Corporate & Securities Law

SNSFE Investigating Fraudulent $8 Billion CD Investment Program Perpetrated By Robert Allen Stanford and His Affiliated Companies

Posted on February 18, 2009
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Robert Allen Stanford and three of his companies for orchestrating a fraudulent, multi-billion dollar investment scheme centering on an $8 billion CD program. Stanford's companies include Antiguan-based Stanford International Bank, Houston-based broker-dealer and...

Lower-Producing Wirehouse Refugees May Find Home In Transitioning To Regional And Independent Firms

Posted on February 18, 2009
Recently, Investment News ran an article entitled, "Low-producers to exit wirehouses - Pay cuts likely to force thousands out the door." According to the author, Dan Jamieson: There will be a large migration of low producers from the wirehouses this....

SNSFE Investigating Fraudulent $8 Billion CD Investment Program Perpetrated By Robert Allen Stanford and His Affiliated Companies

Posted on February 18, 2009

Lower-Producing Wirehouse Refugees May Find Home In Transitioning To Regional And Independent Firms

Posted on February 18, 2009

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Tips To Weather Tough Financial Times

Posted on February 13, 2009
FINRA (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) has published, "Weathering Tough Financial Times: 9 Tips for 2009." It is a helpful roadmap for saving, investing, and taking some precautionary measures to weather the tough times. Let's examine the regulator's tips...

Tips To Weather Tough Financial Times

Posted on February 13, 2009

Financial Advisers In Employment Transition: A Primer On The Protocol

Posted on February 03, 2009
In 2004, three financial services firms devised a way to ease the transition of financial advisers from one firm to another. The three firms - Citigroup Global Markets (Smith Barney), Merrill Lynch, and UBS Financial Services - signed an agreement...

Financial Advisers In Employment Transition: A Primer On The Protocol

Posted on February 03, 2009

SEC Details Its Actions To Protect Investors And The Markets During The Credit Crisis

Posted on January 20, 2009
In the midst of the current turmoil in the credit markets, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has published a lengthy list of accomplishments (with helpful links) to protect investors and the markets. The SEC divides its accomplishments into three...

Securities Regulator Issues Timely Guidance Regarding Cash Alternatives And High Yield Securities

Posted on January 14, 2009
Investors have searched for high yield securities as well as "cash equivalents" that will protect their principal. Financial services firms have responded, but in too many instances have mischaracterized the benefits and the risks of both kinds of investments...

UBS' Sale Of Structured Notes Promising Protection Of Principal Falls Far Short; Investors Must Be On Guard

Posted on January 07, 2009
In a market that has witnessed sales of so-called ?structured notes? quadruple in the last four years, no firm is closer to the eye of a major storm than UBS. That's because UBS has sold about $1 billion of these...

7th Circuit Court Of Appeals Cautions Institutional Funds To Retain Securities Lawyers To Monitor And To Collect From Class Action Lawsuits Involving Securities That They Have Owned

Posted on December 22, 2008
A U.S. Court of Appeals sent a strong message earlier this year to institutional investors that they are expected to have procedures and policies in place to monitor securities class actions in which they have a financial interest and viable...

7th Circuit Court Of Appeals Cautions Institutional Funds To Retain Securities Lawyers To Monitor And To Collect From Class Action Lawsuits Involving Securities That They Have Owned

Posted on December 22, 2008
A U.S. Court of Appeals sent a strong message earlier this year to institutional investors that they are expected to have procedures and policies in place to monitor securities class actions in which they have a financial interest and viable...

SNSFE Investigating Oppenheimer Champion Income Fund And Oppenheimer Conservative Investor Fund After Steep Losses

Posted on December 17, 2008
SNSFE is investigating two Oppenheimer funds that have suffered steep losses this year. The Oppenheimer Champion Income Fund is down 82% this year, and the Oppenheimer Conservative Investor Fund, which had 4% of its assets in the Champion Income fund,...

SNSFE Investigating Oppenheimer Champion Income Fund And Oppenheimer Conservative Investor Fund After Steep Losses

Posted on December 17, 2008
SNSFE is investigating two Oppenheimer funds that have suffered steep losses this year. The Oppenheimer Champion Income Fund is down 82% this year, and the Oppenheimer Conservative Investor Fund, which had 4% of its assets in the Champion Income fund,...

Delray Beach Police & Firefighters Pension System Sues Citigroup And Smith Barney Asset Management For Improper Monitoring, Evaluation And Management

Posted on December 16, 2008
'Delray Beach Police & Firefighters Pension System estimated that it sustained at least $9 million in investment damages over alleged fiduciary breaches in the consulting work done by a Citigroup Global Markets unit, according to the lawsuit filed by the...

