May 24, 2013

Berthel Fisher, VSR Financial Services, & Cetera Financial Modify the Way They Sell Nontraded REITs and Other Alternative Instruments

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Investment News is reporting that in the wake of pressure from regulators, Berthel Fisher & Co. Financial Services Inc., Cetera Financial Group Inc. and VSR Financial Services Inc., are modifying the way they sell specific alternative investments, including nontraded real estate investment trusts, by revising current policy or including no procedures and guidelines. According to executives at the three brokerage firms, they want add liquid alternative choices to their platforms while staying mindful of the issues that regulators recently addressed.

These types of financial instruments are in demand due to their higher yields, especially as traditional investment interest rates for retirees stay low due to the Federal Reserve’s policy. According to VSR chairman Don Beary, Following recent FINRA’s ‘senior sweep,’ his brokerage firm is now more careful about what senior citizens can invest in. VRS’s registered representatives have just been notified about the new illiquid alternative investment sale guidelines, which include a 35% of illiquid investment limit for older clients’ accounts—down from 40-50% previously. Also, for clients in the 70 to 75 age group, they will be allowed to possess no more than 25% of illiquid investments in their portfolio. Clients in the 75 to 84 age group have a 15% limit, while customers older than that will not be allowed to make own any illiquid investments.

Meantime, Centera hasn’t modified customer allocations percentages , but it has enhanced its representative training requirements for representatives that sell illiquid investments and brought in more employees to conduct product due diligence.

It is important that your financial representative only recommend investments that are suitable for you, your goals, and your financial needs. Failure to do so can be grounds for a securities fraud case if the customer loses money as a result.

Seniors are especially vulnerable to losing big from unsuitable trades. Many have ended up losing the savings they have spent a lifetime accumulating, which can drastically hurt their retirement that they have worked hard for.

You want to work with an experienced REIT lawyer who knows how to recoup your losses for you.

AIternative alterations, Investment News, May 19, 2013

Senior Investors, FINRA

REITs (PDF)


More Blog Posts:
FINRA Notifies Brokerage Firms About Non-traded REIT Information that Can Mislead Investors, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, May 6, 2013

FINRA Plan May Dramatically Change The Way Brokerage Firms Report On Nontraded REITS & Other Illiquid Investments on Client Statements, Institutional Investor Securities Blog, April 28, 2013

Posted by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LTD LLP | | Email This Post

Posted In: Financial Firms , Non-Traded REITs , REITs , Senior Investors , VSR Financial Services

May 23, 2013

FINRA Orders LPL Financial to Pay $7.5M Over Allegedly Inadequate Supervision of E-Mails

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In what is being called the SRO’s largest fine to date over e-mail violations, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority announced that it is fining LPL Financial LLC $7.5 million over 35 key e-mail system failures. The financial firm also has to set up a $1.5 million fund to compensate customers that may have been impacted. That is a total of $9 million.

According to FINRA, the e-mail and retention issues took place between 2007 and 2013, with LPL’s systems failing a minimum of 35 times. The brokerage firm allegedly did not fulfill its duty to supervise representatives, capture email, and answer regulator requests.

For more than four years, LPL purportedly did not supervise 28 million business emails that involved thousands of independent contractor representatives. The broker-dealer also is accused of making misstatements to the SRO during the latter’s investigation into the matter (email systems failures made it impossible for the firm to give over certain documents).

By settling, LPL is not denying or admitting to the securities fraud allegations.

Under securities industry rules, broker-dealers must keep and review emails for a certain length of time to make sure that procedure compliance is happening and to prevent possible wrongdoing. In a statement, the financial firm said that it was the one that notified FINRA about the e-mail issues. LPL says that not only did it fully cooperate with the SRO’s probe but also, regretting what happened, it is redesigning email systems and related compliance procedures and policies and working with independent experts. The firm says it is training employees so that in the future these kinds of oversights are identified and dealt with more quickly. Meantime, Reuters is reporting that in the wake of recent fines LPL has agreed to pay over abusive securities sales practices allegations, it is redoing its procedures related to its supervision of 13,000 advisers.

