Posts belonging to Category Investigations



CYNK Latest Wall Street Trap?

 

Cynk is a social network company that has no revenue, no assets, and no profits. Until last week, it was the hottest stock on Wall Street, according to a Business Insider report by Hunter Walker and Julia La Roche (July 14, 2014).  Its stock rose to $21 per share on July 10th, which gave the […]

SEC Charges Former LPL Advisor With Fraud

 

On May 23, 2013, the SEC charged a former LPL Financial LLC advisor, Blake Richards, with fraud and misappropriating $2 million from at least six clients.  The SEC filed the civil complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. According to an article by Bruce Kelly in Investment News, “when investors […]

Front-End Bonus Payments May Need To Be Disclosed

 

If your broker or financial adviser told you he was moving to another brokerage firm and asked you to move your account there, would you want to know if he was being paid thousands or millions of dollars to make the move?  The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) thinks so, and is proposing a new […]

Alternative Investments – Big Problems

 

According to financial advisers, do not be fooled by the recent market in stocks into believing that we are in for a continuing period of sustained low volatility.  Those advisers want you to expect lots of volatility and market corrections and to invest accordingly. In light of the foregoing, investors should adopt alternative investment strategies […]

More Risks Ahead for Muni Investors

 

Stockton, California, the most recent U.S. city to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection, has presented serious issues about whether municipal bondholders will be forced to take a “haircut” while Stockton pensioners do not. With 300,000 residents, Stockton is the largest U.S. city in history to file bankruptcy.  Stockton has total outstanding debt of over […]

Alternative Investments – Are They All They Are Cracked Up To Be?

 

Rising interest rates may be death to traditional bonds and bond funds, but a number of alternative investment strategies allegedly designed to protect principal in a rising interest rate environment are springing up to take their place.  It remains to be seen whether they will provide ballast when bond prices fall. For decades, bond investors […]

CDOs Haunt UBS

 

Swiss banking giant UBS AG is reported to be engaged in settlement discussions with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regarding its structuring and underwriting of an allegedly fraudulent mortgage bond deal.  The SEC has alleged that UBS defrauded clients that invested over $748 million in notes linked to a CDO known as ACA ABS […]

Hedge Fund Scams Harm Investors

 

Anastasios “Tommy” Belesis, owner of John Thomas Financial, a brokerage firm, and George R. Jarkesy Jr., a hedge fund manager, worked together to defraud investors in the John Thomas Bridge and Opportunity Fund LP I and John Thomas Bridge and Opportunity Fund LP II, according to a recently filed SEC complaint.  The funds reportedly invested […]

Be Careful When Considering Municipal Bonds

 

A recent Wall Street Journal column advises money managers not to put more client money in municipal bonds. The column sets forth a number of risks and problems that it urged money managers to consider before placing clients’ money in these investments. First, municipal bonds’ tax-exempt status may be in political jeopardy (“Morning Call: Advisers […]

Illinois Settles SEC Fraud Charges

 

The SEC has charged the State of Illinois with securities fraud for misleading municipal bond investors between 2005 and early 2009.  According to the SEC, Illinois failed to disclose the impact of structural underfunding of its pension system in connection with the offer and sale of more than $2.2 billion worth of municipal bonds.  The […]