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Displaying 91-100 out of 123 results for "Latest Non-Traded REIT Valuations: Not Good".

The Small Price of Big Favors

(May 2012)

Yesterday the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a press release announcing that it had filed a complaint alleging Detroit officials -- including former mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick and former city treasurer Jeffrey W. Beasley -- influenced the city's pension fund investments to favor an advisor, MayfieldGentry Realty Advisors LLC, in exchange for personal gifts. This story illustrates an all too common occurrence in municipal finance. According to the SEC, Kilpatrick and Beasley...

Massachusetts Securities Regulators Fine RBC for Selling Unsuitable Leveraged and Inverse ETFs

(May 2012)

RBC Capital Markets has agreed to pay $2.9 million in restitution to Massachusetts investors related to the sale of unsuitable leveraged, inverse, and inverse-leveraged ETFs. Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Galvin, who has previously investigated Bank of America over warehousing of CLO assets, issued the complaint in July 2011, accusing RBC and its registered representative Michael D. Zukowski of selling these products "to clients who did not understand what these...

FINRA Issues Sanctions on Sellers of Leveraged and Inverse ETFs

(May 2012)

Today FINRA issued sanctions on four firms for selling leveraged and inverse exchange-traded products. The story has also been picked up by the New York Times [UPDATE: the Wall Street Journal too]. The offending firms, with links to their respective Letters of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent ('AWC's), were:


These firms faced a total of $9.1 million in fines and restitution for sales occurring between January...

SEC Sends Letter to Issuers of Structured Notes

(Apr 2012)

Recently the SEC sent out a letter to certain financial institutions regarding their offerings of structured notes. The letter was sent by Amy M. Starr, the Chief of the Office of Capital Markets Trends, Division of Corporation Finance. In the letter the SEC urges the structured note issuers to disclose key information with regard to the offerings, such as product pricing and use of issuing proceeds.

The SEC highlighted a number of potentially confusing aspects of structured notes and their...

SPIVA Scorecard Year-End 2011

(Mar 2012)

S&P recently released their semiannual report comparing the performance of actively managed mutual funds against their appropriate benchmark indices. The S&P Indices Versus Active Funds (SPIVA) Scorecard contains information the mutual fund industry would likely prefer to be kept quiet.

The Year-End 2011 SPIVA Scorecard reports that "over a five-year horizon[...] a majority of active equity and bond managers in most categories lag comparable benchmark indices." Actively managed mutual funds...

Oppenheimer Ordered to Repurchase $5.98 Million in Auction Rate Securities

(Jan 2012)

In January 2012, a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel in New York ordered Oppenheimer to repurchase certain Auction Rate Securities sold to Claimant Nicole Davi Perry for $5.98 million, plus payment of $134,108 in legal fees. The award was posted in FINRA's arbitration database this Monday. See this related report from Reuters. Dr. O'Neal at SLCG testified on behalf of the Claimant; Dr. O'Neal and Dr. McCann have authored a report on ARS previously.

Auction rate...

SEC Press Release: Structured Products

(Jul 2011)

SEC Staff Issues Summary Report of Sweep Examination of Structured Products Sold to Retail Investors

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a press release today announcing that it had

"issued a report identifying common weaknesses seen in sales of structured securities products and describing measures by broker-dealers to better protect retail investors from fraud and abusive sales practices."

The report is a result of studies in the structured products business of...

SEC Press Release: New Short Form Criteria

(Jul 2011)

SEC Adopts New Short Form Criteria to Replace Credit Ratings

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a press release today announcing that it had removed "credit ratings as eligibility criteria for companies seeking to use 'short form' registration when registering securities for public sale." The SEC unanimously voted for the adoption of this new rule, in response to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that encouraged financial regulators to rely...

Dishonest Sales of LEFTs by RBC Capital Markets

(Jul 2011)

Secretary Galvin Charges RBC Capital Markets and Agent with Dishonest Sales of Leveraged and Inverse Leveraged Exchange Traded Funds

The Enforcement Section of the Massachusetts Securities Division of the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth alleges that Michael Zukowski, a registered representative of RBC Capital Markets, made "numerous unsuitable recommendations and sales" of leveraged and inverse leveraged exchange traded funds (ETFs) to clients who did not understand the risks...

SEC Press Release: Fraudulent Bidding Practices

(Jul 2011)

SEC Charges J. P. Morgan Securities with Fraudulent Bidding Practices Involving Investment of Municipal Bond Proceeds

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a press release today announcing that it has

"charged J.P. Morgan Securities LLC (JPMS) with fraudulently rigging at least 93 municipal bond reinvestment transactions in 31 states, generating millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains."

Here are the SEC Complaint, SEC Final Judgment and the Litigation Release...

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