“Mr. Chairman, there is no doubt financial fraud aimed at older Americans is real.” This astounding statement was made at the SEC’s Senior Summit by Mary L. Schapiro, the Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the regulatory body formed by the merger of the National Association…
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges against 26 defendants for their alleged involvement in a $428 million securities fraud scheme targeting thousands of senior citizens and other investors in the United States. According to the SEC action, filed in Chicago’s federal district court, the defendants participated in selling “Universal…
The North American Securities Administrators Association Inc. of Washington (NAASA) plans a vote by its members by the end of this year on a proposal which would make it a violation of state securities regulations to “misuse, mischaracterize or fraudulently represent a designation that has little or no value,” said…
According to the Government Accounting Office (GAO) Americans over 65 hold more than $15 trillion in assets and, with “Baby Boomers” soon reaching retirement age, that figure will likely balloon. As financial firms, including insurance companies, design products aimed at this pot of gold, scam artists lick their chops for…
A judge in The U.S. District Court in Honolulu ruled that those who lost in annuities cannot bring a class-action suit against the annuity insurer, despite potential misleading and deceptive actions by the insurance firm. [Yokoyama et al. vs. Midland National Life Insurance Company.] Lawyers representing the plaintiffs in the…
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed an emergency action in a Dallas federal court against Amerifirst Funding, Inc. and Amerifirst Acceptance Corporation alleging fraud. The SEC contends that the offering of securities, known as Secured Debt Obligations (“SDOs”), are notes purportedly secured by automobile financing receivables created or purchased by…
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…
The National Association of Securities Dealers has issued an “Investor Alert” warning of a rise in deceptive sales practices in the sale of annuities to senior citizens The NASD also states that consumer confusion about annuities has also risen. “This is due, in part, to questionable or deceptive sales practices…
The North American Securities Administrators Association released its “Top 10 Traps” likely to ensnare investors, a list that included real estate investment contracts, affinity fraud, foreign exchange trading, and Internet fraud. Other problematic areas, according to NASAA, include: “free lunch” investment seminars; oil and gas scams; prime bank schemes; private…
For decades, telemarkers in “boiler rooms” have bilked the elderly by convincing touting them to buy investments which supposedly pay high rates of return or have fabulous growth potential. Now thieves operating in small offices in Canada and warehouses in India work day and night targeting elderly Americans. Working from…