There’s a very good piece in the Financial Times today about Goldman Sachs by Francesco Guerrera and Tom Braithwaite. It’s available online at http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1eb0ea18-d497-11de-a935-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1 The authors explain how competitive Goldman is and how profits and risk management drive the firm. They go on to explain how difficult it will be…
FINRA announced yesterday that it won approval from the SEC to expand its BrokerCheck service to make records of final regulatory actions against brokers permanently available to the public, regardless of whether the broker continues to be employed in the securities industry. The FINRA press release states disclosure records for…
I’m often asked what I read on a regular basis regarding securities and investment fraud. Back in the day (say, pre-Enron), there was limited print and online coverage of investment misconduct. In fact, when I told people what I did for a living, some would actually question whether our niche…
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed a lawsuit against Barclays Capital in New York federal court alleging the British bank took control of excess assets in collusion with Lehman executives when it bought its U.S. brokerage business in 2008. The Lehman bankruptcy is the largest U.S. bankruptcy in history. The claim…
The SEC announced that it will continue to pursue its civil enforcement case against former Bear Stearns High Grade Fund portfolio managers Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin, after the recent acquittal of criminal charges against Messrs. Cioffi and Tannin. According to recent news reports, Robert Khuzami, head of enforcement at…
A former president of a Memphis gas company won a $51,000 arbitration award against Morgan Keegan & Co. related to the Morgan Keegan bond funds. It was approximately 64% of the investor’s out of pocket losses. This is just another in a string of victories by public customers against Morgan…
Morgan Keegan, a division of Regions Financial Group, lost yet another FINRA arbitration related to its Bond Funds. The case is allegedly the first successful arbitration on behalf of an investor who was not direct customer of Morgan Keegan. According the law firm who won the arbitration, the elderly investor…
Katherine Burton and David Glovin wrote a good piece on Galleon on Friday. Here it is. Galleon Wiretaps Rattle Hedge Funds as Insider Trading Targeted Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) — First came the biggest bear market since the 1930s, then Bernard Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme and the threat of increased…
Charles Schwab acknowledged that the SEC served it with a Wells Notice related to its sale of two funds, the YieldPlus Fund and Total Bond Market Fund. A Wells Notice advises the firm that the SEC staff intends to recommend civil charges for possible securities violations. The additional heat from…
The Charles Schwab YieldPlus Fund class action suit has generated some serious questions for investors to consider. The U.S. District Court in San Francisco issued a Notice of Pendency to class members which includes important information about how to opt out as a class member. Opt out requests must be…