Braintree Laboratories Inc. is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to keep its auction-rate securities lawsuit against the brokerage division of Citigroup Inc. in court. A federal court had ordered the proceedings into arbitration. Last April, the pharmaceutical company sued Citigroup for securities fraud, accusing the…
Regions Bank has agreed to a $1 million fine to settle SEC allegations that it helped defraud some 14,000 investors. Most of the affected investors are based in Latin America. According to the SEC, Regions Bank helped two unregistered broker-dealers, U.S. College Trust Corp. and U.S. Pension Trust Corp., commit…
According to Stifel Financial Corp., 95% of its clients with frozen auction-rate securities have indicated that they will accept its offer to buy back the investments over a three-year period. Missouri Securities Regulator and Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, however, continues to maintain that the buyback plan is inadequate. She…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority says that RBC Capital Markets Corp., Raymond James & Associates, Inc., and an RBCCMC head trader have settled charges over alleged broker misconduct connected to stock loan improprieties. RJF is to pay a $1 million fine, while RBC Capital Markets will pay $400,000. Meantime, RBCCMC…
A former Morgan Keegan adviser has pleaded guilty to charges that he stole from an elderly investor. Charges included investment adviser fraud and making and subscribing a bogus tax return. Now, Harold “Hal” Blondeau could be facing up to eight years in prison. He also may have to pay restitution…
Hedge fund investment adviser Hennessee Group, LLC has reached an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over its securities fraud probe into Bayou Group and hedge fund manage Samuel Goldberg. Investors lost some $400 million in the scam. Now, Hennessee Group and principal Charles J Gradante will pay over…
According to a TD Ameritrade Institutional survey, most investment advisers continue to tell their clients that now is a great time to invest in the financial market rather than encouraging them to cash out their investments in the wake of the financial crisis: • 93% of investment advisers are not…
Prudential Securities has been plagued by claims over its deferred compensation plan, known as MasterShare. A number of former representatives have filed claims and recovered damages. Started in 1999, MasterShare allowed Pru employees to deduct up to 25 percent of their gross pay to purchase discounted shares of a stock…
Former Credit Suisse Securities USA LLC investment banker Hafiz Naseem says he will appeal his conviction for insider trading charges, which include 1 count of conspiracy and 28 counts of securities fraud involving stolen nonpublic data allegedly used for insider trading that generated at least $7.5 million. He faces a…
Investors have a hard time understanding the differences between investment advisers and broker-dealers, as well as distinguishing between the different services and protections that each group offer. This finding was reported last month in an SEC-commissioned study conducted by Nonprofit policy group Rand Corp. Rand gathered its findings from data…