Citigroup Loses Muni Case
By: Randall Smith, Suzanne Barlyn, The Wall Street Journal (Apr 2011)
"Citigroup Loses Muni Case" reports on the $54.1 million FINRA award in the case of Hosier et al v Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. involving Citigroup's MAT/ASTA family of leveraged municipal bond hedge funds. SLCG's "Leveraged Municipal Bond Arbitrage: What Went Wrong?" explains the fundamental flaws in the investment strategy underlying these risky hedge funds. The award is the largest securities arbitration award to individual claimants. The next largest award involving Citigroup's hedge funds was the $6.4 million Berghorst v CGMI award from earlier this year. Craig McCann of SLCG testified on behalf of the claimants in both cases.
Complex Bond Faces Regulators' Scrutiny
By: Jean Eaglesham, The Wall Street Journal (Mar 2011)
"Complex Bond Faces Regulators' Scrutiny" reports on ongoing SEC and FINRA investigations into the sales of reverse convertibles. The article quotes Craig McCann on inadequate risk disclosures and reports on some statistics from SLCG's free database of structured product analysis.
Preferred Stock: Are Those Juicy Yields Worth the Extra Risk?
By: Jason Zweig, The Wall Street Journal (Feb 2011)
Dr. Edward O'Neal discussed the risks of preferred stocks in Jason Zweig's Intelligent Investor column, "Preferred Stock: Are Those Juicy Yields Worth the Extra Risk?", for the Wall Street Journal. Dr. O'Neal notes that preferred stocks can be riskier than junk bonds, even in bull markets.
Schwab Pays in YieldPlus Settlement
By: Eleanor Laise, The Wall Street Journal (Jan 2011)
The Wall Street Journal's "Schwab Pays in YieldPlus Settlement" reports on Charles Schwab Corp.'s $119 million settlement with the SEC over its marketing of the YieldPlus fund as an ultra short bond fund despite the heavy concentration of private label mortgage back securities, it's high and misrepresented average maturity and low and misrepresented average credit quality. The SEC Complaint against the firm and the Complaint against Kim Daifotis and Randall Merk closely track the results of SLCG's independent research into YieldPlus. See YieldPlus Risk and What Does a Mutual Fund's Average Maturity Tell Investors?
