Lawyers have filed a class action suit against Morgan Stanley for a group of former Eastman Kodak employees they say were persuaded to retire early and invest their retirement assets through Morgan Stanley. According to the Dow Jones News Wire, the class action is seeking nearly a half billion dollars…
SMH Capital has agreed to pay $450,000 in fines to settle charges by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) over the broker dealer’s failure to have supervisory procedures and systems in place to handle its prime brokerage and soft dollar services to hedge funds. The oversight led to a hedge…
Some folks resolve their disputes by going on TV, where they also get paid and enjoy their 15 minutes of fame (or infamy). But what does a TV judge do to resolve disputes and, perhaps, gain notoriety? Take his case to the U.S. Supreme Court! TV trials are really arbitrations.…
Last week, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced that 19 broker-dealers agreed to pay fines to settle SRO charges that they “substantially overstated their advertising trade volume to private sector providers.” By agreeing to pay the fines, none of the firms are admitting to or denying the charges. FINRA…
Some Investors have complained they were sold mutual funds by the securities firm of Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc. based on representations of safety which were unfounded. At this time such complaints are only allegations and no determination has been made that the firm and/or its representations engaged in any…
The Securities and Exchange Commisison is charging vFinance Investment Inc., its President Richard Campanella, and former New Jersey Branch Manager Nicholas Thompson for failing to keep records and show them to Commission staff. The SEC’s need for the e-records stemmed from possible securities fraud involving a company that vFinance is…
Eugene M. Plotkin, a former Goldman Sachs associate, will serve 57 months in prison for his involvement in insider trading. Plotkin pleaded guilty to conspiracy and eight counts of insider trading for his role in a number of insider trading scams that generated over $6 million in illegal gains. The…
State Street Corp. announced it established a pre-tax reserve of $618 million billion “to address legal exposure and other costs associated with the under-performance of fixed-income strategies managed by the company’s investment management arm,” blaming exposure to subprime mortgages. The company referenced “customer concerns as to whether the execution of…
Last month, brokerage firm Morgan Keegan made an undisclosed payment to the Indiana Children’s Wish Fund to settle an arbitration dispute. The wish granting organization had lost $48,000 in a mutual fund that was heavily invested in mortgage securities. The Indiana Children’s Wish Fund has about $1 million in assets.…
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…