The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second has vacated the convictions of six brokers who were criminally charged in a front-running scam to give day traders privileged information via brokerage firms’ squawk boxes. The case is United States v. Mahaffy. Judge Barrington Parker said that confidence in the jury’s…
According to the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, a lower court was in error when it dismissed on the grounds of timeliness investors’ putative securities fraud class action lawsuit accusing the American Funds mutual fund family of charging marketing and management fees that were too high and…
The Stronger Enforcement of Civil Penalties Act of 2012, is bipartisan legislation that seeks to enhance the Commission’s power to clamp down on violations of securities law while raising the statutory ceilings on civil monetary penalties by tying a penalty’s size to the degree of harm wrought and amount of…
The Supreme Court of Montana says that a lower court erred when it found that an investor’s stake in a tenancy-in-common venture promising fixed return rates is not a securities under the Montana Securities Act. The case is Redding v. Montana 1st Judicial District . Holding that the Montana First…
Evergreen Investment Management Co. LLC and related entities have consented to pay $25 million to settle a class action securities settlement involving plaintiff investors who contend that the Evergreen Ultra Short Opportunities Fund was improperly marketed and sold to them. The plaintiffs, which include five institutional investors, claim that between…
The CFTC is accusing Peregrine Financial Group and its owner Russell R. Wasendorf, Sr. of misappropriating client monies, including statements that were untrue in financial statements submitted to the CFTC, and violating customer fund segregation laws. The Commission filed its securities fraud complaint against the registered futures commission merchant in…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority says that it is fining Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. $2.8M in the wake of certain alleged supervisory failures that the SRO says led to the financial firm billing clients unwarranted fees. The financial firm paid back the $32M in remediation to affected…
Former Sentinel Management Group Inc. CEO Eric Bloom and head trader Charles Mosley have been indicted for allegedly defrauding investors of about $500 million prior to the firm’s filing for bankruptcy protection in 2007. The government is seeking forfeiture of approximately that amount. The two men are accused of fraudulently…
In the wake of the US Supreme Court’s ruling in Janus Capital Group Inc. v. First Derivative Traders, the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona is now saying that investors did not succeed in stating a securities fraud claim against Prescott City, Arizona related to the $35 million…
The SEC is suing investment adviser John Geringer for allegedly running a $60M investment fund that was actually a Ponzi scheme. Most of Geringer’s fraud victims are from the Santa Cruz, California area. According to the Commission, Geringer used information in his marketing materials for GLR Growth Fund (including the…