Corporate & Securities Law

FINRA Panels Returning Awards For Losses In Morgan Keegan Bond Fund Investments

Posted on March 30, 2009
Stung by huge financial losses in several Regions Morgan Keegan (RMK) bond funds, investors finally are getting some welcome news. Earlier this month, three separate FINRA arbitration panels announced awards in favor of investors who lost money in RMK mutual funds...

Under Funded Pension Plans A Bone Of Contention For Companies, Employees and Retirees

Posted on March 25, 2009
Chaos in the world?s financial markets has wreaked havoc on corporate pension plans, with more people seeing their retirement savings slowly dwindle in value month after month. For retirees of bankrupt employers, the reality is especially grim. David Jeanes, 60, is one of those individuals...

JP Morgan To Buy New Corporate Jets, Faces Public Backlash

Posted on March 23, 2009
As the recipient of $25 billion in funds from the government?s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), JPMorgan Chase should be focusing on how and when it will pay back taxpayers? money. Instead, ABC News reports that the bank plans to spend nearly $140 million on two new luxury Gulfstream jets and embark on a lavish [...

Foundations, Universities, Nonprofits Face Dwindling Endowments From Failed Investments

Posted on March 20, 2009
A downturn in the economy, coupled with bad investments in auction rate securities and other risky financial instruments has left many foundations, universities and nonprofits with record low endowments. A March 2009 study from the Commonfund Institute showed that endowments at colleges, universities and independent schools saw their worst performance ever at the end of [...

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Morgan Keegan Loses In Indiana FINRA Arbitration Award

Posted on March 19, 2009
In a page out of David and Goliath, a church secretary from Whitestown, Indiana, emerged victorious in her FINRA arbitration claim that investment firm Morgan Keegan failed to disclose the risks of a certain bond fund that was heavily invested toxic collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and other asset-backed securities...

FINRA Rules Against Regions Financial Corp.?s Morgan Keegan In Latest Arbitration Claim

Posted on March 13, 2009
Yet another investor has found justice over losses caused by the collapse in value of several Morgan Keegan bond funds that owned securities backed by risky subprime mortgages. On March 12, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ruled in favor of Alabama investor Philip Willingham, awarding him $187,000...

UBS Problems Spur Management Upheaval

Posted on March 11, 2009
The subprime mess and allegations of tax evasion schemes are just some of the issues responsible for tarnishing the reputation of UBS AG. For months now, a string of crises has fueled speculation about the fiscal health of the Swiss-based investment firm...

Madoff Will Plead Guilty To Nation?s Biggest Ponzi Scheme

Posted on March 11, 2009
Ira Sorkin, the lawyer for disgraced money manager Bernard ?Bernie? Madoff, says his client will plead guilty to 11 criminal charges on March 12. His punishment: a potential prison term of 150 years. On Dec. 11, Madoff, a former Nasdaq chairman, was arrested by federal authorities and accused of running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme in [...

CEO Vikram Pandit Defends Citigroup In Employee Memo

Posted on March 10, 2009
Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit contends the bank whose stock fell below $1 last week is poised for a rebirth. As reported in a March 9 article in the Wall Street Journal, Pandit told colleagues that despite Citi?s ongoing financial issues and market perception, the bank?s capital strength and earnings power ultimately would enable the company [...

Former Merrill Lynch Chiefs Invested And Lost With Madoff

Posted on March 08, 2009
Former high-profile executives with Merrill Lynch, including two CEOs, invested in hedge funds that lost huge amounts of money to disgraced money manager Bernard Madoff and his $50 billion Ponzi scheme. According to a March 5 report from Reuters, one-time chief executive officers Daniel Tully and David Komansky, along with former investment-banking chief Barry Friedberg, [...

Stephen Walsh, Paul Greenwood Lived Large On Investors? Money

Posted on February 27, 2009

Stung By Toxic Holdings, Florida Investment Pool Languishes

Posted on February 25, 2009
Strangled by the tentacles of toxic subprime mortgages and structured investment vehicles (SIVs), the Florida Local Government Investment Pool (LGIP) is finding itself unable to pull in deposits from once-burned, twice-shy municipalities.  Florida?s LGIP is used much like a money-market fund by nearly 1,000 school districts, counties and cities in the state Florida...

Missouri Secretary of State Calls Stifel?s ARS Plan Inadequate

Posted on February 21, 2009
Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan had harsh words for the brokerage firm Stifel, Nicolaus & Company and its plan to give investors holding auction-rate securities only $25,000, or 10%, or their frozen savings.  On Feb. 11, Carnahan told Stifel it needed to immediately come up with an alternative solution that will buy back all frozen [...

Texas Money Manager R. Allen Stanford Charged In Massive Fraud Scheme

Posted on February 19, 2009
First there was Bernie Madoff, now Texas financier Robert Allen Stanford is making a name for himself by running an alleged $8 billion fraud scheme. On Feb. 17, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil lawsuit against Stanford and three of his companies on charges of orchestrating a fraudulent, multibillion-dollar investment scam that [...

STMicroelectronics Wins $406 Million ARS Lawsuit Against Credit Suisse

Posted on February 17, 2009
Another chapter has been written in the saga on auction-rate securities - and this time it?s a win for institutional investors.  On Feb. 13, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ordered the Credit Suisse Group to pay STMicroelectronics NV more than $406 million to settle claims that the brokerage misled the semiconductor maker into buying [...

