Three A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. brokers are being ordered to pay $750,000 in fines for their participation in a market-timing scam that involved mutual funds that benefited certain customers. The brokers, Thomas Bridge, James Edge, and Jeffrey Robles, were also ordered to serve suspensions from the securities industries. Bridge,…
Appearing before the U.S. Congress last week, Countrywide Financial CEO and founder Angelo Mozilo, Ex-Citigroup CEO Charles Prince, and Ex-Merrill Lynch Chairman and CEO Stanley O’Neil gave their testimonies to the House Committee on Government and Oversight Reform. The three men say that reports about their compensation are “grossly exaggerated”…
Fidelity Investments has agreed to pay an $8 million fine to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that the company failed to properly supervise its stock traders that had improperly received gifts. 13 current and ex-Fidelity employees are targeted in the SEC investigation. The gifts were given to traders by…
Oppenheimer & Co. has settled Financial Industry Regulatory Association charges regarding the market timing of mutual funds. The company has agreed to pay $4.25 million as restitution to five dozen mutual fund companies, as well as a $250,000 fine. FINRA says that Oppenheimer failed to stop five traders’ engagement in…
Questar Capital Corp. has fired Jason Kavanaugh, its senior vice president of mergers and acquisitions, because he failed to disclose outside business activities and private securities transactions. Kavanaugh recently came under fire when it was discovered that he paid E-M Management Co. LLC $57,000 for fake, unregistered securities. Kavanaugh also…
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…
This week, Goldman Sachs told a number of investors that they could not withdraw money from their auction-rate securities investments. This move by Goldman came as a shock to investors-but the firm was not alone. Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, and other banks have also found themselves notifying their investors that…
Goldman Sachs & Co. says it will settle a class action suit filed by the University of California (UC) over the purchase of Enron Corp. securities for $11.5 million. The University of California Board of Regents has approved the terms of the settlement. Goldman allegedly marketed Enron 7% exchangeable notes…
What was the role of the Securities and Exchange Commission in the collapse of the subprime mortgage bubble? Although mortgage brokers, investment banks, and ratings agencies are frequently held responsible for the demise, little is said about the roles of the Financial Industry Regulatory Industry (FINRA) and the SEC-both watchdog…
Banc One Securities Corp. (BOSC) says it will pay $225,000 to settle Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) charges that it made “unsuitable” sales of deferred variable annuities to 23 clients-21 of them elderly customers over 70 years of age. FINRA says that BOSC representatives told clients that they should exchange…