Merrill Lynch, a Bank of America Corp. (BAC) unit must pay a $12.5M fine to resolve Securities and Exchange Commission allegations accusing the brokerage firm of having weak controls that led to mini-flash crashes. This is the largest penalty ever imposed for alleged market access rule violations. According to the…
Three years after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission barred Ray Lucia Sr. from the securities industry, the ex-investment adviser and radio talk show host is still seeking to overturn that decision. Last week, he filed a petition asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to hear his…
The Securities and Exchange Commission is charging ex-Samoyedic’s Inc. and Fun Cool Free Inc. founder Craig V. Sizer and boiler room operator Miguel Mesa with involvement in a $20M penny stock scam to bilk senior investors and others. At least 600 investors were allegedly victimized in the fraud. The…
The SEC has filed insider trading civil charges against Leon G. Cooperman and his Omega Advisors. According to the regulator, the hedge fund manager made illicit profits when he bought Atlas Pipeline Partners securities right before it sold its natural gas processing facility in Oklahoma. Cooperman is accused of…
Florida Man Implicated in Scam Involving Black Check Companies’ Stocks The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed civil fraud charges against Sheldon R. Rose. The Florida man established over a dozen blank check companies, which the SEC contends are worthless and have no operations despite that they are registered to sell…
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is awarding over $4M to a whistleblower for providing original information that led to a successful fraud case. This is individual is the 34th whistleblower that the SEC’s program has awarded since 2011, upping the total amount granted in such awards to over $111M.…
NASAA Puts Out Practices and Procedures Guide to Protect Vulnerable Adults The North American Securities Administrators Association has issued a guide to help investment advisory firms and broker-dealers create procedures and practices to help them identify and tackle suspected incidents of financial exploitation involving vulnerable adult clients, including senior investors…
Raymond James and Robert W. Baird Are Charged With Compliance Failures The Securities and Exchange Commission said that Robert W. Baird and Co. and Raymond James & Associates (RJF) will pay $250K and $600K, respectively, to settle charges accusing them of compliance failures in their own wrap free programs.…
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said that BOK Financial Corporation subsidiary BOKF NA will pay over $1.6M to resolve charges accusing the Oklahoma-based bank of ignoring signs that businessman Christopher F. Brogdon was engaged in suspect activates related to his management of municipal bond offerings for investors. Brogdon was…
Andrew Caspersen is now permanently barred from the investment industry. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the ban. Caspersen, who used to be the managing principal at Park Hill Group and is the son of financier and philanthropist Finn M. W. Caspersen, had pleaded guilty to criminal charges of securities…