Morgan Stanley (MS) has agreed to pay $275 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve the regulator’s investigation into the firm’s sale of subprime mortgage-backed securities seven years ago. The settlement reached is an “agreement in principal” and, according to the firm in its annual filing this week,…
Credit Suisse (CS) is agreeing to pay $196 million and has admitted to wrongdoing as part of its settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations that it violated federal securities laws when it gave cross-border investment advisory and brokerage services to US clients even though it was not…
A judge in US bankruptcy court has approved the $767 million mortgage securities settlement reached between Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Freddie Mac (FMCC). The deal involves a $1.2 billion claim over two loans made by the mortgage giant to Lehman prior to its collapse in 2008. As part of…
Prosecutors in the United Kingdom are charging three ex-Barclays Plc (ADR) employees with conspiring to manipulate the London interbank offered rate. The Serious Fraud Office charged Jonathan James Mathew, Peter Charles Johnson, and Styilianos Contogoulas with conspiring to defraud. These are the first criminal charges involving the manipulation of the…
Even though Puerto Rico’s debt has been downgraded to “junk” status by the three major ratings agencies (Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, and Fitch Ratings), OppenheimerFunds (OPY) has increased its holding of Puerto Rican debt in two of its municipal bond funds that carry lower risk. The credit raters downgraded the…
In the wake of recent losses in the courtroom, the Securities and Exchange Commission is changing up the way it gets ready for trial. The Wall Street Journal says that SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White has retooled the agency’s trial unit. One of the reasons for the restructuring is so…
Phillip D. Murphy, an ex-Bank of America Corp. (BAC) executive that used to run the municipal derivatives desk there, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy charges in a muni bond rigging case accusing him of conspiring to bilk the US government and bond investors. In federal court, he…
Better Markets, a non-profit group, is suing the US Department of Justice to block the $13 billion mortgage-backed securities fraud settlement reached between the federal government and JP Morgan Chase (JPM). The group wants the deal to undergo judicial review. The settlement resolves DOJ mortgage bond claims with a $2 billion…
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) has agreed to settle securities allegations that it defrauded federal agencies by underwriting mortgage loans that were sub-standard. As part of the agreement with the US government, the bank acknowledged that for over 10 years it approved thousands of insured loans that were ineligible for…
A judge has approved an $8.5B mortgage-bond settlement between Bank of America (BAC) and investors. The agreement should settle most of the bank’s liability from when it acquired Countrywide Financial Corp. while the financial crisis was happening and resolves contentions that the loans behind the bonds were not up to…