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

Displaying 561-570 out of 709 results

Junk ETFs

(Mar 2012)

The Wall Street Journal ran a great piece earlier this month concerning Junk ETFs. For another recent prospective, see the recent blog postby Michael Aneiro. We have discussed exchange traded funds (ETFs) a great deal on this blog, but we haven't yet addressed the issue of Junk ETFs. A Junk ETF is an ETF that invests in high-yield bonds in an effort to garner high returns. Of course high-yield is just an industry euphemism for low-quality (or high-risk) since, generally speaking, investors...

Regulating the Derivatives Markets

(Mar 2012)

The New York Times had an excellent editorial last week titled "A Long Road to Regulating Derivatives," which discusses the progress made in regulating the types of complex securities which have been implicated in the recent financial crisis. We at SLCG feel that investors should pay close attention to the changes taking place in securities regulation as they could have a significant impact on the entire market.

Traditionally, derivatives were regulated relatively lightly, especially...

A Primer on Investment Companies

(Mar 2012)

Investment companies are entities that issue securities and whose primary business is investing in securities. We have written about investment companies in several of our posts (See blog posts on ETFS and Mutual Funds). This post provides a quick introduction to investment companies and the securities they issue. The three main types of investment companies according to federal securities regulation are: closed-end funds, unit investment trusts, and open-end funds.

Some of the main...

$85 million and Counting: What Price Will Citigroup Ultimately Pay for Its MAT/ASTA Deception?

(Mar 2012)

On March 13, 2012, Bloomberg published Citigroup Ex-Manager Islam Has No Regrets After Funds Crash. Then on March 21, 2012 USA Today published Investor hedge fund claims cost Citigroup $85M and counting. These two stories deal with MAT/ASTA hedge funds Citigroup sold to retail clients which suffered staggering losses in early 2008. Both recent stories discuss the $54.1 million award in Hosier et al v Citigroup covered in the WSJ, Citigroup Loses Muni Case in April 2011.

Craig McCann has...

SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review (Part II) - March 23rd, 2012

(Mar 2012)

Due to the high volume of litigation releases from the Securities and Exchange Commission over the past week, we're spreading this week's review over two posts. This is the second of the two posts.

SEC Settles Litigation with Former Veritas Software Corporation Head of Sales
March 22, 2012, (Litigation Release No. 22304)
The US District Court for the Northern District of California entered a settled final judgment against Paul A. Sallaberry -- former head of sales of Veritas Software...

SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review (Part I) - March 23rd, 2012

(Mar 2012)

Due to the high volume of litigation releases from the Securities and Exchange Commission over the past week, we're spreading this week's review over two posts. This is the first of the two posts.

Defendant Michael Kimelman Settles SEC Insider Trading Charges
March 20, 2012, (Litigation Release No. 22299)
Michael Kimelman -- formerly a trader a Lighthouse Financial Group, LLC -- received material nonpublic information from an attorney concerning the acquisition of 3Com Corp. and allegedly...

Problems Surrounding the Complexity of Annuity Products

(Mar 2012)

On Sunday, The Wall Street Journal reported the felony-theft conviction of Glenn Neasham who had sold a complex annuity to an elderly woman. The conviction -- which comes with a 90-day sentence -- was handed down by a state-court jury in Lake County, CA. From the article:

The case underlines authorities' continuing discomfort with "indexed" annuities, savings products that pay interest tied to the performance of stock- and bond-market indexes. Insurers guarantee that buyers won't lose any of...

Abuse of Municipal Finance in Wisconsin

(Mar 2012)

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Stifel Financial has settled with five Wisconsin school districts on charges that they misled these municipal investors with their sale of several complex CDOs. This is just another example of the situation outlined in a previous postwherein a municipality or institutional investor was taken advantage of through the sale of inappropriate investments. The settlement involves $22.5 million in cash, plus $154 million in debt forgiveness. SLCG has been...

UK Financial Regulators Probe Interest Rate Swaps

(Mar 2012)

The Financial Times reported yesterday that the Financial Services Authority -- the counterpart of the SEC in the UK -- will investigate the possible mis-selling of interest rate swaps by banks, including Barclays. The regulator decided to look into the issue after The Telegraph provided detailed information about the potential misconduct of banks when selling interest rate swaps to small businesses.

In one of its reports, the Telegraph details a situation in which a manufacturing company...

SEC Litigation Releases: Week in Review (Part II) - March 16th, 2012

(Mar 2012)

Due to the high volume of litigation releases from the Securities and Exchange Commission over the past week, we're spreading this week's review over two posts. This is the second of the two posts.

SEC Charges Five with Insider Trading on Confidential Merger Negotiations Between Philadelphia Company and Japanese Firm
March 14, 2012 (Litigation Release No. 22288)
The SEC charged Timothy J. McGee, Michael W. Zirinsky, Robert Zirinsky, and Hong Kong residents Paulo Lam and Marianna sze wan Ho with...

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