Category Archives: Uncategorized
WSJ Warns Florida Seniors About Broker Free Lunch Seminars
The Wall Street Journal recently analyzed where most of nation’s estimated 630,000 stockbrokers work and found at least five “hot spots” in Florida alone. The Journal identified Palm Beach County as having “one of the highest rates of troubled brokers” in the country, largely due to the presence of a high number of persons… Read More »
SEC Charges Ex-CEO With Leaking Confidential Information to Restaurant Manager
On Nov. 21, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced two men had agreed to settle insider trading charges related to the buying and selling of shares of GenTek, Inc., a company that produces chemical products and engine components. Prior to its 2009 acquisition by a private equity form, GenTek was publicly traded on… Read More »
Federal Prosecutors Charge Operator of Bitcoin Ponzi Scheme
On Nov. 6, the United States Attorney’s office in Manhattan charged Trendon Shavers with securities fraud in connection with his defunct Bitcoin Savings & Trust, an alleged Ponzi scheme targeting users of the popular virtual currency Bitcoin. Shavers was arrested at his home in Texas. Back in August, a federal judge rejected Shavers’ argument… Read More »
SEC Attacks Social Media-Based Investment Schemes
On November 12, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced administrative charges against two Indian nationals who allegedly ran a “high-yield investment scheme” designed to lure customers through social media. According to an SEC order, the Commission’s Division of Enforcement believes the two men utilized a highly trafficked website, together with YouTube, Twitter, Facebook… Read More »
Top Firms Settle with SEC over Puerto Rican Junk Bonds
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced this week that 13 top financial firms have settled charges against them alleging that they inappropriately sold Puerto Rican junk bonds to retail investors. The firms, including Charles Schwab, JP Morgan, and UBS, have all agreed to pay penalties ranging between $54,000 and $130,000, without admitting any… Read More »
Arrest Made in $1.2 Million Retirement Fraud Against Florida Seniors
CBS Miami is reporting this week that 4 arrests have been made in a $1.2 million money laundering scheme that left at least 17 elderly people from all over the country with significantly less in their retirement accounts. Working together, the Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Office, the Florida Office of Financial Regulation and… Read More »
SEC Provides Hedge Fund Data to Congress
In 2010, in response to the 2007–2008 financial crisis, the federal government passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Dodd-Frank made a number of important changes to financial regulation in the United States, including to reporting requirements of private funds like private equity funds or hedge funds. Private equity typically involves… Read More »
“Free Lunch” Investment Seminars Not Always Only About Education
According to “Save and Invest”—a website and newsletter run by FINRA’s Investor Education Foundation—over 6 million Americans 55 and above have attended a “free lunch investment seminar.” But as FINRA also notes that these seminars are often less about education than they are about sales. “[A]ttendees are often pressured into making unsuitable—or even fraudulent—investments,”… Read More »
FINRA Urges Focus on “Concentration Risk”
No two investors are the same. They have different income goals, different risk tolerances, and different time horizons—among other differentiating factors. Indeed, one of the most common ways in which investors and brokers get into disputes with each other is through complaints of “unsuitability.” This is an argument by the investor that his or… Read More »
Eleventh Circuit Reaffirms “Flexible” Approach to Securities Class Actions
One of the most powerful tools in investors’ arsenals against securities fraud is the securities class action. In these types of cases, many plaintiffs join together on behalf of themselves and others allegedly harmed. A class action allows plaintiffs to pool litigation resources, and be represented by one or more attorneys, instead of each… Read More »
