told they would receive monthly returns for the next 12-14 years.

It turns out that there were never any telecom contracts with any Las Vegas resorts, hotels, and casinos. Some of the hotels and casinos that supposedly had contracts were Motel 6, Hilton, Tropicana, MGM Grand, and Sheraton.

Two Former Morgan Stanley Advisers are named in SEC Market Timing Lawsuit

Published on: January 2, 2008 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Securities and Exchange Commission is suing two ex-Morgan Stanley advisers for allegedly circumventing the market timing restrictions of 50 mutual fund companies, and, as a result, allegedly defrauding some 50 mutual fund companies.

Between January 2002 and August 2003, Former advisers Darryl Goldstein and Christopher O’Donnell earned about $1 million in fees and commissions because of their alleged misconduct. Attorneys for both men say their clients will fight the charges.

The SEC says that the two men, on more than one occasion, strategically engaged in several deceptive practices, including the opening of several brokerage accounts and trading in them, trading with variable annuity contracts, and using a number of financial advisor identification numbers while trading. The deceptive practices were meant to get around the restrictions that mutual funds had regarding market timing.

SEC Investment Management Division Director Wants Mutual Funds to Call Their “Distribution Fee” a “Sales Charge”

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

The director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investment Management Division is calling for mutual funds to rename their 75 basis point “distribution fee” and call it a “sales charge”-regardless of whether the sales charge is deducted right away or over a period of time.

At the Investment Company Institute’s 2007 Securities Law Developments Conference in Washington, Donohue issued a call out for “truth in labeling.” He said that financial advisers should notify investors about the sales charge and the information about the charge should also be in the prospectus and the confirmation.

Last year, the mutual fund industry collected 12b-1 fees totally $11.8 billion. These fees are authorized under the 1940 Investment Company Act Rule 12b-1 in 1980.

Goldman Sachs Class Securities Fraud Lawsuit is Dismissed

Published on: December 26, 2007 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

A class securities fraud lawsuit against Goldman Sachs & Co. was dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The lawsuit had charged that a Goldman Sachs & Co. senior analyst issued false research reports with inflated projections of Exodus Communications Inc.’s financial growth on more than one occasion.

Judge Thomas Griesa granted the motion to dismiss after deciding that the second amendment complaint “fails to adequately plead loss causation.” The court dismissed the original lawsuit filed by Exodus investors based on the same grounds.

The Allegations:

Citibank and Columbia University Sued for Charging College Students Extremely High Interest Rates on School Loans

Published on: December 23, 2007 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

A former Columbia University student is suing Citibank and Columbia University for what he is calling “modern-day slavery,” for allegedly colluding to charge unreasonably high interest rates on student loans.

Brian Baxter, 57, is now a licensed psychotherapist and a social worker. He graduated from Columbia University in the 1990’s with a BA in sociology and a master’s in social work. Baxter says that he is still paying back the interest on his student loan even though it has been 10 years since he graduated.

He says that his $65,000 loan has turned into $172,000. Creditors take 15% of his paycheck regularly. Baxter says he will likely spend the rest of his life paying back his debt.

NASAA Calls for Voluntary Securities Arbitration System

Published on: December 20, 2007 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

On December 12, The North American Securities Administrators Association told the Senate Judiciary Constitution Subcommittee says that it is calling for a voluntary securities arbitration system. NASAA also approves of the proposed Arbitration Fairness Act (S. 1782).

NASAA says that right now, nearly every broker-dealer has to include a pre-dispute arbitration provision in its customer agreements that says public investors must submit any disputes with a firm and its associates to an arbitrator.

Illinois Secretary of State and Illinois Securities Director Tanya Solov says that mandatory arbitration is unfair to investors and that the securities arbitration system should be voluntary. Currently, arbitration panels are made up of one mandatory securities industry representative and public arbitrators that may have connections to the securities industry.

Ronin Capital, Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing, Penn Mott Securities, and Pearson Capital Management Receive Censures and Fines from NYSE Regulation

Published on: December 19, 2007 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

New York Stock Regulation Inc. announced its enforcement actions against four trading companies. The regulator says that Ronin Capital, LLC mismarked over 8,300 short orders because of inadequate supervisory procedures and supervision. The company continued to mismark short orders even after the SEC brought the violation to its attention. Ronin Capital was censured by NYSE Arca and ordered to pay $200,000.

NYSE Arca fined Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing LP (GSEC) $105,000 for failing to adequately supervise business operators and associated persons in a way that guaranteed compliance with odd lot trading order rules.

Pearson Capital Management LLC was censured and fined $5,000 because it failed to meet market maker requirements. Penn Mott Securities was fined $3,200 for similar violations.

JP Morgan Will Pay $500,000 to Settle Municipal Securities SRO Claim

Published on: December 18, 2007 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

JP Morgan Securities Inc. says it will pay $500,000 to settle charges that it failed to disclose to regulators that it used and paid consultants to acquire a number of municipal securities offerings.

The settlement agreement was announced by the Financial Regulatory Authority (FINRA), which is in charge of enforcing the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) rules and any violations. According to MSRB regulations, firms must disclose any payments to consultants for municipal securities offerings.

FINRA says that JP Morgan actually stated in its MSRB filing that it did not use or pay any consultants to make any municipal securities-related transactions. In fact, from January 22 through June 2004, JP Morgan actually used consultants extensively in connection to its municipal bond business, paying some 40 consultants $7.1 million in total.

FINRA Says Democrats Nominate Picks For SEC Commission

Published on: December 14, 2007 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) says that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has sent to the White House the Democrats’ choices to fill their two slots on the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The two names put forward are Luis Aguilar, a partner at the Atlanta law firm of McKenna, Long & Aldridge and Elisse Walter, a senior FINRA official.

The SEC is under pressure to not act on a controversial proxy initiative until all members are appointed. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox and SEC Commissioners Annette Lazareth, Paul Atkins, and Kathleen Casey are currently on the commission. Lazareth is the only Democrat on the panel. She plans to step down. Another commissioner, Roel Campos, left the SEC in August.