Blog

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

Displaying 10 out of 47 results for "Muni Arb".

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

(Dec 2012)

SEC Charges Two Brokers with Insider Trading
December 26, 2012, (Litigation Release No. 22581)
This week the SEC filed an amended complaint (opens to PDF) charging research analyst Trent Martin with tipping brokers Thomas C. Conradt and David J. Weishaus with nonpublic information about IBM Corporation's acquisition of SPSS Inc. Martin learned of the impending IBM-SPSS transaction "from an attorney friend who was working on the deal." Martin, Conradt, and Weishaus allegedly traded on the...

Auction Rate Securities Responsible for $9.6 Billion Loss to Taxpayers

(Dec 2012)

In a complaint filed in Nevada against Goldman Sachs last year, the city of Reno states that it issued $73.45 million of Auction Rate Securities (ARS) in 2005 and $137.43 million ARS in 2006 on the advice of Goldman. Like many other municipalities, Reno subsequently saw the market crash in 2008 and yields skyrocket, leading to a $9.6 billion loss for issuers.

The ARS structure was promoted by Goldman as liquid, cash-equivalent investments that would allow Reno to borrow money for long term...

FINRA and BBB Launch Smart Investing Website to Educate Consumers on Financial Fraud

(Dec 2012)

The FINRA Investor Education Foundation in conjunction with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) announced the launch of their new website, BBB Smart Investing, last Friday. Smart Investing provides investors with "tools and information to help [them] better protect and manage" their money.

One useful feature that we've noted on the blog before is the FINRA BrokerCheck, a free search engine for disclosures, regulatory action and fines against brokers and brokerage firms. The search generates a...

CFTC Amendment to Rule 4.5 Survives Challenge

(Dec 2012)

Last Thursday, a Federal judge ruled on a challenge to the CFTC's February 2012 amendment to Rule 4.5 that will require mutual funds and ETFs that have sufficient non-hedging participation in derivative markets to register with the CFTC as commodity pool operators (CPOs). The CFTC defines a CPO as a "person engaged in a business similar to an investment trust or a syndicate and who solicits or accepts funds, securities, or property for the purpose of trading commodity futures contracts or...

SEC and FINRA Issue Investor Alert RE: Year-End Investment Considerations

(Dec 2012)

Late last week, FINRA and the SEC's Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued an investor alert encouraging investors to take stock of their investments and finances at year-end. This alert is rather brief, but offers sound advice to prevent disputes that could lead to the kind of arbitration or litigation we see every day.

In particular, the two regulatory bodies suggest reviewing asset allocations and consider rebalancing. Conventional wisdom tells us that investing in more than one...

SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review - December 7th, 2012

(Dec 2012)

SEC Secures Trial Victory and Obtains Over $2.1 Million in Disgorgement and Penalties in Market Manipulation Case
December 6, 2012, (Litigation Release No. 22561)
A final judgment was entered against brothers Mayer Amsel and David Amsel "following a bench trial in a market manipulation case involving the securities of a company known as East Delta Resources Corp." The final judgment orders the brothers to pay, jointly and severally, over $2.4 million in disgorgement, pre-judgment interest, and...

SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review - November 23rd, 2012

(Nov 2012)

Brian Stoker Found Not Liable
November 21, 2012, (Litigation Release No. 22541)
On July 31, 2012, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York found Brian H. Stoker, former Citigroup Global Markets Inc. employee, "not liable for violations of the Federal securities laws related to the issuance of a $1 billion collateralized debt obligation (CDO) called Class V Funding III." The SEC did not appeal the verdict, and "the time for appeal has expired." The SEC filed its...

SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review - November 16th, 2012

(Nov 2012)

BP to Pay $525 Million Penalty to Settle SEC Charges of Securities Fraud During Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
November 15, 2012, (Litigation Release No. 22531)
According to the complaint (opens to PDF), BP p.l.c misled investors by understating the flow rate of oil that was escaping from its Deepwater Horizon oil rig in 2010. According to the SEC, while BP reported the flow rate was about 5,000 barrels of oil a day, it had "at least five different flow rate calculations, estimates, or data...

Do ETF Flows Move the Market?

(Oct 2012)

As exchange-traded fund (ETF) flows have grown over the past few years, the question of whether those fund flows influence the prices of ETF holdings has become a perennial issue. Matt Jarzemsky and Chris Dieterich of the Wall Street Journal recently posted what is perhaps the highest profile discussion of this issue to date, in which they provide interesting evidence that the ETF 'tail' might be wagging the market 'dog.'

They note that in early October, mid-cap indexes saw...

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...

47 Results

1
2
3
...
5
>