A district court judge issued his preliminary approval of a proposed $150 million settlement in the securities class action lawsuit against Merrill Lynch. The securities fraud lawsuit was filed for purchasers of specific Merrill Lynch preferred securities and bonds. The plaintiffs of the Bond Action had invested in over $24…
Citigroup Inc. sales assistant Tamara Lanz Moon has been barred from the securities industry by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Moon is accused of stealing over $850,000 from at least 22 clients who were either sick, elderly, or unable to closely monitor their accounts for some other reason. Her father…
A new report by the Inspector General at the Securities Exchange Commission recounts 16-years of failures at the SEC which led to the financial crime of the century perpetrated by Bernard Madoff and his firm. The report states that the agency “never properly examined or investigated Madoff’s trading and never…
The plaintiffs of some 166 of the 221 cases filed against Merrill Lynch & Co. since January 1, 2009 are alleging securities fraud-related violations. This means that Bank of America Corp, which acquired the broker-dealer at the beginning of the year, has assumed responsibility for the outcome of these civil…
A District Court judge has granted class certification in the securities fraud lawsuit against Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs. The plaintiffs are accusing the broker-dealers of putting forth misleading analysts reports about RSL Communications Inc. for the purposes of maintaining or obtaining profitable financial and advisory work from…
Yesterday, the California Court of Appeals reversed a trial court’s ruling that the plaintiffs who had filed an investment fraud lawsuit against Monex Deposit Company had to go through arbitration instead because of the mandatory arbitration provisions that were included in the investors’ contracts. Per Monex’s arbitration provisions, three arbitrators…
Amerivet Securities Inc. has filed a complaint suing the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The brokerage firm wants to figure out whether the self-regulatory organization’s failed to regulate large financial institutions and took part in “reckless” investment strategies. In the District of Columbia superior court, Amerivet Securities argued that it needed…
A federal judge says that when sentencing former Credit Suisse Group AG brokers Eric Butler and Julian Tzolov, he will consider the fact that they committed their securities fraud crimes while working in the securities industry’s “culture of corruption.” He also asked defense and government attorneys to touch upon this…
Wachovia Securities, LLC and related entities will offer to refund $324.6 million in auction-rate securities from Pennsylvania investors. The Pennsylvania Securities Commission announced the ARS repurchasing agreement on August 11. Wachovia must also pay the commonwealth a $2.52 million assessment for the part the broker-dealer played in the ARS market.…
Richard Wood, an Ohio broker, has agreed to be barred from the securities industry for allegedly committing broker misconduct. According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the broker, working for American General Securities Inc., allegedly stole the $90,000 that a client had left to two of her nieces. FINRA says…