In what Investment News is describing as a legal victory for Securities America, a federal judge in Dallas has placed a restraining order on three upcoming FINRA arbitration claims against the broker-dealer and its brokers. The cases will be combined with two class action. This will likely limit Securities America’s…
Kurt Branham Barton, the former CEO of Triton Financial, a financial firm based in Austin, Texas, has been indicted on 33 counts, including Texas securities fraud, money laundering, and wire fraud. Barton allegedly used ex-NFL stars and church contacts in a $50 million Ponzi scam. The American-Statesman reports that beginning…
The Securities and Exchange Commission is expecting to accelerate its regulatory and enforcement activity over the $2.8 trillion municipal bond market. The SEC will be holding hearings in a number of US states, including Texas, to go over Muni bond market issues. Among the issues likely to receive attention from…
Many financial firms settled claims filed by those defrauded in the Enron debacle. Meanwhile, many more Enron securities fraud cases have been dismissed by a court system riddled with special interest influence. No financial firm has been held liable and certain individuals at those firms were held liable only to…
The Texas Court of Appeals has reinstated the Texas Securities Act control person claims against Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith Inc. related to its former broker Terry Christopher Bounds’s allegedly fraudulent outside sales transactions. According to the appeals court, Bounds, who owned two “outside” direct-marketing corporations, solicited David Fernea,…
U.S. District Judge David Hittner has postponed the criminal trial of Texas financier R. Allen Stanford so that he can undergo detoxification from his medication addiction. Three psychiatrists had testified that he is incompetent to stand trial after getting hooked on anti-depressant and anti-anxiety medications. Stanford, the ex-head of Stanford…
A hearing will be held next month to determine whether the investment adviser registrations of STS-Advisors Ltd. and Richard Lewis Bruce with the Securities Commissioner of Texas should be revoked and a cease and desist order issued over allegations of securities fraud. STS and Bruce reportedly gave investment advice to…
According to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the entities and individuals that took part in a disallowed tax avoidance scheme did not prove the reliance necessary under securities laws to hold Proskauer Rose LLP liable as a secondary actor. In Affco Investments 2001 LLC v. Proskauer…
A federal grand jury has indicted Adley Husni Abdulwahab on one count of conspiracy and five counts of Texas securities fraud in connection with an alleged $17 million investment scheme involving the sale of investments issued by W Financial Group. The Houston resident, who is also facing federal charges over…
Federal prosecutors have arrested four people on insider trading charges related to the alleged revealing of secrets about Apple Inc.’s iPhone and other technology products to hedge funds looking for a trading advantage. Those arrested included Primary Global Research executive James Fleishman and “expert consultants” Mark Anthony Longoria from Texas,…