tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747Thu, 22 Apr 2010 21:38:47 +0000Keep up on the latest Securities Fraud news and litigation by following our blog.http://www.stockmarketfraud.com/blog.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Meli T)Blogger84125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-1124946192531012996Thu, 22 Apr 2010 21:38:00 +00002010-04-22T14:38:47.912-07:00 This blog is now located at http://stockmarketfraud.blogspot.com/. You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here. For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to http://stockmarketfraud.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default. http://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2010/04/this-blog-has-moved.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (benbcraig)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-2481760415295743285Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:02:00 +00002010-04-16T09:16:54.242-07:00broker misconductThe Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) charged investment banking giant Goldman Sachs with civil fraud related to the sale of subprime mortgage instruments to investors. The SEC also alleges a Goldman client (hedge fund giant Paulson & Co.,Inc.)bet against and influenced the prices of the same structured products Goldman created and touted to their clients. The complaint alleges the investorshttp://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2010/04/sec-charges-goldman-sachs-with-fraud.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (William B. Young Jr. Esq.)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-538789817943385614Tue, 13 Apr 2010 13:34:00 +00002010-04-13T06:47:13.762-07:00On the heals of filing by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a joint filing by Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and South Carolina, the Securities Division of the Department of Commerce for the State of Tennessee has sent notice to Morgan Keegan of a pending administrative action for the marketing and sale of the RMK Morgan Keegan http://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2010/04/tennesse-securities-regulators-file.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (William B. Young Jr. Esq.)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-2867061809743334527Fri, 09 Apr 2010 11:58:00 +00002010-04-09T06:03:15.386-07:00On Wednesday April 7, 2010, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)issued a news release stating the SRO's Department of Enforcement has filed an administrative complaint against Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc., alleging the firm marketed and sold seven affiliated bond funds (RMK Funds) to retail investors using false and misleading sales materials. The complaint also states the RMK http://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2010/04/finra-files-administrative-complaint.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (William B. Young Jr. Esq.)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-3627274122894520816Tue, 06 Apr 2010 18:34:00 +00002010-04-06T12:01:14.272-07:00Today, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) published guidance for Morgan parties involved in arbitration claims regarding the RMK Morgan Keegan bond funds. The FINRA action comes on the heals of a Tennessee Chancery Court order vacating a arbitration award and stating as one reason that two of the arbitrators had served on other Morgan Keegan cases involving the same products in http://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2010/04/finra-publishes-guidance-for-morgan.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (William B. Young Jr. Esq.)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-6997403247427296281Tue, 06 Apr 2010 18:10:00 +00002010-04-09T05:29:24.927-07:00In a recent Reuters article the author notes how structured notes are making a comeback and the major brokers are again pushing "principal protected" notes on the investing public. Until recently, investors had lost their appetite for the complex products after Lehman Brothers, the underlying credit on many of the issues, files for bankruptcy protection on September 15, 2008, wiping out billions http://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2010/04/structured-notes-starting-to-come-back.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (William B. Young Jr. Esq.)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-300511626923881486Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:26:00 +00002010-03-15T07:42:51.065-07:00broker misconductA recent NY Times article chronicles the findings of the court appointed bankruptcy examiner. The report indicates accounting firms, law firms as well as Lehman itself may have been complicit in hiding the firm's true financial condition from investors and regulators. The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September, 2008, wiped out the investments of thousands of individual and institutional http://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2010/03/lehman-brother-report-raises-more.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (William B. Young Jr. Esq.)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-728660292628118877Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:29:00 +00002010-03-02T12:32:51.084-08:00broker misconductMorgan Keegan & Co. Inc.'s legal fees and related expenses costs have increased dramatically over the past several years, due in large part to ongoing litigation over losses sustained by investors who purchased RMK Morgan Keegan bond funds. The Funds imploded in late 2007, some losing nearly 95% of their value allegedly due to high concentrations of subprime mortgage related derivatives and http://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2010/03/morgan-keegan-legal-fees-skyrocket-due.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (William B. Young Jr. Esq.)