Corporate & Securities Law

GunnAllen May Be Gearing Up For Chapter 11

Posted on April 22, 2010
Broker/dealer GunnAllen Financial may be getting ready to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to an April 21 story in Investment News. If that happens, hundreds of investors with pending arbitration claims against the embattled company will have to get in line for GunnAllen?s remaining assets, including any insurance policies...

Fabrice Tourre Set For Bonus Amid Fraud Charges?

Posted on April 20, 2010
The ?Fabulous Fabrice Tourre,? as he refers to himself in an e-mail cited in an April 16 securities fraud lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, is reportedly set to rake in a massive bonus courtesy of his employer Goldman Sachs. An April 18 story in the Guardian first reported the bonus news, which is [...

Goldman Sachs Announces Profits In Face Of SEC Charges

Posted on April 20, 2010
As predicted, Goldman Sachs announced hefty first-quarter profits of $3.5 billion. The news, which comes amid fraud charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that Goldman knowingly duped investors, may be good for the bank but could lend further credence to the notion of Wall Street making profits at the expense of investors...

The Fabrice Tourre, Goldman Sachs CDO Debacle

Posted on April 19, 2010
French trader Fabrice Tourre and his employer, Goldman Sachs, are being sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for allegedly devising a package of highly risky credit default swaps (CDS) and then betting against the investments - and their clients - to fail...

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Fabrice Tourre, Goldman Sachs Lawsuit Just The Beginning

Posted on April 19, 2010
The fraud lawsuit involving Fabrice Tourre and Goldman Sachs may be just the tip of the iceberg for Wall Street. On April 16, the SEC accused Tourre, a VP at Goldman Sachs, and the bank of creating and selling high-risk collateralized debt obligations tied to mortgages without disclosing to investors the role of a hedge [...

Fabrice Tourre And The Lawsuit Against Goldman Sachs

Posted on April 19, 2010
A recent lawsuit against Fabrice Tourre may be emblematic of public sentiment regarding Wall Street. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil lawsuit against Tourre and his employer, Goldman Sachs, on April 16, accusing the duo of defrauding investors by misstating and omitting key facts about a financial product tied to mortgage-related investments...

Who Is Fabrice Tourre?

Posted on April 19, 2010
The name Fabrice Tourre probably wasn?t widely recognized - until now. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil lawsuit against the Goldman Sachs broker and his employer last week for their connection to a complex financial product - known as Abacus 2007-AC1 - that was filled with equally complex and high-risk synthetic collateralized [...

Medical Capital Fraud Recovery

Posted on April 17, 2010
News involving Medical Capital fraud recovery has been on the minds of thousands of investors following a July 2009 lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that accuses the Tustin-based company of securities fraud. In the lawsuit, the SEC alleges that Medical Capital misappropriated about $18...

Goldman Sachs Faces Fraud Charges Over CDO Deals

Posted on April 16, 2010
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged investment firm Goldman Sachs with fraud in connection to sales of synthetic collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). According to the SEC?s complaint, Goldman Sachs failed to disclose critical information about the CDOs to investors, including their ties to a major hedge fund whose investments Goldman allegedly was betting against...

Medical Capital Holdings Broker Surrenders Securities License

Posted on April 13, 2010
Medical Capital Holdings broker John B. Guyette has surrendered his securities license to practice business in Colorado over what regulators say was a violation of state and federal securities laws regarding sales of private placements in Medical Capital Holdings...

Private Placement Offerings, Leveraged ETFs: What You Should Know

Posted on April 12, 2010
Private placement offerings and leveraged ETFs (exchange-traded funds) are among the investments that con artists turn to as a way to scam innocent victims. Private placements in particular have been in the news lately, with their issuers - i.e. Medical Capital Holdings and Provident Royalties - accused of committing fraud...

Magnetar Hedge Fund Sheds New Insight Into Wall Street?s Dark Side

Posted on April 12, 2010
An obscure hedge fund called Magnetar offers new details into the world of collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and how the instruments cost investors billions while yielding a payday bonanza for Magnetar. And that?s the irony. What Magnetar did appears to be legal...

Morgan Keegan?s Legal Problems Keep Coming

Posted on April 12, 2010
Morgan Keegan’s legal problems show no signs of letting up. The latest troubles facing the Memphis-based investment firm include federal and state charges alleging Morgan Keegan and two employees - James Kelsoe and Thomas Weller - committed fraud when pricing several proprietary bond funds...

SEC To Regions Morgan Keegan: Mismanagement, Misrepresentation

Posted on April 08, 2010
Several Regions Morgan Keegan bond funds that lost more than $1 billion of investor assets have resulted in enforcement actions against Morgan Keegan & Co. and its asset management unit, Morgan Asset Management Inc., by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), four states and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)...

SEC Accuses Morgan Keegan Of Fraud

Posted on April 08, 2010
Memphis broker Morgan Keegan & Co. faces fraud charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC announced the charges on April 7, accusing Morgan Keegan and two employees of defrauding investors by deliberately inflating the value of risky mortgage securities that cost investors more than $2 billion...