If you believe that broker negligence or misconduct is a cause of your investment losses, do not hesitate to contact our securities fraud law firm right away. Your first case evaluation is free.


FINRA fines LPL Financial $9 million for email violations, Reuters, May 21, 2013

LPL to Pay $9 Million for Systemic Email Failures and for Making Misstatements to FINRA, FINRA, May 21, 2013


More Blog Posts:
LPL Financial Continues to Stay Under Regulators’ Radar, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, April 10, 2013

Goldman Sachs to Pay $22M For Alleged Lack of Proper Internal Controls That Allowed Analysts to Attend Trading Huddles and Tip Favored Clients, Institutional Investors Securities Blog, April 14, 2012


Posted by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LTD LLP | | Email This Post

Posted In: FINRA , Financial Firms , LPL Financial

May 22, 2013

Ameriprise Financial, Securities America, & Three Other Brokerage Firms Reach $9.6M Non-Traded REIT Securities Settlement with Massachusetts Financial Regulator

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Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Galvin announced today that the state has reached a $9.6M securities settlement with five independent brokerage dealers—Ameriprise Financial Services Inc. (AMP), Commonwealth Financial Network, Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp., Royal Alliance Associates Inc., & Securities America Inc.—over the allegedly inappropriate sale of nontraded real estate investment trusts to investors. $8.6M of this is restitution to them.

Galvin says that the investigation, which was triggered by complaints from customers, led to the discovery of a “pattern of impropriety” in the sale of these securities by independent broker-dealers where supervision has been hard to “maintain.” As part of the nontraded REIT settlement, Ameriprise will pay $2.6 in restitution and a $400K fine, Securities America will pay $778K in restitution and a $150K fine, Royal Alliance will pay $59K in restitution and a $25K fine, Commonwealth Financial Network will pay a $2.1M restitution and a $300K fine, and Lincoln Financial will pay a $504K restitution and a $100K fine.

The non-traded REIT agreement with these independent brokerage firms comes just three months after Galvin settled a similar securities fraud case with LPL Financial Holdings Inc. accusing that financial firm of inadequately supervising their brokers tasked with selling the financial instruments. LPL Financial agreed to pay $2.5M in restitution and a $500K administrative fee over seven nontraded REITs that were sold.

The state of Massachusetts contends that some sales allegedly violated state regulations that don’t allow over 10% of an investor’s worth to be held in specific securities, while others purportedly violated the requirements for liquid net worth of investors that are established in prospectuses. Firm employees and brokers tasked with looking over the transactions were not only allegedly inadequately supervised, but also they lacked the necessary education about nontraded REIT transactions. This week, a spokesperson for Secretary Galvin announced that the financial firm has agreed to pay another $2.6 million in restitution.

Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas, LTD LLP’s REIT attorneys, represent individual and institutional investors throughout the United States.

Five IBDs in $7M settlement over nontraded-REIT sales, Investment News, May 22, 2013


LPL to pay up to $2.5 million to settle Massachusetts REIT charges, Reuters, February 6, 2013


More Blog Posts:
SEC Submits Request for Data on Whether to Make Brokers & Investment Advisers Abide by Uniform Fiduciary Standard, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, April 4, 2013

Goldman Sachs Execution and Clearing Must Pay $20.5M Arbitration Award in Bayou Ponzi Scam, Upholds 2nd Circuit, Institutional Investor Securities Blog, July 14, 2012

Posted by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LTD LLP | | Email This Post

Posted In: Ameriprise - Securities America , Broker-Dealers , Financial Firms , Lincoln Financial Advisors , Non-Traded REITs

May 18, 2013

Ex-NY Governors Pataki and Cuomo Tell AG Schneiderman to Ease Off On Former AIG Head

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In a joint op-ed, ex-New York governors George Pataki and Mario Cuomo are asking NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to reconsider his efforts to seek remedies, including injunctive relief, against Maurice “Hank Greenberg,” the former American International Group (AIG) chief. The former governors believe that not only will such a pursuit waste “time and money,” but also, they say that it is “morally wrong.”

