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 ‘Investors’
8 Charged In California Real Estate Scheme
August 17th, 2010 
Before You Invest Eight people have been charged in a real estate scheme that federal prosecutors say swindled investors out of more than $11.4 million between 2006 and 2008. Prosecutors allege the defendants solicited investors through their family run company in Sacramento, Heaven Investments. They promised to buy, renovate and resell single-family homes and use investors’ money to develop four pieces of property, pitching annual returns of 12 to 15 percent. The indictment says the company operated like a Ponzi scheme, using money from new investors to make interest payments to earlier ones.
Posted in Finance Fraud 
Tags: California Real Estate, Federal Prosecutors, Heaven, Indictment, Interest Payments, Investments, Investors, Money, Ponzi Scheme, Real People, Single Family 
Comments Off1861 Capital Investigation Continues…
August 11th, 2010 Before You Invest Aidikoff, Uhl & Bakhtiari announces an investigation into the 1861 Capital Management municipal arbitrage funds sold by UBS and other broker dealers. The 1861 Capital funds imploded in February 2008, causing catastrophic losses to investors. “1861 municipal arbitrage funds were marketed to clients as a fixed income product producing a couple of extra points above municipal bonds,” according to Philip M.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: 1861, Arbitrage, Arbitration Panels, Asta, Bakhtiari, Bet, Broker Dealers, Capital Management, Catastrophic Losses, Citibank, Extra Points, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Fixed Income, Investors, Municipal Bonds, Traditional Portfolio, Truth, Ubs, Uhl, Volatility Comments OffMadoff Settlement on Hold
August 5th, 2010 Before You Invest Irving Picard, the man charged with recovering money for the Madoff victims, has for months been touting that he was close to reaching a huge settlement with the estate of Jeffry Picower, a Florida businessman whom Picard has said withdrew $7.2 billion from the Madoff Ponzi scheme.But the deal isn’t quite ready to be finalized; it’s gotten delayed by other lawsuits competing for the same funds. Click here for the WSJ tale, from reporter Michael Rothfeld.Lawyers for Picard have said in court that the proposed deal with Picower would far exceed $2 billion, more than doubling what he has collected to date.But the negotiations have stalled, largely over a pair of lawsuits against the Picower estate in federal court in Florida, people familiar with the situation said.The suits, which seek class-action status, were filed for Madoff investors whose claims were rejected entirely or in part by Picard on grounds that they were based on fictitious profits and not actual losses.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: Class Action Status, Exceed 2, Florida Businessman, Investors, Jeffry, Lawsuits, Lawyers, Losses, Money, Negotiations, Picard, Picower, Ponzi Scheme, Profits, Suits, Wsj Comments OffNorth Beach’s Joseph Viola Indicted For Fraud
August 4th, 2010 Before You Invest A North Beach ‘investment consultant’ named Joseph “Giuseppe” Viola was indicted in federal court in S.F. yesterday on multiple counts of mail fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft after defrauding at least 60 people out of $7 million between 2004 and 2010. As the Chron reports, Viola was running a Ponzi scheme of sorts, sending investors falsified statements about the profitability of their fictional accounts.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: Competizione, Custom Sports, Dead Man, Fictional Accounts, Giuseppe, Identity Theft, Investment Consultant, Investors, Joseph Viola, Mail Fraud, Money, North Beach, Ponzi Scheme, Profitability, Running, S Joseph, Sorts, Sports Car, Wire Fraud Comments OffCiti to Settle With SEC for $75 Million
July 29th, 2010 Before You Invest Citigroup will pay U.S. regulators $75 million to settle charges that it failed to tell $40 billion in subprime exposure to investors in 2007, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.Under Citigroup’s settlement, the Securities and Exchange Commission will charge the bank with material omission of disclosure requirements, but not with fraud, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter.The SEC is expected to indicate that Citigroup did not intentionally mislead investors, according to the report.Citigroup failed to tell its subprime exposure in the second and third quarters of 2007, according to the settlement, the Journal reported.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: Citi, Citigroup, Disclosure Requirements, Fraud, Investors, Omission, People, Quarters, Regulators, Sec, Securities And Exchange, Securities And Exchange Commission, Wall Street, Wall Street Journal Comments OffRaymond James Loses $2.5 Million FINRA Arbitration
July 28th, 2010 Before You Invest A FINRA panel ordered Raymond James to pay $2.5 million to investors who alleged that Raymond James failed to divulge ‘risk of illiquidity’ in auction-rate securities marketRaymond James Financial Inc., still carrying $600 million in auction rate securities. The firm is reportedly working to draw down its position in the ARS market, which seized up in February 2008, precipitating the credit crisis. When the market froze, Raymond James clients held $1.9 billion of the securities.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: 5 Million, Arbitration, Auction Rate, Credit Crisis, Illiquidity, Investors, James 1, Raymond James, Risk Comments OffTrustee could sue 1,000 Madoff investors
July 28th, 2010 Before You Invest (Reuters) – The trustee overseeing the liquidation of Bernard Madoff’s asset management firm might sue about 1,000 former clients of the now-imprisoned swindler who he believes made a profit on their investments.Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee, “could sue” about half of the estimated 2,000 former Madoff clients whom he considers “net winners,” or those who withdrew more money than they place in, a spokesman said.Picard has until December to file such “clawback” lawsuits, marking the two-year anniversary of Madoff’s December 11, 2008 arrest and the start of criminal and civil proceedings.While Picard would prefer to settle, “we have received few responses, if any, to our overtures,” the spokesman said.Many so-called “net winners” consider themselves victims of Madoff’s estimated $65 billion Ponzi scheme and have argued that clawback lawsuits will increase their financial pain.They contend that, while they may have taken out more money than they deposited while investing with Madoff, they suffered losses when the fraud was exposed.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: Asset Management Firm, Bernard Madoff, Civil Proceedings, Fraud, Investing, Investments, Investors, Lawsuits, Liquidation, Losses, Money, Overtures, Reuters, Spokesman, Trustee, Year Anniversary Comments OffSEC eyes changes to shareholder voting system
July 14th, 2010 Before You Invest The Securities and Exchange Commission questioned the public to comment on changes to the voting system, including whether companies need more information about the identity of their shareholders.There are more than 13,000 meetings a year where shareholders can vote in person, via the Internet or by phone, or by mailing in a proxy form.The SEC issued a discussion paper to examine the accuracy and transparency of the voting process, shareholder participation and the relationship between voting power and economic interest.The agency is exploring whether rules are needed for proxy advisory firms and how to get more shareholders to participate in the governance of their companies.Schapiro has said she wants to give shareholders more say in how companies are governed.
Posted in Finance Fraud Tags: Accuracy, Advisory Firms, Board Directors, Broker Dealers, Composition, Corporate Directors, Discussion Paper, Economic Interest, Governance, Investors, Priority, Relationship, Schapiro, Securities And Exchange, Securities And Exchange Commission, Shareholder Participation, Shareholders, Transparency, Voting Power, Voting System 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.
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