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

Displaying 161-170 out of 215 results for "Muni Arb".

Two New Exotic Products from the CBOE

(Oct 2012)

The CBOE has begun the offering process on two new and highly innovative volatility-related products that could have broad implications for the exchange traded products market and index investing in general.

The new S&P 500 Variance Futures are futures contracts on the realized variance of the S&P 500 index. This is in contrast with VIX futures, which trade on the impliedvolatility of the S&P 500; however, according to a CBOE press release, the ability to combine the two may have motivated...

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,...

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: Week in Review - September 7th, 2012

(Sep 2012)

SEC Files Settled Insider Trading Action Against Pharmaceutical Company Executive and His Father-In-Law
September 6, 2012, (Litigation Release No. 22474)
On September 6, 2012, the SEC filed a civil injunctive action against APP Pharmaceuticals, Inc.'s former Director of Contract Marketing, Arthur H. Reed, as well as Reed's father-in-law, Allan F. Derusha. According to the complaint (opens to PDF),the pair engaged in "insider trading and/or tipping in advance of APP's July 7, 2008 public...

Is FINRA Arbitration Constitutional?

(Sep 2012)

Since 1987, when the Supreme Court upheld the mandatory arbitration provision found in brokerage customer agreements (Shearson/American Express v. McMahon - 482 U.S. 220 (1987)), most disputes between broker-dealers and their customers or employees have been adjudicated through the FINRA Dispute Resolution process. Their proceedings are not open to the public, no public record is kept, and most decisions are not explained. FINRA arbitrators come from all walks of life, although many are...

Overreliance on Credit Ratings Results in Large Losses for Municipalities

(Aug 2012)

Earlier this week, the SEC charged Wells Fargo's brokerage firm with selling complex securities to institutional investors such as municipalities and non-profits. The Institutional Brokerage and Sales Division, between January 2007 and August 2007, made recommendations to institutional clients to purchase asset-backed commercial paper "issued by limited purpose companies called structured investment vehicles (SIVs) and SIV-Lites backed largely by mortgage-backed securities and CDOs." Already...

Poor Incentives and Predatory Lending in Municipal Finance

(Aug 2012)

Last year, Poway Unified School District had a problem. A decade earlier, it had started a program to modernize its aging schools. In 2008, voters had approved additional funding for the project under the condition that the school board could not raise taxes further. Unfortunately, by 2011, the project needed an additional $105 million to complete. But because they could not raise taxes, they could not issue the kind of tax-backed bonds (called general obligation bonds) that usually fund...

SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review - August 3rd, 2012

(Aug 2012)

SEC Settles Litigation with Former Veritas Software Corporation Chief Financial Officer
August 2, 2012, (Litigation Release No. 22432)
On July 20, 2012, a final judgment was entered against Kenneth E. Lonchar in the case SEC v. Mark Leslie, Kenneth E. Lonchar, Paul A. Sallaberry, Michael M. Cully, and Douglas S. Newton. Lonchar, the former Chief Financial Officer of Veritas Software Corporation, had been charged with inflating Veritas' reported revenues "by approximately $20 million in...

LIBOR Manipulation

(Jul 2012)

An ongoing investigation into the manipulation of LIBOR has exploded recently with the revelation that Barclays was actively manipulating LIBOR since 2005, possibly at the behest of Paul Tucker (a leading candidate to become the next governor of the UK central bank). As evidenced by several forms of electronic communication, some employees were submitting false data to boost profits.

Such accusations of LIBOR rate manipulation are not new. In 2008, the British Bankers Association (BBA) ...

SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review - June 29th, 2012

(Jun 2012)

SEC Shuts Down Mortgage Fund Ponzi-like Scheme
June 28, 2012, (Litigation Release No. 22406)
According to the complaint (opens to PDF), Small Business Capital Corp. ("SB Capital") and Mark Feathers ("Feathers"), its principal, are operating an "alleged Ponzi-like scheme." $42 million have been raised by SB Capital and Feathers through selling securities issued by their mortgage investment funds, Investors Prime Fund, LLC and SBC Portfolio Fund, LLC ("Funds"). The Funds attracted more than 400...

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