It was just last month that Schneiderman told the New York State Court of Appeals that the state was dropping its claim seeking possibly billion of dollars in financial fraud damages in an eight-year-old case against Greenberg and another ex-executive but that he would continue to hold the defendants responsible by pursuing other remedies, including bans on serving as a public company director/officer and involvement in the securities industry. Greenberg, who ran AIG for almost 40 years, resigned in 2005 in the wake of an investigation into the insurer’s accounting practices. He denies wrongdoing.

Last year, a federal judge approved a $115 million settlement with shareholders over the accounting issues that were at the heart of the state’s lawsuit. (Meantime, investors have also filed related securities fraud against Greenberg and other former AIG executives.) However, despite dropping the claim for fraud damages, Schneiderman has remained adamant about proceeding with a trial against Greenberg. He believes that individuals who commit fraud must be held publicly accountable. Replying to the former NY governors, a spokesperson for the attorney general said as much, all the while noting Schneiderman’s respect for the two men and their “longstanding ties” to Greenberg.

If you are an investor who sustained losses from securities fraud, do not hesitate to stockbroker fraud lawyers today.

Read the Op-Ed, The Wall Street Journal, May 12, 2013


More Blog Posts:
Stakeholders With $55M Securities Fraud Case Against Government Over AIG Bailout Get Class Action Certification, Institutional Investor Securities Blog, March 19, 2013

AIG Wants to Stop Former CEO Greenberg From Naming It as a Defendant in Derivatives Lawsuit Against the US, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, April 13, 2013

New York Fed Bailed Out Bank of America Over Mortgage-Backed Securities Sold to AIG, Institutional Investor Securities Blog, February 20, 2013

Posted by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LTD LLP | | Email This Post

Posted In: Securities Fraud

Tags: AIG

May 18, 2013

California AG Files Lawsuit Against JP Morgan Chase Alleging Debt Collection Abuse Over 100,000 Credit Card Cases

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According to California Attorney General Kamala Harris, JP Morgan Chase (JPM) filed about 100,000 credit card debt collection lawsuits between 2008 and 2011 without conducting sufficient research to properly assess the cases’ merits. The bank reportedly submitted 200 lawsuits over 15 weeks in 2011, including 32 lawsuits on January 5, 2011. Now, Harris is suing the banking giant, accusing it of “debt collection abuse” while victimizing tens of thousands of state residents.

Per the complaint, Chase prioritized saving money and speed, even “robo-signing” legal documents without sufficiently evaluating the evidence and engaging in other “unlawful practices.” The state points to questionable documents and incomplete records that were purportedly used to back up the cases. Harris, who contends that JPMorgan’s “debt collection mill” abused the state’s judicial process, wants damages for borrowers.

Meantime, JPMorgan is cooperating regulators, including the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which is getting ready to file an enforcement action against it ,also over its handling of credit card debt collection. The firm reviewed its debt collection procedures in 2011 and it is no longer filing credit card lawsuits.

After spending the last few years focusing on the way lenders went after homeowners who couldn’t pay their mortgages on time—in 2012, five banks settled for $26 billion with 49 state attorneys general over the way homes were wrongfully seized—regulators are now focusing on the former’s handling of credit card debt.

Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas LTD LLP is a securities fraud law firm that has helped thousands of investors get back their investment losses.

Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Announces Suit Against JPMorgan Chase for Fraudulent and Unlawful Debt-Collection Practices, Ca.gov, May 9, 2013


More Blog Posts:
JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of New York Mellon, Charles Schwab Disclose Market-Based NAVs of Money Market Mutual Funds, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, February 7, 2013

Police Retirement System of St. Louis Also Suing JPMorgan Chase Executives Over “London Whale” Scandal, Institutional Investor Securities Blog, April 25, 2013

Posted by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LTD LLP | | Email This Post

Posted In: Financial Firms , J P Morgan - Chase

May 17, 2013

Number of Banks At Risk of Failing Goes Down

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According to The Dealmaker’s Journal, the list of banks in danger of failing has gotten smaller. Bank observers are speculating whether the failures have decreased because of election year politics, the industry is becoming more robust, regulatory agencies have changed leadership, or other factors.

