Corporate & Securities Law

Fifth Third Securities Fined And Must Offer Restitution To Customers Who Bought Or Exchanged Variable Annuities

Posted on April 22, 2009
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority announced that it has fined Fifth Third Securities $1.75 million for a series of violations related to variable annuity sales and exchanges. FINRA found that Fifth Third Securities made 250 unsuitable sales and exchanges to...

Wachovia Stops Offering Profit-FormulaTransition Deals And For All Recruits Now Factors In Trailing 3-Month Production

Posted on April 20, 2009
Wachovia has stopped offering profit-formula deals and has tightened up on recruiting offers according to an InvstmentNews article published last week. Wachovia Securities last month stopped offering recruitment packages to potential recruits to its profit-formula platform...

Wachovia Stops Offering Profit-FormulaTransition Deals And For All Recruits Now Factors In Trailing 3-Month Production

Posted on April 20, 2009
Wachovia has stopped offering profit-formula deals and has tightened up on recruiting offers according to an InvstmentNews article published last week. Wachovia Securities last month stopped offering recruitment packages to potential recruits to its profit-formula platform...

Investment Advisers Put On Notice Of Current SEC Compliance Concerns

Posted on April 16, 2009
Recently, Lori Richards of the Securities Exchange Commission notified investment advisers of the SEC's current compliance concerns. In a speech entitled, "Compliance in Today's Environment: Step Up to the Challenge," the director of the SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and...

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Investment Advisers Put On Notice Of Current SEC Compliance Concerns

Posted on April 16, 2009
Recently, Lori Richards of the Securities Exchange Commission notified investment advisers of the SEC's current compliance concerns. In a speech entitled, "Compliance in Today's Environment: Step Up to the Challenge," the director of the SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and...

SNSFE Investigating Claims of Fidelity Brokers That They Were Pressured To Sell Proprietary Products And Pressured Not To Disclose The Conflict To Customers

Posted on April 14, 2009
Dozens of brokers serving Fidelity Brokerage Services' most affluent clients left the firm last year, claiming they were handcuffed by a requirement that they obtain certified financial planner certification while being prohibited from disclosing that part of their bonus compensation...

SNSFE Continues Its Investigation Of Fisher Investments' Asset Allocation Decisions For Clients

Posted on April 06, 2009
Fisher Investments has proclaimed that there is a difference. One difference between it and other advisory firms is what it calls Dynamic Asset Allocation. "We strive to protect your assets in a bear market. If we predict a bull market,...

Merrill Lynch Socked With $39.8 Million Arbitration Award

Posted on April 01, 2009
Merrill Lynch has been socked with a $39.8 million arbitration ruling. In one of the single largest securities arbitration awards ever, Merrill Lynch & Co. has been ordered to pay $39.8 million to a group affiliated with the Freemasons. The...

Regulator Penalizes Morgan Stanley For Imprudent Retirement Advice Given To Eastman Kodak And Xerox Corporation Early Retirees

Posted on March 31, 2009
Recently, Morgan Stanley was fined $3 million and ordered to pay more than $4.2 million in restitution to 90 retirees, to resolve charges that its supervisory system failed to detect and prevent brokers from persuading Eastman Kodak Company and Xerox...

Regulator Penalizes Morgan Stanley For Imprudent Retirement Advice Given To Eastman Kodak And Xerox Corporation Early Retirees

Posted on March 31, 2009
Recently, Morgan Stanley was fined $3 million and ordered to pay more than $4.2 million in restitution to 90 retirees, to resolve charges that its supervisory system failed to detect and prevent brokers from persuading Eastman Kodak Company and Xerox...

SNSFE Investigates The Nutmeg Group And The Gouldings

Posted on March 27, 2009
Shaheen, Novoselsky, Staat, Filipowski & Eccleston is investigating the Chicago area investment adviser, The Nutmeg Group, for defrauding clients. The SEC has charged The Nutmeg Group, owner and managing member Randall Goulding, and chief compliance officer David Goulding for misappropriating...

SNSFE Investigates The Nutmeg Group And The Gouldings

Posted on March 27, 2009
Shaheen, Novoselsky, Staat, Filipowski & Eccleston is investigating the Chicago area investment adviser, The Nutmeg Group, for defrauding clients. The SEC has charged The Nutmeg Group, owner and managing member Randall Goulding, and chief compliance officer David Goulding for misappropriating...

SNSFE Continues To Investigate Oppenheimer Champion Income And High Yield Funds As Class Action Filing Deadline Approaches

Posted on March 23, 2009
Attorneys at SNSFE continue to investigate the Oppenheimer Champion Income Fund as well as the Oppenheimer High Yield Fund. Already, class actions have been filed, as well as arbitration actions. Investors who seek to recover money should note that there...

