Citigroup Global Markets Inc is being charged $3 million by NASD to settle charges connected to misleading materials it allegedly gave Bellsouth employees during retirement meetings and seminars held in North Carolina and South Carolina. NASD also says that Citigroup has to pay over 200 ex-Bellsouth employees $12.2 million in…
Articles Posted in Financial Firms
Securities America Fined $15 Million for Luring Retirees Using Exaggerated Promises
The NASD fined Omaha, Neb.-based Securities America Inc. a total of over $15 million for luring 32 long-term employees of Exxon Corporation into early retirement using false promises of high returns. The NASD stated that supervisors at Securities America largely ignored such actions by its registered representative who has been…
Credit Suisse Employee Arrested in Insider Trading Scheme
A employee of the Global Energy Group of Credit Suisse was arrested and charged for his role in an alleged scheme using material nonpublic information on nine merger transactions involving Credit Suisse clients to obtain over $7.5 million in profits. The Securities and Exchange Commission also brought charges against the…
Barclays Bank and its Former Trader to Pay Over $11 Million To Settle SEC Insider Trading Claims
Barclays Bank PLC and a former proprietary trader for Barclays’ U.S. Distressed Debt Desk agreed to pay a total of $11.69 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges they traded on inside information received while on the creditors committees for six bankrupt companies. Neither admitted or denied the SEC’s…
Wachovia Brokerage Buying A.G. Edwards to Become Second Only to Merrill Lynch
Wachovia Corporation agreed to acquire A.G. Edwards Corporation for $6.8 billion in stock. This will vault the company into the second-largest U.S. retail brokerage, behind only Merrill Lynch, with $1.1 trillion in client assets. This transaction is the largest of the recent takeovers of regional brokerage firms, which are having…
Former Head of Commodity Trading and Head Trader at Citibank Both Jailed for Inflating Profits
After his former boss was sentenced, a former head of American trading on the Citibank NA commodity desk was sentenced in May to 12 months and a day in prison and ordered to pay approximately $188,000 after pleading guilty to conspiring to falsify bank records and to commit wire fraud,…
Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and Lehman Ex-Brokers Face Retrial in Eavesdropping Case
Three former brokers of Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers face a second trial on charges they conspired to commit fraud by allowing day traders to eavesdrop on orders being discussed on investment firms’ internal “squawk boxes.” Four current and former executives at the day trading firm A. B. Watley…
SEC says AIG and Other Insurance Companys’ Products Used for Earnings Fraud
The Securities and Exchange Commission for the first time proved a company used insurance to hide its losses. The agency accused an executive of cellphone distributor Brightpoint Inc. of overstating the company’s earnings through improper use of an insurance policy. A New York jury found the company’s director liable for…
SEC Says Credit Suisse First Boston Broker’s Tips on TXU Used by Pakistani Banker
The SEC says it is requesting that the name of Pakistani banker Ajaz Rahim be added to the lawsuit charging the trading in of call options for TXU Corp that were based on insider information regarding an investment group’s leveraged buyout of the entity. The commission filed its third amended…
RBC Dain Rauscher Fined $90K for Compliance Program Flaws
The New York Stock Exchange Regulation Inc. announced that RBC Dain Rauscher Inc. consented to be fined $90,000 for failures related to its anti-money laundering compliance program. According to an exchange press release, the Minneapolis-based firm failed to establish written procedures regarding filing of suspicious activity reports. Additionally, the exchange…