Brokerage Firms
Auction Rate Securities Failures
Auction Rate Securities and Auction Rate Preferred Securities (ARS) are securities made up of long term bonds or preferred stock with variable interest rates and yields. The yields are periodically reset through Dutch auctions. ARS are often marketed and sold by a single dealer with the only resale market being through a successful auction. Problems have arisen in recent months as a result of the failures of the auctions, leaving investors in the lurch and unable to redeem the security. As set out in this SmartMoney article, ARS have been marketed as a safe, liquid alternative to money market funds. Investors believing they had their money in a safe liquid investment are understandably concerned by the failures in the marketplace for these securities, and our firm has been monitoring the situation closely and discussing the matter with concerned individuals and businesses. Misrepresentations and omissions in the sale of a security can form the basis for a claim for securities fraud as well as other legal claims for recovery of damages.
As recently as 2006, the SEC censured 15 of the largest brokerage firms for sales and auctions of Auction Rate Securities. As stated by the SEC in its press release, “since the firms were under no obligation to guarantee against a failed auction, investors may not have been aware of the liquidity and credit risks associated with certain securities.” The SEC further stated that “the firms violated Section 17(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, which prohibits material misstatements and omissions in any offer or sale of securities.” The fifteen firms which were censured were Bear, Stearns & Co., Inc., Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., Goldman Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc., Lehman Brothers Inc., Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated/ Morgan Stanley DW Inc., RBC Dain Rauscher Inc., A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc., Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc., Piper Jaffray & Co., SunTrust Capital Markets Inc., Wachovia Capital Markets, LLC, and Banc of America Securities LLC. Read the SEC Order here.
UBS appears to be the first firm to actually begin lowering the values of auction rate securities on its customers’ statements, as reported by many news sources on March 29 including this Reuters article. Citing a Wall Street Journal article, Reuters reported that the markdowns could exceed 20 percent for some customers. Additional concessions from other firms may be forthcoming as the first quarter of 2008 ends.
State Regulators, including Massachusetts, have also begun investigations of the auction rate securities market with Massachusetts reportedly issuing subpoenas to UBS, Merrill Lynch, and Bank of America.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) released an Investor Alert on March 31, 2008 regarding auction rate securities which purports to set out various options for investors stuck with these products. FINRA, which claims to be a “trusted advocate for investors,” notably fails to mention contacting an attorney or filing an arbitration claim as options. If you are an investor who was sold Auction Rate Securities, and you would like to discuss your legal options with an attorney, please Contact Greco & Greco.
Link to Securities-Lawyers.net Auction Rate Securities page.
Posted by Greco & Greco on 03/03 at 05:42 PM
Auction Rate Securities (ARS) •
Bonds •
Brokerage Firms •
A.G. Edwards •
Banc of America •
Bear Stearns •
Citigroup •
Deutsche Bank •
Ferris Baker Watts •
Lehman Brothers •
Merrill Lynch •
Morgan Keegan •
Morgan Stanley •
Piper Jaffray •
RBC Dain Rauscher •
Suntrust •
UBS •
Wachovia •
FINRA •
State Regulators •
Massachusetts •
Suitability •
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Fraud charges by SEC against Former UBS broker
Fraud charges related to the sale of a hedge fund operated as a ponzi scheme were settled with a former broker of UBS according to this CCH Wall Street article.. The SEC alleged in its Complaint that the UBS broker made misrepresentations regarding the GLT Venture Fund, L.P. while raising $14.1 million for the fund. The broker agreed to pay disgorgement and civil penalties in addition to an injunction forbidding future violations.
Posted by Greco & Greco on 01/25 at 05:21 PM
Brokerage Firms •
UBS •
Hedge Funds •
SEC •
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New York subpoenas firms in mortgage fraud probe
Reuters has reported here that the state of New York has subpoenaed three large Wall Street banks (Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns, and Deutsche Bank) pursuant to a probe related to the creation of mortgage-backed securities. The New York probe reportedly is looking into how mortgages were packaged together by Wall Street to create securities sold to investors and the banks’ relationship with credit-rating firms.
Posted by Greco & Greco on 01/11 at 04:36 PM
Brokerage Firms •
Bear Stearns •
Deutsche Bank •
Merrill Lynch •
CMOs •
State Regulators •
New York •
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Morgan Stanley Fined Over Failure to Produce E-mails in Arbitrations
Morgan Stanley was fined $3 million and forced to pay $9.5 million in restitution to arbitration Claimants as a result of its failure to produce emails in response to document requests in arbitrations with customers. According to the FINRA press release, Morgan Stanley incorrectly represented in the arbitration proceedings that “the destruction of the firm’s email servers in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York’s World Trade Center resulted in the loss of all pre-9/11 email.”
