The Securities and Exchange Commission says that investors who were affected by the fraudulent market timing in the PBHG Funds will receive $73 million. This is the second of three disbursements to be made from the Pilgrim Baxter Fair Fund. Pilgrim Baxter & Associates, Ltd. was the investment adviser for…
Citigroup Global Markets Inc is being charged $3 million by NASD to settle charges connected to misleading materials it allegedly gave Bellsouth employees during retirement meetings and seminars held in North Carolina and South Carolina. NASD also says that Citigroup has to pay over 200 ex-Bellsouth employees $12.2 million in…
Last year, money managers directed a billion in dollars of their clients’ funds in hidden commissions to Wall Street investment firms, says SEC Chairman Christopher Cox. These “soft”dollars” are purportedly for research and other services. Instead, the funds are made available to the money managers who often use these for…
The American Association for Justice (formerly the American Trial Lawyers Association) has called for a disciplinary investigation of District of Columbia Administrative Law Judge Roy Pearson Jr., who brought a $65 million lawsuit against a family-owned dry cleaning business for losing his pants. The Association’s members are U. S. lawyers…
The SEC says that former Putnam Investment advisers Omid Kamshad and Justin Scott have settled charges that they improperly traded mutual fund shares. The SEC says that they did so without denying or admitting wrongdoing and are barred from future violations of the 1940 Investment Advisers Act. In addition, Scott…
HSBC Brokerage, a New York firm which allegedly directed all government securities orders to an affiliated broker-dealer, agreed to pay $250,000 to settle NASD charges it failed to have adequate systems in place to ensure the best execution for its clients. Allegedly the firm routed orders to affiliate, HSBC Securities…
Shareholders of mutual funds Janus Capital Group may not pursue a class action claim that the company violated federal securities laws by permitting hedge funds to engage in market timing with the shares of mutual funds operated by Janus, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland ruled. In…
“B Share”, or “back-end load”, mutual fund issues are being reconsidered by The Securities and Exchange Commission. The “B share” nick-name is derived from Rule 12 b-1 of the Investment Company Act of 1949, amended a quarter century ago to allow for the creation of such shares. To combat a…
Following the 2001 merger of AOL and Time Warner the stock price of the combined company, AOLTW, went into a year-and-a-half decline, and numerous shareholder class action securities fraud suits were filed. The various class actions were consolidated in a federal court in New York. If the case is soon…
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…