On Wednesday, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. sued Merrill Lynch & Co., a Bank of America Corp. unit. The pharmaceutical company’s securities fraud lawsuit accuses the brokerage firm of making misrepresentations that resulted in its purchase of $273 million in ARS. Merrill Lynch underwrote the securities that Teva bought. A day…
Although Bank of America has agreed to settle charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission that the broker-dealer misled investors about Merrill Lynch bonuses worth billions of dollars, a federal judge is withholding approval for the $33 million penalty. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York…
Another state has filed an individual enforcement against brokerage and investment banking firm Stifel, Nicolaus, & Co. Inc. On May 7, Virginia’s State Corporation Commission’s ‘s Division of Securities and Retail Franchising filed its civil lawsuit accusing the broker-dealer of making misrepresentations and false statements related to the sale of…
The Boilermaker-Blacksmith National Pension Trust is suing a number of investment banks, credit rating agencies, and underwriters, including Wells Fargo, WFASC, Morgan Stanley & Co., Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Barclays Capital Inc., Bear Stearns & Co., Countrywide Securities Corp., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., JPMorgan Chase Inc., Bank of America…
Earlier this month, the chief executives of the eight biggest banks in the United States, including Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs addressed the House Financial Services Committee in an attempt to persuade US lawmakers that billions of dollars in bailout funds were used as intended-to increase…
Merrill Lynch & Co. is confirming that Branch Manager Joseph Mattia no longer works for the investment firm’s global wealth-management group. Mattia supervised 200 financial advisors in Merrill Lynch’s 5th Avenue office. A spokesperson for Merrill Lynch refused to provide details. CNN reports that Mattia left the firm. Investment News,…
The North American Securities Administrators Association is reminding investors to ask the investment firms that sold them any now-frozen auction-rate securities about repurchase opportunities. Following the ARS market collapse, securities regulators in 12 US states joined together to form a multi-state Task Force dedicated to finding out whether Wall Street…
Documents reveal that Bank of America told the state of California as early as late last year that there were problems brewing with the auction-rate securities market. The country’s largest retail banking firm, however, failed to warn smaller investors about potential trouble and continued selling the investments without providing any…
Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin is subpoenaing Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner, & Smith Inc., UBS Securities, and Bank of America Investments because it wants information about the companies’ involvement in selling auction-rate market securities to retail investors. The companies are all registered Massachusetts broker dealers. Galvin issued the…
The city of Cleveland, Ohio is suing 21 financial institutions for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages caused by subprime lending and securitization. The defendants named in the lawsuit are: • Deutsche Bank Trust Company • Ameriquest Mortgage Company • Bank of America Corporation • The Bear Stearns Companies…