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

Displaying 101-110 out of 693 results

Oil and Gas DPPs From Just Two Sponsors Have Caused $3.7 Billion in Losses

(Feb 2015)

We have written extensively about direct participation programs, or DPPs. See our blog posts on non-traded REITs and our discussion about equipment leasing DPPs. Oil and gas DPPs are another strain of the DPP epidemic: illiquid exposure to an existing underlying asset, loaded with confiscatory fees, conflicts of interest and unnecessary risk.

Oil and gas DPPs use some of investors' money to drill and operate oil and gas wells. Oil and gas DPPs are sponsored and managed either by investment...

UBS Puerto Rico's Bond Fund Debacle: What We Know so Far

(Feb 2015)

Over the past year, we've posted a dozen short commentaries to our blog post here. We thought it would be helpful to summarize what we know so far. This summary and our prior UBS Puerto Rico blog posts are available in Spanish. You can find all the Spanish-language blog posts by clicking here.

We discussed the national exposure of the UBS Puerto Rico losses in October 2013 in Trouble in Paradise: UBS Puerto Rico Bond Fund Investors Hit Hard. The losses only got worse thereafter. In calendar...

Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - February 6th, 2015

(Feb 2015)

SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

SEC Alerts Investors, Industry on Cybersecurity
February 3, 2015(Litigation Release No. 20)
The SEC released a couple of publications regarding cybersecurity threats at brokerage and advisory firms. One publication focused on how firms should identify risks, establish policies, procedures, and oversight processes, protect networks and information, identify risks associated with remote access to client information and transfer requests, and detect unauthorized...

UBS Puerto Rican Funds Did Not Belong in Puerto Rican Investors' Portfolios

(Feb 2015)

Over the past year, we've posted a dozen commentaries about the UBS Puerto Rican closed end bond funds to our blog.

In Taxes, Puerto Rico Municipal Bonds and the UBS Funds we show that preferential tax treatment for Puerto Rican investments cannot justify what would otherwise be unsuitable concentrations of investors' portfolios in Puerto Rico municipal bonds. We focused our attention in that post on mainland municipal bond alternatives to Puerto Rican municipal bonds and showed that even...

Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - January 30th, 2015

(Jan 2015)

SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

SEC Charges Oppenheimer With Securities Law Violations Related to Improper Penny Stock Sales
January 27, 2015 (Litigation Release No. 14)
The SEC has charged Oppenheimer & Co. with breaking federal securities law over illegal sales of penny stocks. They are accused of allowing non-registered sales in their accounts, ignoring red-flags and failing to file Suspicious Activity Reports. Gibralter Global Securities, a Bahamas-based brokerage firm, is one customer alleged...

Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - January 26th, 2015

(Jan 2015)

SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

SEC Announces Charges against Standard & Poor's for Fraudulent Ratings Misconduct
January 21, 2015 (Litigation Release No. 10)
The rating agency Standard & Poor's violated a series of federal securities laws, according to an SEC investigation. Standard & Poor's Rating Services loosened its rating criteria on certain commercial mortgage-backed securities in order to attract business. Additionally, Standard & Poor's misrepresented their rating criteria on commercial...

Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - January 16th, 2015

(Jan 2015)

SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

SEC Charges Direct Edge Exchanges With Failing to Properly Describe Order Types
January 12, 2015 (Litigation Release No. 2)
In the first case focused on stock exchange order types, the SEC has settled with the EDGA and EDGX exchanges for $14 million over charges that they did not accurately describe their order types. These exchanges, formerly owned by Direct Edge Holdings before being acquired by BATS Global Markets, were found to have offered multiple "price...

Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - January 9th, 2015

(Jan 2015)

SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

SEC Names Walter Jospin as Regional Director of Atlanta Office
January 8, 2015 (Litigation Release No. 1)
Walter Jospin will oversee enforcement and examinations as the Regional Director of the SEC's Atlanta Office. Jospin graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated law school from Emory University. He has previously worked for the SEC's Enforcement Division dealing with investigations into accounting and financial fraud,...

Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - January 2nd, 2015

(Jan 2015)

SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

SEC Announces Charges Against N.Y.-Based Firm and Three Executives Accused of Siphoning Investor Money
December 29, 2014 (Litigation Release No. 294)
The SEC has charged VERO Capital Management, its president, general counsel, and CFO with channeling investors' money into a side venture. Robert Geiger, George Barbaresi and Steven Downey managed a pair of funds invested primarily in mortgage-backed securities at VERO Capital Management. The SEC alleges that, while in...

Enforcement Actions: Week in Review - December 23rd, 2014

(Dec 2014)

SEC ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

SEC Charges Investment Manager F-Squared and Former CEO With Making False Performance Claims
December 22, 2014 (Litigation Release No. 289)
It's been announced today that F-Squared Investments has agreed to settle with the SEC over charges that they defrauded investors of their AlphaSector indices. The SEC alleged that F-Squared falsely claimed a seven year performance track record, created by applying their model to historical data. The backtested record is also...

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