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-7273888441368243840Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:49:00 +00002010-03-02T12:13:47.977-08:00broker misconductA Memphis, Tennessee judge recently granted brokerage firm Morgan Keegan's request a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration award be vacated due to Panel bias. The court's decision sent shock waves through the arbitration community and call into question FINRA's ability to administer a large number of arbitration case involving the same product or investment. Excerpts from http://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2010/03/memphis-chancery-court-overturns-rmk.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (William B. Young Jr. Esq.)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-1428681650289783411Sun, 28 Feb 2010 20:07:00 +00002010-02-28T12:23:57.793-08:00Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc.'s legal fees and related expenses costs have increased dramatically over the past several years, due in large part to ongoing litigation over losses sustained by investors who purchased RMK Morgan Keegan bond funds. The Funds imploded in late 2007, some losing nearly 95% of their value allegedly due to high concentrations of subprime mortgage related derivatives and http://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2010/02/morgan-keegan-legal-fees-skyrocket-due.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (William B. Young Jr. Esq.)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-774855299020139914Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:26:00 +00002010-02-18T10:36:10.569-08:00The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued a press release indicating they are proposing positive changes to the BrokerCheck system whereby all broker complaints will stay on the registered representative's record for 10 years. Under the old guidelines, complaint information dropped of the Central Record Depository (CRD) two years after the broker left the industry. This is widelyhttp://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2010/02/finra-proposes-new-reporting-rules-for.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (William B. Young Jr. Esq.)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-3835910795648705817Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:22:00 +00002010-02-10T07:51:19.838-08:00Union Bank of Switzerland's (UBS) Wealth Management division is still reeling from the multiple scandals that have plagued the firm for the past two years. Fresh on the heals of the accusations from the IRS that UBS was helping wealthy clients avoid income taxes came the structured note products that allegedly lost over a billion dollars for U.S. retail investors. Many of the structured notes http://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2010/02/ubs-continues-to-lose-clients-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (William B. Young Jr. Esq.)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-6226908704105835763Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:23:00 +00002010-01-22T08:56:27.673-08:00According to Advisen Ltd. Report Securities class action filings were flat, but regulator suits rose sharply.The press release appears below:Economic turmoil drove a surge in securities lawsuit filings in 2009, according to a new report from Advisen Ltd. The year saw securities lawsuit filings grow at a robust 13 percent rate to 910 suits, eclipsing an already-elevated 2008 at 804 suits. The http://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2010/01/report-shows-individual-securities-case.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (William B. Young Jr. Esq.)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-7119138041157204625Tue, 05 Jan 2010 21:37:00 +00002010-01-05T13:49:30.677-08:00A FINRA arbitration panel found Suntrust Securities (now known as SunTrust Robinson Humphry), the securities brokerage arm of SunTrust Banks, Inc., guilty of defaming one of its former brokers. The award included $1.2 million dollars in compensatory damages, $2.5 million in punitive damages plus attorney's fees and cost. Punitive damages are typically used to punish the wrong doer and dissuade http://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2010/01/suntrust-securities-slapped-with-41.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (William B. Young Jr. Esq.)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-4736561706964434359Tue, 05 Jan 2010 20:07:00 +00002010-01-05T13:34:28.150-08:00In what is believed to be one of the first rulings of its kind, a 95-year old California man received $1.6 million dollar award from a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration Panel against an on-line brokerage firm finding, among the offenses, elder abuse. The California elder abuse statue, like many similar state statutes (including Florida), allows for treble damages in instances http://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2010/01/elderly-investor-receives-16-million.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (William B. Young Jr. Esq.)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-2514325606560810793Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:34:00 +00002009-12-09T11:59:33.253-08:00In late 2007 and early 2008, UBS packaged and underwrote nearly 2 billion dollars in Lehman Brother backe Principal Protected Notes (PPNs), Partially Principal Protected Notes (PPPNs) and Return Optimization Notes (RONs). Although the products were allegedly presented to UBS retail clients as conservative, income producing investments suitable for almost any client, in reality, the clients were http://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2009/12/investor-awarded-damages-against-ubs-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (William B. Young Jr. Esq.)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-4956078548729975723Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:22:00 +00002009-11-18T10:30:12.368-08:00Thousand of investors were sold auction rate securities (ARS) with the promise the investments were like cash and liquid in a day or two notice. When the auctions failed last year, investors learned these creations of Wall Street were anything but leading to consequential damages as a result of investors not having access to needed funds.Many state have already entered into settlements with the http://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2009/11/ca-attorney-general-recovers-14-billion.