The SEC has obtained an order to freeze the assets of investment adviser Michael Kenwood Capital Management LLC and firm principal Francisco Illarramendi, who is accused of taking at least $53M from a hedge fund and fraudulently transferring investor money from several funds to bank accounts he controlled. Illarramendi then…
The securities case accusing Merrill Lynch International alleging breach of contract related to the $18 million credit default swap purchased by DKR Soundshore Oasis Holding Fund Ltd has been reinstated. The Appellate Division (First Department) of the New York Supreme Court rejected the financial firm’s efforts to get the case…
Kurt Branham Barton, the former CEO of Triton Financial, a financial firm based in Austin, Texas, has been indicted on 33 counts, including Texas securities fraud, money laundering, and wire fraud. Barton allegedly used ex-NFL stars and church contacts in a $50 million Ponzi scam. The American-Statesman reports that beginning…
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York says it will not direct the Securities and Exchange Commission to contact German authorities on behalf ex-Goldman Sachs & Co. (GS) executive Fabrice Tourre, who is seeking to obtain certain documents related to the securities fraud case against him.…
The U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut says that ex-UBS (UBS) employee Mary Barker’s whistleblower claim alleging that she was retaliated against for she reporting a purported accounting mistake can move forward. Her Age Discrimination in Employment Act claim, however, was dismissed. Barker, who used to work UBS’s…
TD Ameritrade Inc. (AMTD) has settled Securities and Exchange Commission charges that it failed to reasonably supervise its representatives, some who sold shares of the Reserve Yield Plus Fund to clients. As part of the settlement, TD Ameritrade will pay $10 million to eligible customers who are still fund shareholders.…
Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (CS) broker Eric Butler is permanently barred from future violations of securities laws. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted the Securities and Exchange Commission’s motion for the permanent injunction late last month. Butler was convicted of criminal charges related…
AXA Rosenberg Investment Management LLC (ARIM), AXA Rosenberg Group LLC (ARG), and Barr Rosenberg Research Center LLC (BRRC) have agreed to pay over $240 million to settle administrative securities fraud charges that they hid an important error in the computer code of the quantitative investment model used for managing client…
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System is suing Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., its ex-executives, and a number of bond underwriters for fraud and of making materially false statements about mortgage-backed securities losses. CalPERS, a $229 billion public pension fund, owned about $700 million Lehman bonds and 3.9 million shares of…
QA3 Financial Corp. has announced that it will be closing down its business. In an email sent to its 400 brokers after the market closed on Friday, QA3 owner and CEO Steve Wild says the decision was made following the securities arbitration award that was issued against the independent brokerage…