Regulators tend to shut down banks with low capital, and last month alone, data analysis firm Trepp reported a rise in bank failures. That said, the rate of failures has gone down in the last few years. Last year 51 banks failed. By April for this year, 10 banks had failed. However, 651 institutions are still on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp’s list of problem banks.

Over just the course of a quarter following exams and credit writedowns, there have been banks that have gone from appearing well capitalized to seized. This was especially true 2009 and 2010 when certain bankers were reluctant to admit that credit quality had gone down until regulators forced them to lower the value of their portfolios.

During times when there aren’t many banks with capital ratios at levels that are critically low, the risk of failures become less likely. Granted, this might pose a for healthy banks wanting to buy inexpensive franchises, but also it makes it easier for them to buy a bank that, although beleaguered, is also somewhat stable and may be able to enhance their business.

Our securities fraud lawyers recover the lost funds of individual and institutional investors. Your initial case evaluation with us is free. Contact Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas, LTD LLP today.

Bucket of Likely Bank Failures Nearly Empty, American Banker, May 10, 2013

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.


More Blog Posts:
Previous Dissent by Arbitrator is Not Reason to Vacate Award Morgan Keegan Was Ordered to Pay Investors, Says District Court, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, April 8, 2013

Standard & Poor’s Seeks Dismissal of DOJ Securities Fraud Lawsuit Over RMBS and CDO Ratings Issued During the Financial Crisis, Institutional Investor Securities Blog, May 9, 2013

Posted by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LTD LLP | | Email This Post

Posted In: Miscellaneous

May 15, 2013

FINRA Securities Activities: SRO Withdraws Proposal to Make Financial Firms Link to BrokerCheck, Gets Request from SIFMA to Modify ‘Inability to Pay’ Rule, and Says Broker-Dealers Can Give Investors PIP Data About ETPs

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SRO Says Brokerage Can Institutional Customers PIP Data About ETPs Under Certain Conditions
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority staff have determined that under certain conditions, broker-dealers are permitted to include pre-inception performance information in communications with institutional investors about exchange-traded products, also known as ETPs. Staffers said that FINRA Rule 2210, which governs institutional communications, allows for the use of this data in the way that a fund company is proposing. ALPA Distributors is proposing using the PIP information just in institutional communications, per FINRA Rule 2210 and subject to certain criteria.

However, in “applying the suitability standards” for recommendations to institutional customers,” the SRO said brokerage firms should be cautious about putting too much “weight” on PIP information, while taking into consideration the correlation between performance of other, similar ETPs managed by the investment adviser, sponsor, or index provider and the PIP data. The staff’s letter was in response to a letter written by the fund company, which sees value in giving institutional investors the information for ETPs analysis.


FINRA Withdraws Proposed Rule Change Mandating That Firms Add BrokerCheck Web Link
FINRA has temporarily withdrawn its proposed rule change to Rule 2267 that would have upped investor use of information from BrokerCheck and mandated that member firms include a link and reference to the free online database on their respective websites. This resource, found on the SRO’s website, provides information about brokerage firms, brokers, investment adviser firms, and investment advisers. FINRA said it took back the filing to have more time to look at the comments it received regarding proposed rule change but that it intends to refile.

Although North American Securities Administrators Association, the Public Investor Arbitration Bar Association, and certain lawyers commented with their support of the proposal, the Investment Company Institute, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, and a number of financial firms found the proposal “vague” and “unworkable.” They believe that the proposed rule change should be modified.

SIFMA Wants ‘Inability-to-Pay’ Rule Modified
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association wants FINRA to amend its Rule 9554 so that respondents would be precluded from making an “inability-to-pay defense” against a claimant. SIFMA says that should a respondent successfully bring up the defense, this should be reported to the public for the good of retail customers, regulators, and prospective employees.

Brokerage firms/a financial adviser can invoke the “inability to pay” defense when they are told to pay an arbitration award in expedited proceedings involving industry and customer claimants. While the SEC did approve FINRA’s proposal to preclude a respondent from raising this defense against a customer claimant., now SIFMA wants FINRA to amend the rule so respondents also are barred from raising this defense against industry claimants.

At Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas, LTD LLP, our securities fraud lawyers represent investors with claims against financial advisers and brokerage firms.