SNSFE Continues To Investigate Oppenheimer Champion Income And High Yield Funds As Class Action Filing Deadline Approaches

Posted on March 23, 2009
Attorneys at SNSFE continue to investigate the Oppenheimer Champion Income Fund as well as the Oppenheimer High Yield Fund. Already, class actions have been filed, as well as arbitration actions. Investors who seek to recover money should note that there...

FINRA's Online "Risk Meter" And "Scam Meter" Tools Are Worthwhile

Posted on March 20, 2009
FINRA (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) has a response to what seems to be almost daily revelations of investment fraud and investment scams around the globe. The response is a set of online tools aptly named the "Risk Meter" and...

FINRA's Online "Risk Meter" And "Scam Meter" Tools Are Worthwhile

Posted on March 20, 2009
FINRA (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) has a response to what seems to be almost daily revelations of investment fraud and investment scams around the globe. The response is a set of online tools aptly named the "Risk Meter" and...

Private Equity Investments Potentially Offer Attractive Returns But With Notable Risks

Posted on March 13, 2009
A recent study by three researchers at the Center for International Securities and Derivatives Markets (CISDM) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst examines the advantages and disadvantages of private equity investing. In announcing their findings, Mr...

Private Equity Investments Potentially Offer Attractive Returns But With Notable Risks

Posted on March 13, 2009
A recent study by three researchers at the Center for International Securities and Derivatives Markets (CISDM) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst examines the advantages and disadvantages of private equity investing. In announcing their findings, Mr...

SNSFE Cautions Against Transitioning Reps Relying Upon Edward Jones' Oral Promise That It Would Not Seek To Enforce Its Written Covenants Not To Compete

Posted on March 10, 2009
For Edward Jones, wirehouse shrinkage spells opportunity. That's according to an InvestmentNews article. Reflecting the deep changes that the current slump has brought to the securities industry, wirehouse brokers are starting to look to Edward Jones for shelter from the...

SNSFE Attorneys Assisting Advisers Transition As Smith Barney Loses Advisers And Assets Pending Morgan Stanley Merger

Posted on March 10, 2009
Smith Barney bleeds as it prepares for merger with Morgan Stanley according to InvestmentNews magazine. Smith Barney is losing brokers and advisers by the score and assets by the billions as it prepares for its new role as the junior...

SNSFE Cautions Against Transitioning Reps Relying Upon Edward Jones' Oral Promise That It Would Not Seek To Enforce Its Written Covenants Not To Compete

Posted on March 10, 2009
For Edward Jones, wirehouse shrinkage spells opportunity. That's according to an InvestmentNews article. Reflecting the deep changes that the current slump has brought to the securities industry, wirehouse brokers are starting to look to Edward Jones for shelter from the...

SNSFE's Continued Investigation Of Principal Protected Note Investments Turns To Firms Such As Neuberger Berman

Posted on March 05, 2009

SNSFE's Continued Investigation Of Principal Protected Note Investments Turns To Firms Such As Neuberger Berman

Posted on March 05, 2009

SNSFE Investigating Astounding Failure Of Highly Paid Institutional Consulting Firms To Detect 12-Year $500 Million Fraud By Paul Greenwood, Stephen Walsh, WG Trading And Westridge Capital Management

Posted on February 27, 2009

SNSFE Investigating Claims Of Equity Overconcentration And Inappropriate Losses At Fisher Investments

Posted on February 26, 2009

SNSFE Fielding Inquiries As Wells Fargo Will Pay No Retention Bonus For Wachovia Reps

Posted on February 23, 2009
On Friday, February 20th, it was announced that Wachovia Securities' brokers will not be getting a retention bonus from Wells Fargo. In a conference call that day, Wachovia Securities' chief executive Danny Ludeman said the deal was off, and he...

SNSFE Continues To Probe Investment Entities That Referred Investors to Thomas Petters, In Custody Charged With Crimes

Posted on February 23, 2009
Attorneys at SNSFE continue to investigate and field investor questions regarding Tom Petters. Petters' business entities are in receivership and bankruptcy as the result of a government investigation into allegations of a massive investment fraud that Petters denies existed...

SNSFE Fielding Inquiries As Wells Fargo Will Pay No Retention Bonus For Wachovia Reps

Posted on February 23, 2009
On Friday, February 20th, it was announced that Wachovia Securities brokers will not be getting a retention bonus from Wells Fargo. In a conference call that day, Wachovia Securities chief executive Danny Ludeman said the deal was off, and he...

SNSFE Fielding Inquiries Regarding Eight Shocking Mutual Fund Losses In The Past 12 Months

Posted on February 20, 2009
MorningstarAdvisor has published "Eight Shocking Losses of the Past 12 Months" by Russel Kinnel, and it's worth revisiting. December finished on a note of optimism, but January was a return to the markets grinding lower amid grim economic news. A...

SNSFE Fielding Inquiries Regarding Eight Shocking Mutual Fund Losses In The Past 12 Months

Posted on February 20, 2009

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