October 21, 2007

HSBC Securities, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., UBS Securities LLC, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc., and Interactive Brokers LLC Among Firms Disciplined by NYSER

The New York Stock Exchange Regulation Inc. is disciplining nine companies and eight people for numerous violation. The firms disciplined include:

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith: Fined $100,000 for violating rule 123c about 480 times when it cancelled or submitted securities orders after the mandatory cutoff period.

Citigroup Global markets Inc: Find $300,000—half of this to be payed to NASDAQ; the other half to be paid to NYSE. The firm made inaccurate reports about short interest positions in securities that were listed on the NYSE.

Interactive Brokers LLC: Fined $250,000. The firm was fined for violations related to day-trading minimum balances.

HSBC Securities (USA) Inc.: Fined $500,000. Over a several year period, the firm recommended and sold CDs that were not appropriate for their targeted 1900 investors. The firm allegedly engaged in misrepresentations and withheld risks during these transactions.

UBS Securities LLC: Fined $150,000. The firm did not make disclosures in its published research reports about investment baking relationships and non-investment-banking connected compensation.

Eight individuals were also fined for numerous violations, including former securities specialist Freddie DeBoer, broker Stephen Mara, and Adam Lazarus.

DeBoer was fined $300,000 and was permanently barred because he intentionally defrauded customers involved in the sale or purchase of securities. Lazarus was barred for 30 months because of short term purchases sales that were “unauthorized and unsuitable” and involved four customer accounts. Mara was suspended for two weeks and censured because of his involvement in a “physical altercation” on the exchange floor

A number of other people were permanently barred because they failed to reveal that they had criminal records and for recordkeeping violations.

NYSE Regulation can discipline brokerage firms and brokers for broker misconduct. However, you if you want to recover any investments you may have lost because of the illegal actions of any member of the securities industry, your best bet is to retain the services of an experienced stockbroker fraud attorney. Over the years, Shepherd Smith and Edwards has recovered the losses of thousands of investors throughout the United States. Let us help you.

Contact Shepherd Smith and Edwards today and ask for your free consultation.


Related Web Resources:

NYSE Regulation

HSBC Securities

Merrill Lynch

Citigroup

Interactive Brokers

UBS Securities

October 15, 2007

Interactive Brokers LLC Sanctioned for Failing to Supervise Its Compliance Staff

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) ordered Interactive Brokers LLC (IBL) to relinquish $175,000 in commissions, for failing to properly supervise its compliance employees while handling a commodity futures trading account. The National Futures Association (NFA) recently fined IBL $125,000 regarding the same matter and for failing to maintain adequate books and records.

IBL is a discount direct access brokerage firm and registered futures commission merchant (FCM) headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut. According to the order, an account was maintained at IBL in the name of Kevin Steele, a Canadian who used the account to defraud more than 200 Canadian, German, and US citizens of over $8 million in a commodity pool fraud that was the subject of an earlier CFTC enforcement action.

The CFTC found that, from February 2003 through May 2005, IBL accepted 135 third-party deposits in the form of wire transfers and checks totaling $7.7 million into Steele’s personal account, but did not have procedures reasonably designed to detect the deposit of third-party funds in an individual trading account. The frequency and magnitude of deposits and withdrawals to Steele’s account, relative to his stated liquid net worth, and the pattern of deposits followed by withdrawals suggested that Steele might be operating as an unregistered commodity pool operator.

IBL compliance staff telephoned Steele on several occasions to inquire about the trading activity in his account. Yet, IBL’s compliance staff each time accepted Steele’s explanations as reasonable without conducting any additional or independent inquiries. The order states that IBL’s procedures for determining the source of funds received through wire transfers were inadequate to meet its supervisory responsibilities.

The ability to determine if funds in customer accounts are coming from someone other than the account holder is a necessary part of an FCM's supervisory system. If an FCM fails to monitor the source of funds being deposited into customer accounts at the time such funds are received, its ability to detect illegal activity such as pool fraud or money laundering is impaired.

Shepherd Smith and Edwards represents investors nationwide in claims against financial firms. We have represented investors in more than 1,000 cases. To learn whether we may be able to assist you with a claim contact us to arrange a free consultation with one of our attorneys.

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