Read the FUND company letter

BrokerCheck, FINRA

SIFMA's letter (PDF)


More Blog Posts:
Medical Capital Fraud Lawsuit Against Wells Fargo Must Proceed, Institutional Investor Securities Blog, April 10, 2013

Previous Dissent by Arbitrator is Not Reason to Vacate Award Morgan Keegan Was Ordered to Pay Investors, Says District Court, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, April 8, 2013

Goldman Sachs Execution and Clearing Must Pay $20.5M Arbitration Award in Bayou Ponzi Scam, Upholds 2nd Circuit, Institutional Investor Securities Blog, July 14, 2012
 

Posted by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LTD LLP | | Email This Post

Posted In: Arbitration , Exchange Traded Funds , FINRA

May 14, 2013

Two Men Sentenced in Texas Securities Case Involving $30 Million Promissory Note Fraud that Bilked Investors Via Ponzi Scam

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In Harris County state District Court, two men have received prison terms of a decade each for running a Texas Ponzi scam that involved life insurance policy death benefits. Gregory F. Jablonski and Howard Glen Judah are accused of orchestrating a nearly $30M scam involving their National Life Settlements LLC, which sold securities that weren’t registered and which they falsely claimed were benefits-backed. Both of them pleaded guilty to selling an unregistered security and securities fraud.

Investors with National Life Settlements were paid using the money of new investors. The company made false promises, causing customers that they would get an 8-10% yearly return through the promissory notes. Active and retired state employees were among those targeted, and millions of dollars were taken from retirement plans and invested through the firm.

The National Life Settlements used insurance agents, many of whom did not have securities dealer licenses, as it sellers. The agents would go on to make $4M commissions.

The state says that Judah and Jablonski did not get the life insurance policies they needed so they could investors. They two of them also falsely told investors that the Federal Reserve had given their firm billions of dollars. After an undercover probe led to the placing of National Life Settlements into receivership, investors got 69% of their money back.

Texas Securities Fraud
Our Houston securities lawyers represent investors that have been the victims of Texas financial fraud. Contact Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas, LTD LLP today. Your no obligation, initial case assessment is free.

PROMOTERS OF DEATH BENEFITS FRAUD SENTENCED TO 10 YEARS IN PRISON, Texas State Securities Board, February 20, 2013


More Blog Posts:
Texas Securities Criminal Case Against Oil and Gas Company Executive Can Proceed, Rules Fifth Circuit, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, February 6, 2013

Investor Files Securities Case Against Fidelity Over Float Income Investments Involving 401(K)s, Institutional Investor Securities Blog, May 6, 2013

Posted by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LTD LLP | | Email This Post

Posted In: Life Settlements , Ponzi Scams , Texas Securities Fraud

May 11, 2013

Wells Fargo Settles Securities Lawsuit Over Medical Capital Holdings Ponzi Scam for $105M

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Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) has consented to pay $105M to investors of the now failed Medical Capital Holdings Inc. The bank had served as trustee for Medical Capital securities.

The medical receivables financing company got about $2.2 billion from thousands of investors between 2001 and 2009 via the private placement offerings that were promissory notes. The private placement was a high commission financial instrument that promised annual returns of 8.5% to 10.5%. Per court filings, investors paid Medical Capital nearly $325 million in administrative fees. Dozens of independent brokerage firms sold the notes.

It was in 2009 that the SEC accused affiliates of Medical Capital of committing securities fraud against investors. The financial scam was quickly shut down and the company soon entered receivership but investors got back just half their money. Many of them would go on to file a securities lawsuit against trustees Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK) and Wells Fargo accusing the financial firms of failing to fulfill their role as trustees by neglecting to detect the fraud. Meantime, many of the brokerage firms that sold the MedCap notes are no longer in business because they sank from the securities arbitration payments and legal costs that followed as a result.

Even as Wells Fargo is settling this MedCapital securities case, the bank maintains that it did nothing wrong and that the one to blame is Medical Capital. This settlement comes a few months after Bank of New York Mellon resolved similar claims against it for $114M.

