Texas Securities Commissioner, Appointed New President of Nationwide Association of Regulators, Seeks Additional Investigations into Wall Street Fraud

The incoming head of the North American Securities Administrators Association, Denise Voigt Crawford, is warning brokerage firms that more enforcement actions over Wall Street fraud are likely to follow. Crawford is also the Texas Securities Commissioner. She will formally assume her role as NASAA president on September 15.

In her new role, Crawford plans on playing a key role in the government’s plans for regulatory reform. She wants the states to have a more prominent position when it comes to regulatory oversight.

At this time, state regulators only supervise investment advisors that are managing assets of $25 million or below. She wants states to regulate investment advisors with assets as high as $100 million. Since most of these firms are located in regional areas, Crawford says it is easier for state regulators to oversee them.

NASAA represents all states securities regulators and has been pushing forward actions against broker-dealers ever since the auction-rate securities collapse in 2008. According to Crawford, NASAA can be credited with $60 billion in ARS that brokerages are repurchasing. The states have fined large broker-dealers about $597 million.

Crawford says that NASAA is continuing to examine the role that “downstream” firms played in the ARS market collapse. She says NASAA will try to figure out how to unfreeze investor assets that were purchased from firms such as Charles Schwab Corp.

NASAA does not want FINRA to expand the role it plays in investment advisor oversight. The self-regulatory organization now regulates Series 7 licensed registered reps, but not Series 65 licensed advisors.

Our Texas securities fraud law firm is working hard to help our clients recover their ARS that froze when the market collapsed. We continue to offer free case evaluations to potential clients whose ARS became frozen even after brokers told them that their securities were liquid like cash. Broker misconduct should not be tolerated. There are ways to recover your losses if you were the victim of investment fraud.

Related Web Resources:
New NASAA President: More Enforcement Actions to Come, Financial Planning
NASAA

Texas State Securities Board