SNSFE Investigates Entities That Sold Investors Bernard Madoff's Investment Funds, Including Tremont Capital Management and Greenwich Advisors, In View of Epic Ponzi Scheme Alleged By SEC

Posted on December 15, 2008
A top broker has been accused of a $50 billion fraud. Bernard Madoff, a former chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market and a force in Wall Street trading for nearly 50 years, was arrested by federal agents Thursday, a day...

Changes To Expungement Rule Seek To Better Protect Customers' And Regulators' Right To Access Complaint Information

Posted on December 05, 2008
Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved rule changes that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) had proposed to better protect customers' and regulators' ability to access complaint records of financial advisers. Let's examine these important rule changes...

FINRA Investor Arbitration Statistics Reveal 49% Increase In Claims Filed

Posted on December 02, 2008
FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, has revealed its Dispute Resolution Statistics through October 2008. As expected, the statistics show a surge in arbitration claims filed through October compared to October 2007. Notably, FINRA has experienced a 49% increase in...

Recruitment Deals Slim Down But Still Are About 230% For Million Dollar Producers

Posted on November 20, 2008
Although the press is reporting that recruitment deals are slimming down, they're still very large. Recall that only a couple of years ago, there were 100% of trailing 12 month commission deals being made. That has now changed. We've reached...

Recruitment Deals Slim Down But Still Are About 230% For Million Dollar Producers

Posted on November 20, 2008
Although the press is reporting that recruitment deals are slimming down, they're still very large. Recall that only a couple of years ago, there were 100% of trailing 12 month commission deals being made. That has now changed. We've reached...

Merrill Lynch Brokers' November 14th D-Day In Deciding Whether Or Not To Sign On With Bank Of America Is Just The Beginning Of The Transition Analysis

Posted on November 14, 2008
November 14, 2008. That's D-Day for Merrill Lynch brokers who need to decide whether or not to sign on with Bank of America. It's not surprising that more than 90% of Merrill Lynch brokers have decided to stay on with...

Investor Protection Priorities Of Securities Regulators Revealed In Continuing Education Topics

Posted on November 13, 2008
The Securities Industry/Regulatory Council on Continuing Education (the ?CE Council?) recently published its Firm Element Advisory to ?highlight current regulatory and sales practice issues? for financial services firms to consider incorporating into their continuing education programs for financial advisers...

SEC Sanctions Against Brokerage Firm CEO Underscores Requirement To Supervise Reasonbly

Posted on November 06, 2008
Recently the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) instituted settled administrative proceedings against Stephen Moynahan (SEC Rel.No. 34-58689). Moynahan was the former president and CEO of Dolphin & Bradbury, Incorporated, formerly a registered broker-dealer...

SEC Sanctions Against Brokerage Firm CEO Underscores Requirement To Supervise Reasonably

Posted on November 06, 2008
Recently the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) instituted settled administrative proceedings against Stephen Moynahan (SEC Rel.No. 34-58689). Moynahan was the former president and CEO of Dolphin & Bradbury, Incorporated, formerly a registered broker-dealer...

Details Of Merrill Lynch Retention Package May Mean Attrition For Some Reps

Posted on October 31, 2008
Investment News has reported that top Merrill Lynch reps have been shown the money, but that attrition package may drive out low producers. According to Investment News, in the middle of gut-wrenching times for the stock market, top-producers at Merrill...

Warnings About Derivatives Implosion Made In 1992

Posted on October 31, 2008
Derivatives. Did the implosion of these financial products come as a surprise? Or should Wall Street have known it all along? That's the question Institutional Investor addresses in this month's issue. In "Did II Say That?" from September 1992, the...

SNSFE Investigates Lehman Brothers' Principal Protection Notes

Posted on October 23, 2008
According to Bloomberg.com, Lehman Brothers' "100% principal protection" means pennies for notes. A brochure pitching $1.84 million of notes sold by Lehman Brothers Holdings in August, a month before the firm filed for bankruptcy, promised, "100 percent principal protection...

SNSFE Investigates Lehman Brothers' Principal Protection Notes

Posted on October 23, 2008
According to Bloomberg.com, Lehman Brothers' "100% principal protection" means pennies for notes. A brochure pitching $1.84 million of notes sold by Lehman Brothers Holdings in August, a month before the firm filed for bankruptcy, promised, "100 percent principal protection...

SNSFE Continues To Investigate Complaints Against Reserve Management Funds

Posted on October 22, 2008
Massachusetts securities regulators have begun to probe complaints against Reserve Management Company, the New York asset manager that shook investors in September with news of a money-market fund loss. The office of Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin has...

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