In that class action securities case, investors are sharing a $90.68M payment, with $13.6M going to legal fees and another $1.8M to expenses. Bank of New York Mellon also denied any wrongdoing.

Wells Fargo Settles Medical Capital Investor Suit for $105 Million, Wall Street Journal, April 30, 2013

Wells Fargo agrees to pay $105M to end MedCap suit, Investment News, May 1, 2013

Bank of NY Mellon to pay $114 million in Medical Capital accord, Reuters, February 22, 2013


More Blog Posts:
Medical Capital Fraud Lawsuit Against Wells Fargo Must Proceed, Institutional Investor Securities Blog, April 10, 2013

FINRA Bars Former Wells Fargo Advisors Broker that Bilked Child with Cerebral Palsy, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, April 26, 2012

Posted by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LTD LLP | | Email This Post

Posted In: Financial Firms , Private Placements , Wells Fargo

Tags: MedCapital, Medical Capital

May 10, 2013

$500M MBS Settlement Reached Between Countrywide and Investors

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Class action securities plaintiffs, led by the Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System, have settled their mortgage-backed securities lawsuit against Countrywide for $500 million. This is the largest federal class action MBS securities case in the US that has been resolved to date, even exceeding the $315 million settlement reached with Bank of America’s (BAC) Merrill Lynch (MER) last year.

Per the investors, Countryside, which was acquired by BofA, sold them billions of dollars in MBS certificates that were backed by defective loans. Toward the end of 2008, nearly all of the certificates were relegated to junk bond status.

The plaintiffs allege that offering documents for the mortgage-backed bonds failed to disclose that Countrywide was ignoring its own guidelines regarding home loan originating. In their consolidated class action securities case, investors sought over $351 billion of the Countrywide MBS that had been downgraded after the subprime collapse in 2007. (A district judge would go on to narrow the mortgage-backed securities lawsuit to $2.6 billion in bonds and Bank of America was dismissed as a defendant.)

According to Bank of America, this securities settlement resolves approximately 80% of the principal balance of RMBS that were issued by Countrywide and has not yet been paid. However, now there is news that American International Group can go ahead and file its RMBS lawsuit against Countywide. A judge said that the insurer could pursue claims accusing the latter of making false representations in offering documents that it had abided by underwriting guidelines. It was just earlier this week that Bank of America settled with bond insurance company MBIA Inc. over Countrywide for $1.6 billion.

BofA’s Countrywide Agrees to $500 Million MBS Settlement, Bloomberg, April 17, 2013

AIG may pursue fraud case versus BofA over Countrywide, Chicago Tribune, May 7, 2013

Merrill Lynch $315 Million Settlement Approved by U.S. Judge, Bloomberg, May 8, 2012


More Blog Posts:
Bank of America and Countrywide Financial Sued by Allstate over $700M in Bad Mortgaged-Backed Securities, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, December 29, 2010

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. Must Contend with Pension Fund Claims Over Countrywide Mortgage-Backed Securities, Institutional Investor Securities Blog, April 10, 2012

Posted by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LTD LLP | | Email This Post

Posted In: Bank of America , Countrywide Financial , Financial Firms

May 9, 2013

Merrill Lynch Settles New Jersey Securities Fraud Lawsuit over State’s Stock Purchase for $45 Million

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Bank of America Corp's (BAC) Merrill Lynch & Co. (MER) will pay the state of New Jersey $45 million to settle securities charges that it committed misconduct related to a stock purchase that the latter made in 2008. The investment bank is accused of breaching a contract provision that determined how the state was to exchange Merrill Lynch preferred stock for common stock.

New Jersey’s Division of Investments had purchased $300 million in preferred Merrill Lynch stock (Merrill Series 1 9% Mandatory Convertible Preferred Shares) in 2008. In 2009, the state’s attorney general at that time filed a NJ securities case against the financial firm contending that it had given “better terms” to at least another investor over the conversion of shares and issued misleading information about its financial state. By settling, Merrill Lynch is not denying or admitting to committing any wrongdoing.

If you think you may have been the victim of securities fraud, contact our Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas, LTD, LLP right right away. SSEK represents both individuals and institutions with arbitration claims and lawsuits against financial firms, brokers, investment advisers, and others.

