The State of California has filed suit against Morgan Stanley & Co., accusing it of knowingly misleading the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), enticing the two huge pension funds to buy toxic mortgage-backed securities during the housing bubble that led to the Great Recession. The complaint,… Read More >>
FINRA Faces a Challenge to Its Authority
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is facing a legal challenge on the range of its authority as a self-regulatory organization (SRO) by a securities firm that it is trying to stop enforcement proceedings against it. Scottsdale Capital Advisors, the broker-dealer in question, describes itself as “a husband and wife team” led by John and… Read More >>
JPMorgan Penalized $225K for Reporting Errors
Officials at JPMorgan Ventures Energy Corp. (JPMVE) and JPMorgan Chase, N.A. (JPMCB) have an idea of how much errors in large trader reports (LTRs) will cost them as the CFTC recently issued an order settling charges and imposing a $225,000 civil monetary penalty. For the Large Trader Reporting program, the CFTC operates “a comprehensive system… Read More >>
SEC Penalizes Ex-Deutsche Bank Analyst $100K
The SEC has censured a former Deutsche Bank research analyst who was charged with “certifying a rating on a stock that was inconsistent with his personal view.” The former analyst, Charles P. Grom, follows the familiar formula of neither admitting nor denying the charges in the SEC’s cease-and-desist order. However, he has “agreed to settle… Read More >>
Morgan Stanley’s RMBS Penalty Payments Hit $5 Billion
Morgan Stanley faces a total tally of $5 billion in penalties as it settles claims with federal and state government authorities over charges that the firm misled investors via its marketing, sale and issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) during the years leading up to the Great Recession. The penalties and related payments stem from… Read More >>
Libor Acquittals Raise Doubts About SFO’s Future
The six acquittals in the recent Libor trial were seen as a blow to the Securities Fraud Office (SFO), the beleaguered regulator that savored victory in Tom Hayes’ conviction and unexpected long sentence. While it is too early to determine the outcome of the high profile Euribor cases set for trial next year, an unsuccessful… Read More >>
Barclays, Credit Suisse Pay for Dark Pool Violations
Barclays Capital Inc. and Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC will pay a combined total of $154.3 million to the State of New York and the SEC to settle investigations into “false statements and omissions made in connection with the marketing of their respective dark pools and other high-speed electronic equities trading services,” according the office… Read More >>
State Street to Pay SEC $12M in Pay-to-Play Settlement
Boston-based State Street Bank and Trust Co. will pay $12 million to settle SEC charges that it “conducted a pay-to-play scheme through its then-senior vice president and a hired lobbyist to win contracts to service Ohio pension funds.” State Street, a venerable financial institution founded near the end of eighteenth century, describes itself as being… Read More >>
Goldman Sachs to Pay $5.2 Billion to Settle Key Cases
The Goldman Sachs Group will be writing a lot of checks during 2016 as it has agreed to separate settlements with the SEC and the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group of the U.S. Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (RMBS Working Group) that will likely total approximately $5.2 billion, and will impact the firm’s bottom line…. Read More >>
Steven A. Cohen Accepts Two-Year Ban from Trading
Steven A. Cohen, who has been under investigation for the better part of a decade over insider trading charges by the SEC, can begin managing other people’s money again in 2018. Until then, according to a recent SEC settlement, Cohen is “prohibited from supervising funds that manage outside money … in order to settle charges… Read More >>