The unknown at this point is the amount of financial benefit gained by Morgan Stanley by this behavior through arbitration settlements and awards, and whether this benefit far exceeds the relatively small punishment ordered by FINRA.
Posted by Greco & Greco on 11/02 at 04:40 PM
Arbitration •
Brokerage Firms •
Morgan Stanley •
FINRA •
NASD Regulation •
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Merrill reduces value of assets linked to subprime mortgages
Merrill Lynch warned last week that it was reducing the value of certain securities linked to subprime mortgages, thereby reducing its third quarter profits. Reuters article.
Posted by Greco & Greco on 09/21 at 02:20 PM
Brokerage Firms •
Merrill Lynch •
CMOs •
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Securities Fraud Guilty Plea for IPOF Fund Manager
A fund manager who had utilized Ferris Baker Watts accounts for his IPOF fund plead guilty in Cleveland, Ohio to securities fraud related to stock price manipulation. According to this Baltimore Sun article, David A. Dadante lost $28 million dollars of investors’ monies in a scheme that started as a ponzi scheme and led to at least four different illegal trading techniques to artificially increase the price of a specific stock, Innotrac.
The Baltimore Sun has extensively covered the involvement of Ferris Baker Watts in this matter in these linked articles, which discuss the early retirement of several executives since the investigation began, a 2003 company memo regarding concerns, and internal flags of potential problems in Dadante’s accounts.
Stephen J. Glantz, a former Ferris broker, has recently been charged with related securities fraud by federal prosecutors in Cleveland. According to this Baltimore Sun article, the Ferris broker is charged with engaging in unauthorized trading in his clients’ account to aid Dadante’s scheme.
Posted by Greco & Greco on 08/17 at 12:03 PM
Brokerage Firms •
Ferris Baker Watts •
Ponzi Scheme •
Stock Manipulation •
Unauthorized Trading •
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Morgan Stanley fined for corporate bond overcharges
As set out in this FINRA press release Morgan Stanley was fined and forced to pay restitution to retail customers for overcharging for corporate bond sales and for “having an inadequate supervisory system for monitoring the pricing of corporate fixed income securities sold to customers.”
Posted by Greco & Greco on 08/03 at 04:30 PM
Bonds •
Brokerage Firms •
Morgan Stanley •
FINRA •
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CMOs and Mortgage Backed Securities
CMOs, or collateralized mortgage obligations, are bundles of mortgages which are then divided up for sale by investment banks. Different types of these mortgage backed securities can vary widely in risk for investors, but recent problems with the subprime mortgage lending market could portend future problems for individual investors who have been sold these types of securities without their brokers fully explaining the risks involved. As set out in the following linked news stories, customers of Brookstreet Securities and Wedbush Morgan Securities have filed arbitration claims against their brokerage firms related to the sale of CMOs and other mortgage securities.
Wall Street Journal article
Orange County Register Article
Posted by Greco & Greco on 07/20 at 02:21 PM
Brokerage Firms •
Brookstreet •
CMOs •
Suitability •
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Wachovia Fine Related to Fee Based Accounts
Fee based accounts with brokerage firms are typically an alternative to commission accounts in which the account is charged a fixed annual fee or an annual percentage fee based on the assets in the account. These accounts may not be suitable for all customers. As set out in the link below, the NASD fined Wachovia for “failing to adequately supervise its fee-based brokerage business between 2001 through 2004.”
NASD Press Release
Posted by Greco & Greco on 07/20 at 11:29 AM
Brokerage Firms •
Wachovia •
NASD Regulation •
Suitability •
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Merrill Lynch Fine for Supervisory Practices
In the below release, the NASD announced that it had “fined Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. $5 million for supervisory failures, registration violations, impermissible sales contests and other violations in connection with the operation of its Financial Advisory Center (FAC) located in Hopewell, NJ and Jacksonville, FL.”
NASD Press Release
Posted by Greco & Greco on 07/20 at 11:22 AM
Brokerage Firms •
Merrill Lynch •
NASD Regulation •
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Early Retirement Pitches
Beware of sales pitches allowing early retirement which are based upon aggressive unrealistic annual returns without disclosure of the risks involved with such an aggressive strategy. As set out in the below NASD Investor Alert, following such a program may result in the depletion of your retirement nest egg if the broker is unable to meet the aggressive advertised annual returns.
NASD Investor Alert
See also the NASD charges against Citigroup regarding early retirement seminars in Charlotte, North Carolina for employees of Bellsouth.
NASD News Release
Posted by Greco & Greco on 07/20 at 11:13 AM
Brokerage Firms •
Citigroup •
NASD Regulation •
Retirement •
Suitability •
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