Division of Investment, New Jersey

Attorney General Chiesa: Merrill Lynch Will Pay $45 Million to Resolve State Lawsuit Over Pension Fund Investment Losses, NJ.gov, April 19, 2013

Merrill Lynch to pay N.J. $45 million over pension fund losses, New Jersey.com, April 19, 2013


More Blog Posts:
Former Merrill Lynch, Oppenheimer, Deutsche Bank Broker is Ordered by FINRA To Pay Investor $11M Over Alleged Securities Fraud, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, April 19, 2013

2nd Circuit Affirms Dismissal of $18.5M Auction-Rate Securities Lawsuit Against Merrill Lynch Filed by Anschutz Corp., Institutional Investor Securities Blog, August 23, 2012

Posted by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LTD LLP | | Email This Post

Posted In: Financial Firms , Merrill Lynch

May 8, 2013

Gemstar Capital Group Owner Sued for Texas Securities Fraud in $40 Ponzi Scam He Ran with Ex-Dallas Cowboy Football Player Gets 10-Year Prison Sentence

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Gemstar Capital Group owner Jeffrey J. Sykes has been handed a 10-year federal prison sentence for the $40 million Ponzi scam he ran with ex-Dallas Cowboy Michael Kiselak. Although the former NFL player has not been criminal charged, he was found liable for more than $20 million in 2009 over his involvement in the Texas securities fraud portion of the scheme. Now, the federal government is confirming that Kiselak defrauded investors of at least $24 million dollars in the financial scam run by Sykes.

In 2007, Sykes and Kiselak set up Kiselak Capital Group to pursue investors. According to the US Attorney’s Office, Kiselak used information given to him by Sykes to get investors to put in over $20 million. The ex-pro football player took out fees for himself and then gave the money to Sykes even though both Gemstar and Kiselak didn’t engage in Treasury note trading, which is what they told investors they were doing.

Instead, contend prosecutors, the two men used some of the funds for personal spending and in ventures that investors didn’t know about. While some of the funds did go back to investors, in certain instances, Sykes made false claims that the money was profit from T-Bill trading programs or their capital returned.

In the SEC’s securities fraud case against Kiselak, Sykes, and Gemstar, the regulator claimed that Kiselak promised 2.25% monthly returns to investors, falsified documents, dumped 95% of their funds in Gemstar, and failed to disclose that a 35% performance fee was levied on Gemstar profits.

Since Sykes put most of investors’ money in money market accounts, the latter were able to get back some of the funds, which they invested between 2007 and 2009. However, they lost approximately $12.9 million.

"Our firm has represented a number of high-profile athletes with securities fraud claims and we have also taken action against former athletes and the financial firms they represent,” said Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas founder and Texas securities fraud attorney William Shepherd. “I have been asked whether an unusually high number of former athletes become involved in such scandals. It is true that when an athlete's career ends their income can fall precipitously. It is also true that many enter sales, including securities sales because of their ability to reach high net worth clients. But I do not believe former athletes are more likely than others to commit harmful acts. I do believe that when they become involved in problem situations these are far more heavily publicized."

Owner of California private equity company pleads guilty in more than $40 million Ponzi scheme involving Texas investors, Dallas News, January 11, 2013

Securities Fraudster Gets 10 Years in Prison, Courthouse News, May 6, 2013


More Blog Posts:
Texas Senator’s Bill Would Make Plaintiffs’ Attorneys in Private Securities Cases Disclose Possible Conflicts Of Interest That Might Have Affected Client Retention, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, April 5, 2013

Texas Securities Criminal Case Against Oil and Gas Company Executive Can Proceed, Rules Fifth Circuit, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, February 6, 2013

Investor Files Securities Case Against Fidelity Over Float Income Investments Involving 401(K)s, Institutional Investor Securities Blog, May 6, 2013

Continue reading "Gemstar Capital Group Owner Sued for Texas Securities Fraud in $40 Ponzi Scam He Ran with Ex-Dallas Cowboy Football Player Gets 10-Year Prison Sentence" »

Posted by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas LTD LLP | | Email This Post

Posted In: Texas Securities Fraud

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