New Law Would Broaden Florida?s Ability To Pursue Securities Fraud

Posted on February 17, 2009
Investors may get a welcome shot in the arm if Florida?s attorney general and several state lawmakers have anything to say about it. On Feb. 11, Attorney General Bill McCollum joined Senator Garrett Richter and Representative Tom Grady to unveil a legislative proposal designed to strengthen Florida laws protecting securities investors...

Jefferson County, Alabama: One Year Later And No Progress On Sewer Crisis

Posted on February 12, 2009
Mired in debt and still facing the nation?s largest municipal bankruptcy, Jefferson County, Alabama, has made little headway to solving its sewer debt crisis. At the center of controversy are members of the Jefferson County Commission, whom many say have let personal issues take a front seat to finding a solution for the ongoing sewer [...

Ruth Madoff Withdrew $15.5 Million Right Before Husband?s Fraud Arrest

Posted on February 11, 2009
Only hours before money swindler Bernie Madoff was arrested on securities fraud charges, his wife pulled $15 million out of a brokerage account. According to a complaint filed Feb. 11 by Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin, Ruth Madoff withdrew $5...

Madoff Recovery Questions Answered

Posted on January 16, 2009
Madoff Recovery Questions Answered How big is the Bernard Madoff scandal? The Madoff fraud is being called the largest financial fraud in U.S. history. Following Bernard (Bernie) Madoff?s arrest on Dec. 11, authorities estimate that the scale of the alleged scam could be as much as $50 billion, with 4,000 or more investors suffering extraordinary financial [...

Wisconsin School Districts Charge Stifel, RBC With Fraud Over CDO Debacle

Posted on January 16, 2009
The story began in 2006, when five Wisconsin school districts - Kenosha Unified School District, Kimberly Area School District, School District of Waukesha, West Allis-West Milwaukee School District and Whitefish Bay School District - went looking for investment advice to shore up its teachers? retirement plans...

Indiana Money Manager Marcus Schrenker Called A ?Mini-Madoff?

Posted on January 16, 2009
Marcus Schrenker?s past finally caught up with him. The Indiana financial manager was arrested by authorities on Jan. 13 after staging his own plane crash to escape financial ruin. U.S. marshals located Schrenker late Tuesday night at a campsite in Quincy, Florida...

Trustee, SIPC Report $830 Million In Liquid Assets From Madoff?s Firm

Posted on January 05, 2009
The plot concerning hedge fund manager Bernie Madoff continues to thicken. And this time the news may benefit the growing number of investors trying to recover some of the $50 billion that the disgraced 70-year-old and former Nasdaq stock market chairman scammed from them as part of a massive Ponzi scheme...

Lawmakers To Examine Bernie Madoff Swindle On Jan. 5

Posted on January 01, 2009
One of the first tasks greeting lawmakers in the new year will be to examine Bernard (Bernie) Madoff’s alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme and why the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) appeared to be asleep at the wheel before detecting the fraud...

SEC Imposes Dec. 31 Deadline For Madoff To Disclose Assets

Posted on December 28, 2008
The disgraced New York hedge fund manager responsible for bilking investors out of some $50 billion in the world?s biggest Ponzi scheme has until New Year?s Eve to provide a detailed list of his investments, assets and financial holdings to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)...

Madoff Feeder Funds Become Target Of Investor Lawsuits

Posted on December 22, 2008
The enormity of the Bernie Madoff scandal and the massive losses hitting investors was underscored this past weekend when the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced that the $50 billion Ponzi scheme and other frauds would take priority over counter-terrorism cases...

Bernie Madoff: A Modern-Day P.T. Barnum

Posted on December 17, 2008
The plot continues to thicken in the saga of Bernard (Bernie) L. Madoff. Earlier today, authorities placed the mastermind behind a $50 billion hedge fund Ponzi scheme under house arrest. Now, instead of late-night Manhattan parties, the once-revered Wall Street legend will be subjected to electronic monitoring and 7 p...

Bernie Madoff?s House Of Lies

Posted on December 15, 2008
From humble beginnings as a lifeguard to a storied investment leader on Wall Street, Bernard (Bernie) L. Madoff has seen and done it all. Or, so he thought. Following Madoff?s arrest by federal agents last week for running a giant Ponzi scheme and losing at least $50 billion of his clients? money, the next stop [...

Goldman Sachs Profiting From Financial Problems Of Some States

Posted on December 10, 2008
Public officials of financially strapped states like California, Florida, Nevada, Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan are outraged at New York-based securities firm Goldman Sachs for advising some of its biggest institutional clients to bet against state municipal bonds by purchasing credit default swaps...

Margin Call Madness Underway

Posted on November 24, 2008
When stock markets plunged to their lowest level in four years in October, it quickly became news that margin calls were a key culprit to the problem. In the weeks since, the volume of margin calls has steadily increased, exacerbating issues for investors and adding turmoil to an already battered financial environment...

The Dark Side Of Margin Calls

Posted on November 24, 2008
The downturn in the economy is shedding new light on two dreaded and unwanted words no investor wants to hear: margin calls. Recent margin calls - in which shares of stock are bought using borrowed money - have created a margin blowout lately, sounding the alarm for CEOs and fund managers at companies from Chesapeake [...

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