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Our experts frequently write blog posts about the findings of the research we are conducting.

Displaying 21-30 out of 93 results for "Muni Markup Week".

FINRA Fines and Suspends David Lerner for Apple REIT Ten Misrepresentations

(Oct 2012)

Today, FINRA fined David Lerner Associates $14 million, including $12 million in restitution to investors, for charging excessive markups and misleading investors in a non-traded real estate investment trust (REIT) known as Apple REIT Ten. They also suspended David Lerner himself for one year from the securities industry and for two more years from acting as principal for a securities firm. From the news release:

As the sole distributor of the Apple REITs, DLA solicited thousands of...

SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review - October 19th, 2012

(Oct 2012)

SEC Charges Three Individuals for Their Roles in a $5.77 Million Investment Scheme
October 18, 2012, (Litigation Release No. 22514)
According to the complaint (opens to PDF), from February 2010 to February 2011 Geoffrey H. Lunn, Darlene A. Bishop, and Vincent G. Curry raised $5.77 million in an "investment scheme [through] Dresdner Financial, a fictitious financial services company." Lunn allegedly attracted investors by posing as the vice-president of Dresdner and telling investors that...

Vanguard Abandons MSCI and MSCI's Share Price Crashes

(Oct 2012)

A few weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal reported that Vanguard is replacing the benchmarks on nearly two dozen of its index funds currently provided by MSCI and replacing them with benchmarks provided by either FTSE or the Center For Research In Security Prices (CRSP) at the University of Chicago. See the press release dated October 2, 2012.

This is clearly great news for FTSE since this index change by Vanguard makes them the "third-largest equity exchange traded product index benchmark...

SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review - October 12th, 2012

(Oct 2012)

SEC Brings New Charges in Insider Trading Case Against Chinese Citizens
October, 12, 2012, (Litigation Release No. 22508)
In December 2011, the SEC charged several Chinese citizens and Chinese-based entity, All Know Holdings Ltd., with insider trading concerning the merger between Pearson plc and Global Education and Technology Group, Ltd. The SEC filed an amendedcomplaint on October 4, 2012, naming Jie Meng as a new defendant. According to the complaint, Meng received information regarding...

Variable Prepaid Forwards Cost JP Morgan at least $18 million

(Oct 2012)

Yesterday, the Oklahoma District Court in Tulsa, OK ordered JP Morgan Chase Bank to pay the Burford Trust over $18 million. In addition to this payment, JP Morgan is responsible for attorneys' fees and punitive damages to compensate the trust for the diminution in value resulting from a series of 11 variable prepaid forward contracts (VPFs) JP Morgan entered into with the Trust starting in May 2000. The news of this decision has been picked up by Bloomberg, the New York Times as well as ...

SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review - October 5th, 2012

(Oct 2012)

SEC Charges Unlicensed Financial Advisor James S. Quay for Defrauding Investors in Atlanta Area
October 4, 2012, (Litigation Release No. 22506)
According to the complaint (opens to PDF), James S. Quay, along with his brother Jeffrey A. Quay, conducted a scheme in which they convinced two elderly women to invest $560,000 into a sham limited partnership called Trinity Charitable Solutions. Quay, who has a history of defrauding the elderly, claimed the funds would be used to operate the program,...

Holding an ETF During the Day vs. Holding Overnight

(Oct 2012)

Lately we've been reading the interesting new book by Eric Falkenstein on risk premia and low volatility investing. We are long time followers of Eric's blog, which has a variety of interesting analyses of equity markets.

Following one of the figures in his book, we decided to look at two different strategies of investing in a given ETF where the holding period is on average one trading day. In particular, we looked at the pricing data of SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) since inception and constructed two...

SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review - September 28th, 2012

(Sep 2012)

Court Enters Final Judgments by Consent Against SEC Defendants Shay Keren and Lawrence Steven Cohen
September 27, 2012, (Litigation Release No. 22498)
The SEC announced that final judgments have been entered against Shay Keren and Lawrence Steven Cohen which permanently enjoins them from violating sections of the Securities Act and Exchange Act as well as bars them from "participating in an offering of penny stock for a period of five years." The SEC filed a complaint in September 2008 against...

SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review - September 21st, 2012

(Sep 2012)

SEC Charges Atlanta-Based Adviser with Operating Ponzi-Like Scheme Involving Private Investment Funds
September 19, 2012, (Litigation Release No. 22485)
Earlier this week, the SEC filed a civil complaint charging Angelo A. Alleca with "defrauding investors in a purported "fund-of-funds" and then trying to hide trading losses by creating new private funds to make money to pay back the original fund investors in Ponzi-like fashion." Rather than investing investor funds in Summit Investment Fund,...

SEC Litigation Releases: Weekly Review

(Sep 2012)

SEC Charges a Solar Panel Manufacturer and Three of its Former Executives with Defrauding Investors
September 6, 2012, (Litigation Release No. 22475)
The SEC charged Worldwide Energy and Manufacturing USA Inc. (WEMU), a San Francisco based solar panel manufacturer, and WEMU executives Jimmy Wang, Mindy Wang, and Jeffrey Watson with "concealing the transfer of nearly half of the ownership stake in its Chinese subsidiary to three individuals in China who manage the subsidiary." According to the ...

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