LPL Financial Suffers Data Theft; Customers Face Risk

Posted on April 07, 2010
LPL Financial, the nation?s largest independent-contractor broker/dealer, is once again in the news over technology mistakes that could put private client information at risk. The story was first reported April 6 by Investment News. According to the article, an ?unencrypted portable hard drive? was stolen from an LPL representative sometime in late February...

Credit Suisse?s Brady Dougan Nets $18M Payout

Posted on April 04, 2010
Some Wall Street executives still don?t get it. Credit Suisse Group AG?s CEO Brady Dougan took home nearly $18 million in 2009 - more than six times what he received in 2008. And the 2009 payout occurred during a time when the nation experienced a financial meltdown, bank bailouts courtesy of the Troubled Asset Relief [...

Rhonda Breard To Plead Guilty

Posted on April 03, 2010
Rhonda Breard, the former Seattle broker for ING Financial who made a name for herself by dispensing investment advice via television infomercials and seminars, will plead guilty to mail fraud. Breard is accused of stealing $9.4 million from her clients...

FINRA Bars Rhonda Breard From Securities Industry

Posted on April 01, 2010
It?s official - former ING Financial broker Rhonda Breard has been permanently barred from the securities industry by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). The Washington State investment advisor is accused of stealing $8 million from clients...

Private Placements A Risky Investment For Ordinary Investors

Posted on April 01, 2010
Private placements, which have made news in connection to Medical Capital Holdings and Provident Royalties, are becoming an increasingly questionable investment for ordinary investors. Private placements are securities in stocks, bonds or other instruments that a corporation issues to investors...

Broker Bambi Holzer Facing Complaints Over Provident Royalties Offerings

Posted on March 30, 2010
Bambi Holzer has a tainted track record filled with investor complaints. Now, Holzer is facing new complaints over risky private placements in Provident Royalties. The story was first reported March 29 by Investment News. Last summer, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Provident with securities fraud involving $485 million in private securities sales...

Rhonda Breard To Face The Music In Alleged Ponzi Scam

Posted on March 29, 2010
To borrow from Bob Dylan, ?the times they are-a changin? for Kirkland securities broker Rhonda Breard. Breard, a former broker for ING Financial Partners, faces 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine for the single count of mail fraud that federal prosecutors charged her with last week...

Medical Capital Losses Devastate Duped Investors

Posted on March 29, 2010
Medical Capital losses tied to ill-fated deals involving private placements have investors on edge - and with good reason. Investors are owed upwards of $1 billion, according to the court-appointed receiver in charge of inventorying Medical Capital?s assets...

Rhonda Breard Update

Posted on March 26, 2010
KING 5 News is reporting that ING Financial Partners is quietly looking for offers to settle with clients who were allegedly bilked out of some $8 million by former ING broker Rhonda Breard. Breard is facing fraud charges by the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions and the Washington State Attorney...

FINRA Expels Provident Asset Management Over Fraudulent Private Placements

Posted on March 26, 2010
Provident Asset Management has officially been expelled by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for marketing a series of fraudulent private placements through its affiliate, Provident Royalties, LLC, in what the regulator calls a ?massive Ponzi scheme...

Medical Capital Holdings: Feds Launch Criminal Investigation

Posted on March 26, 2010
Federal prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into the top executives of Medical Capital Holdings. The two men, CEO Sidney M. Field and President Joseph J. ?Joey? Lampariello, revealed the investigation last week when their attorneys filed an emergency request to use frozen assets of Medical Capital to pay their legal bills...

FINRA Shuts Down Broker/Dealer GunnAllen

Posted on March 22, 2010
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has closed the doors on GunnAllen Financial. FINRA apparently informed the financially troubled broker/dealer late last week that if it fell below mandatory net capital requirements it would be forced to close its operations...

More Broker/Dealers Subpoenaed Over Medical Capital, Provident Royalties

Posted on March 22, 2010
Six broker/dealers are in hot water with Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin over sales of private placements in Medical Capital Holdings and Provident Royalties LLC. Among the firms on Galvin?s hit list: QA3 Financial Corp., National Securities Corp...

Former ING Broker Rhonda Breard Faces Fraud Charges

Posted on March 18, 2010
Rhonda Breard?s conscience may have finally caught up with her. The former ING investment broker has been under investigation for fraud on allegations that she bilked clients out of millions of dollars. On March 2, the disgraced investment advisor and TV personality reportedly tried to take her life...

It?s All Over For Fair Finance, Tim Durham; 13,000+ Claims To Be Filed

Posted on March 17, 2010
The debacle involving Fair Finance and owner Tim Durham just keeps getting bigger. There are more than 13,000 outstanding Fair Finance investment certificates valued at more than $208 million, according to a just-released report from Brian Bash, the court-appointed trustee of Fair Finance...

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