The California Court of Appeal has remanded a lawsuit filed by an elderly woman accusing Wells Fargo of defrauding her and her husband. The case now goes back to the Los Angeles Superior Court, where a judge must determine whether Wells Fargo engaged in fraud when its employees executed its…
The North American Securities Administrators Association and the AARP are inviting senior investors to take part in their “Free Lunch Seminar Monitor program.” Both organizations say the program will give investors a chance to report any unscrupulous promoters of inappropriate investments to security authorities in their state. According to statistics,…
TIAA-CREF Enterprises Inc. is once more facing claims of negligent misrepresentation and breach of fiduciary duty following the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit’s reinstatement of the claims. The appeals court, however, did affirm the District Court’s decision to dismiss the 1934 Securities Exchange Act Section 10(b) and…
US Senators Herbert Kohl (Wisc) and Robert Casey (Pa) have introduced the Senior Investor Protections Enhancement Act, a bill that would add a $50,000 fine to any penalties that came with defrauding investors over 62 years of age. The legislation defines a senior as anyone 62 years of age or…
Sidney Mondschein, a former WFG Investment stockbroker, must disgorge $53,000 in ill-gotten gains he allegedly obtained when he defrauded over 500 senior investors by selling their confidential data to insurance brokers. Last month, Mondschein settled Securities and Exchange Commission charges before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of…
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is charging stockbroker John Mullins with misappropriating nearly $400,000 from an elderly widow and her charitable foundation. Esther Weil, a 97-year-old widow, died earlier this month. She was living in a nursing home. Mullins was her stockbroker for over 20 years. Mullins allegedly tried to…
Allianz Life Insurance Co. of North America and California’s insurance department have reached a settlement agreement over allegations that Allianz engaged in inappropriate fixed annuity sales. Allianz Life will pay $10 million: $3.3 million to the California insurance department, $3 million to investments in the California Organized Investment Network, and…
Questar Capital Corp’s senior vice president of mergers and acquisitions claims he too was victim of a $250 million alleged Ponzi scheme that affected up to 1,200 investors-many senior citizens residing in Michigan, California, Illinois, New York, Florida, New Jersey, and Ohio. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Edward May…
The Securities and Exchange Commission says that it has brought about over 45 enforcement actions involving scams targeting senior investors in the past two years. At the ALI-ABA Life Insurance Company Products Conference earlier this month, SEC Enforcement Director Linda Thomsen talked about the agency’s efforts to fight fraud against…
FINRA, SEC, and state regulators are saying that the “free lunch” investment seminars for senior citizens are actually high-pressure sales pitches, involving fraud and misleading claims about financial products that are not suitable for its elderly audience. A report of these findings will be issued to the public this week.…