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (William B. Young Jr. Esq.)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-5727709795685146021Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:54:00 +00002009-11-11T06:08:02.083-08:00According to recent Associated Press article, the two Bear Stearns executives who ran hedge funds that crashed in 2007 during the subprime mortgage meltdown and almost toppled the financial markets were acquitted on Tuesday of lying to investors about the looming crisis on Wall Street. The full text of the article appears below:Jurors found Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin not guilty of http://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2009/11/two-bear-stearns-hedge-fund-managers.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (William B. Young Jr. Esq.)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-3894103806949138739Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:31:00 +00002009-11-09T06:36:28.565-08:00Additional information was released last week regarding the SEC's probe of the Morgan Keegan RMK bond funds. Apparently, state regulators are now getting into the game. The investigation results will determine if and how many securities related charges will ultimately be filed against Morgan Keegan for its sale and management of the funds. The article appears below:Regions Financial Corp., the http://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2009/11/more-information-releaed-on-morgan.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (William B. Young Jr. Esq.)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-2838558823463873493Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:23:00 +00002009-10-18T17:37:55.600-07:00According to an Associated Press article released on October 16, 2009, a former Goldman Sachs employee has been appointed to the recently created post of Chief Operating Officer of the Securities & Exchange Commission's enforcement division. The position was created in part due to the fallout from the Bernie Madoff fraud scandal that observers say should have been detected by the SEC long before http://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2009/10/sec-taps-wizz-kid-to-head-up.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (William B. Young Jr. Esq.)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-8323957025687462530Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:53:00 +00002009-10-15T08:06:58.361-07:00The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) recently issued the following press release:Washington, DC — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) today announced that it has fined Citigroup Global Markets Inc. $600,000 and censured the firm for failing to supervise complex trading strategies designed in part to minimize potential tax liabilities. The firm also failed to report http://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2009/10/citigroup-fined-for-failure-to.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (William B. Young Jr. Esq.)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-6202088443923672769Fri, 09 Oct 2009 01:04:00 +00002009-10-08T18:19:20.195-07:00Washington, DC -- The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced today the expansion of its two-year pilot program that gives investors who are filing eligible claims the opportunity to select an arbitration panel composed of three public arbitrators instead of two public and one non-public.In its second year, the pilot will expand from 11 to 14 broker-dealers, and the number of http://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2009/10/finra-extending-public-arbitrator-pilot.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (William B. Young Jr. Esq.)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-7634234715537168955Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:51:00 +00002009-10-08T18:00:05.926-07:00INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT RELEASEMorgan Stanley Investment Management Inc., et al.A notice has been issued giving interested persons until Oct. 28, 2009, to request a hearing on an application filed by Morgan Stanley Investment Management Inc., et al., for an order pursuant to Sections 6(c) and 17(b) of the Investment Company Act for an exemption from Sections 17(a) of the Act; and pursuant to http://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2009/10/notice-issued-for-comments-on-morgan.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (William B. Young Jr. Esq.)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-1476284024895096900Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:21:00 +00002009-09-14T12:32:33.092-07:00Last Friday (9/11/09), ex-NBA Star Horace Grant recently received an arbitration award totalling $1.46 million for losses he experienced investing in several of the Regions Morgan Keegan Bond Funds (RMK Funds). In his arbitration claim filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Mr. Grant alleged the true risk of the funds were note disclosed and the funds were speculative. Thehttp://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2009/09/morgan-keegan-slapped-with-14-million.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (William B. Young Jr. Esq.)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8145261930313965747.post-1870265323048311710Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:51:00 +00002009-09-14T06:00:36.137-07:00In a recent Wall Street Journal article, an email produced in a civil court case against UBS, an employee referred to Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) as "vomit." The evidence indicates UBS employees were aware of the problems in the CDO market and were actively trying to unload the debt on unsuspecting fund managers and retail investors. The full WSJ article appears below:In the summer andhttp://www.stockmarketfraud.com/2009/09/ubs-employee-refers-to-cdos-as-vomit.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (William B. Young Jr. Esq.)