The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced today that it has fined Merrill Lynch $500,000 for failing to provide sales charge discounts to customers on eligible buys of Unit Investment Trusts (UITs). FINRA also found that Merrill Lynch failed to have an adequate supervisory system in place to ensure customers received appropriate UIT discounts.
Posts Tagged ‘Finra’
Morgan Stanley Fined By FINRA Over Failure to Disclose
August 14th, 2010 
Before You Invest The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority on Tuesday said it ordered Morgan Stanley to pay $800,000 for failing to tell conflicts of interests in thousands of stock-research reports since 2006. The group said that Morgan Stanley & Co., a subsidiary of the investment bank, failed to tell accurate information about the firm’s relationships with those companies it covered in more than 6,500 equity research reports.
Posted in Finance Fraud 
Tags: Conflicts, Decade, Desire, Disclosures, Equity Research, Failure, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Finra, Household, Infractions, Investment Bank, Morgan Stanley, Morgan Stanley Co, Public Appearances, Relationships, Research Analysts, Research Recommendations, Stock Research, Subsidiary, Wall Street 
Comments OffASTA and Mat Municipal Arbitrage Claims Continue to Be Investigated by Aidikoff, Uhl & Bakhtiari
August 12th, 2010 Before You Invest Aidikoff, Uhl & Bakhtiari announces it’s continuing investigation into the ASTA/Mat municipal arbitrage funds launched by Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. and sold through Smith Barney, part of Citigroup’s (NYSE:C) Global Wealth Management Group. The ASTA/Mat funds were first rolled out in 2002 and imploded in February 2008 causing catastrophic losses to investors.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: Arbitrage, Arbitration Panels, Bakhtiari, Brokerage Firms, Catastrophic Losses, Citigroup Global Markets, Citigroup Global Markets Inc, Financial Disputes, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Financial Institutions, Finra, Global Wealth, Initial Capital, Institutional Investors, Litigation Matters, Municipal Bonds, Securities Arbitration, Smith Barney, Traditional Portfolio, Uhl Comments OffUBS Hit With $81 Million Auction Rate Securities Award By FINRA Arbitration Panel
August 4th, 2010 Before You Invest A FINRA arbitration panel ordered UBS AG on Tuesday to pay $81 million in hurts to a Bethesda, Maryland-based cellphone marketer that bought auction-rate securities through the U.S. brokerage.FINRA documents posted online showed a panel comprised of three public arbitrators ordered to pay the hurts to Kajeet Inc, which bought student-loan auction-rate securities that lost value during the credit crisis.Kajeet, which sells pay-as-you-go cell phones aimed at children, had claimed $110 million in losses.State and federal regulators have forced UBS to repurchase $22.7 billion of auction rates from individual investors. The Securities and Exchange Commission continues to investigate the role of individual executives at the firm.In March, UBS agreed with a coalition of state securities regulators to buy up to $200 million in auction-rates from investors not covered by the initial agreement.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: Arbitration Panel, Arbitrators, Auction Rate, Bethesda Maryland, Brokerage, Credit Crisis, Damages, Finra, Individual Investors, Initial Agreement, Kajeet, Loan Auction, Marketer, Securities And Exchange, Securities And Exchange Commission, Securities Arbitration, State Securities Regulators, Student Loan, Ubs, Ubs Ag Comments OffFINRA Warns About Social Media Ponzi Schemes
July 16th, 2010 Before You Invest The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) warned investors today about Internet-based Ponzi schemes called high-yield investment programs (HYIPs), which purport to offer returns of 20, 30, 100 percent or more per day. HYIPs are unregistered investments sold by unlicensed individuals using sophisticated-looking websites.The con artists behind HYIPs are experts at using social media — including YouTube, Twitter and Facebook — to lure investors and make the illusion of social consensus that these investments are legitimate, but investors should know that HYIPs are just Internet-based scams.As FINRA’s investor alert HYIPs—Hazardous to Your Investment Portfolio points out, many HYIPs have a worldwide reach: the recently exposed Pathway to Prosperity scheme allegedly defrauded over 40,000 investors in over 120 countries of $70 million.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: Con Artists, Facebook, Federal Bureau Of Investigation, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Finra, Google, High Yield Investment, High Yield Investment Programs, Hyips, Investment Portfolio, Investor Alert, John Gannon, Ponzi Schemes, Search Engine Advertising, Searching The Internet, Senior Vice President, Social Consensus, Twitter, Unlicensed Individuals, Yield Investment Programs Comments OffFINRA to Make Additional Information About Brokers, Former Brokers Publicly Available Through BrokerCheck
July 15th, 2010 Before You Invest The amount of information available to the public about current and former securities brokers will expand significantly in coming months, as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) implements changes to its free, online BrokerCheck service recently approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission.The changes will increase the number of customer complaints reported publicly; extend the public disclosure period for the full record of a broker who leaves the industry from two years to 10 years; and, make certain information about former brokers available permanently, such as criminal convictions and certain civil injunctive actions and arbitration awards against the broker.The changes will also formalize a dispute process for current or former brokers to dispute the accuracy of, or update, factual information told through BrokerCheck.”This additional information will benefit investors who are considering whether to conduct, or continue to conduct, business with a particular securities firm or broker,” said FINRA Chairman and CEO Rick Ketchum.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: Adjudicated, Arbitration Awards, Criminal Convictions, Customer Complaints, Electronic Filing, Factual Information, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Finra, Implements, Injunctive Actions, Ketchum, Own Accord, Public Disclosure, Regulatory Actions, Securities And Exchange, Securities And Exchange Commission, Securities Brokers, Securities Firm, Securities Industry, Segments Comments OffSEC to Decide Fiduciary Standard
June 29th, 2010 Before You Invest Legislators finally reached a compromise on the fiduciary standard bill late Thursday after fierce last-minute wrangling over its contents.While the House’s version pushed for the Securities and Exchange Commission to make a fiduciary standard, the Senate preferred instead to have the SEC study differences between its fiduciary standard and the suitability standard many brokers are held to by FINRA, without giving the SEC the power to do anything about it.The final bill contained elements of both—the SEC is charged with studying differences in fiduciary and suitability standards over the next six months, and then potentially make rules that fill any gaps, although the language of the bill doesn’t make this mandatory.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: Advisor Recommendations, Bank Clients, Bank Insurance, Finra, Gaps, High Net Worth Individuals, Investment Advisers Act Of 1940, Investment Advisors, Investment Products, Legislators, Lists Of Products, Managing Director, Margins, Platform Programs, Proprietary Products, Securities And Exchange, Securities And Exchange Commission, Sloane, Study Differences, Suitability Standards Comments OffE*Trade Loses ARS FINRA Arbitration
June 11th, 2010 Before You Invest A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel made the ruling on behalf of David and Amy Wechsler of New Jersey, who filed the case in 2009, seeking $1.3 million. Their allegations included misrepresentation, failure to tell information and breach of fiduciary duty, according to the award.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: Allegations, Arbitration Panel, Breach Of Fiduciary Duty, E Trade, E Trade Financial, E Trade Financial Corp, Expert Witness, Failure, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Finra, Misrepresentation, Retail Brokerage, Trade Securities, Wechsler, Witness Fees Comments OffThomas Weisel Faces Probe Over $15.7 Million Auction-Rate Sale
May 18th, 2010 Before You Invest (Bloomberg) — Thomas Weisel Partners Group Inc., the San Francisco-based investment bank, faces a regulatory probe over the sale of $15.7 million in auction-rate securities as the market neared collapse.The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority alleges a former employee sold auction-rate securities to three clients in January 2008, according to a May 10 filing from Weisel.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: Attorney At Law, Auction Rate, Brinck, C Smith, Client Accounts, Credit Crisis, E Mail, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Finra, Gibson Dunn, Goldsmith, Investment Bank, Rosemary C, S Broker, Spokeswoman, State Regulators, Stifel Financial Corp, Term Bonds, Thomas Weisel Partners, Thomas Weisel Partners Group Comments Off
FINRA Seeks Extension of Discovery Guide Comment Period
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has requested to extend the public-comment period for a rule proposal that would redefine the type of information that parties typically exchange during securities arbitration proceedings. Finra filed a regulatory notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday to extend the comment period for proposed changes to its arbitration discovery guide by 45 days until Oct.
Click to continue reading