Posts belonging to Category SEC Whistleblowers
Posted by J. Boyd PageonMarch 7, 2013
Financial service industry whistleblower claims have become a hot item. Ironically, it is even reported that a crowd funding website is being used by an individual who hopes to raise money from people interested in investing in a portfolio of financial whistleblower claims. Of course, crowd funding is one of the newest and most controversial […]
Categories: Brokerage Firms, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Financial Industry Whistleblowers, Investment Advisers, Investment Malpractice, Regulatory Developments, SEC Whistleblowers, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation
Posted by Page PerryonJanuary 3, 2013
Securities firms and their general counsel are openly worried about the SEC’s whistleblower program. They fought tooth and nail to stop the program, arguing that whistleblowers would bypass the companies’ internal channels and take information straight to the SEC. However, the program is in place and the first award was granted in August, with the […]
Categories: Brokerage Firms, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Financial Industry Whistleblowers, Investigations, Investment Advisers, Investment Malpractice, Investor Alerts, Regulatory Developments, SEC Whistleblowers, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation
Posted by Page PerryonNovember 27, 2012
Bank of New York Mellon and the state of Virginia have agreed to resolve their dispute over BNY Mellon’s allegedly overcharging Virginia’s employee pension fund on currency transactions by means of hidden markups. The settlement calls for a $1.1 million payment to a whistleblower group (“Whistleblower to Get Big Payment in Bank of New York-Virginia […]
Categories: Brokerage Firms, Financial Industry Whistleblowers, Investment Advisers, Regulatory Developments, SEC Whistleblowers
Posted by Page PerryonNovember 23, 2012
MassMutual failed to disclose risks associated with certain Guaranteed Minimum Income Benefit riders (specifically its GMIB 5 and GMIB 6 riders) and must now pay $1.65 million to settle SEC charges that it misled variable annuity investors.
Categories: Brokerage Firms, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Insurance Products, Investment Advisers, Investment Malpractice, Investor Alerts, Misrepresentation/Omission, SEC Whistleblowers, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation, Variable Annuities and Equity-Indexed Annuities
Posted by Page PerryonNovember 21, 2012
William D. Cohan, who worked on Wall Street as a senior mergers and acquisitions banker for 15 years, has a theory on why no Wall senior executives have been sued by regulators or prosecuted for their roles in the waves of fraud and malfeasance we have witnessed in the last decade. The senior executives blame […]
Categories: Brokerage Firms, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Financial Industry Whistleblowers, Investment Advisers, Investor Alerts, Regulatory Developments, SEC Whistleblowers, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation
Posted by Page PerryonOctober 26, 2012
Even senior Wall Street bank employees are finding the new whistleblower laws beneficial. Wall Street banks fought tooth and against the Dodd-Frank whistleblower protections. The big banks claimed that protecting employees who report violations to outsiders would compromise their own supposedly robust internal reporting and compliance programs. But critics responded that Wall Street banks simply […]
Categories: Brokerage Firms, Employment Issues, Financial Industry Whistleblowers, Investment Advisers, SEC Whistleblowers, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation
Posted by Page PerryonSeptember 13, 2012
Corporations that retaliate against whistleblowers are learning tough lessons. The Ethics Resource Center recently released an analysis of corporate whistleblowers and retaliation against them. The analysis had a disturbing finding ? complaints of retaliation against whistleblowers are rising. The chief complaints involve denied promotions and raises, and transfers to unpleasant assignments. On the other hand, […]
Categories: Brokerage Firms, Financial Industry Whistleblowers, Investigations, Investment Advisers, SEC Whistleblowers
Posted by Page PerryonSeptember 12, 2012
The IRS has awarded $104 million to former UBS AG banker Bradley Birkenfeld for providing it with inside information about UBS’s illegal encouragement of secret offshore accounts by U.S. taxpayers. The IRS issued a statement confirming the award because Mr. Birkenfeld signed a disclosure waiver. It is the largest IRS whistleblower award ever, according to […]
Categories: Brokerage Firms, Financial Industry Whistleblowers, Investigations, Investment Advisers, Regulatory Developments, SEC Whistleblowers, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation, UBS
Posted by Page PerryonAugust 24, 2012
The first whistleblower award in the amount of $50,000 was paid by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to a person who helped shut down an investment fraud. The SEC action resulted in more than $1 million in sanctions, of which $150,000 has so far been collected. Furthermore, the award could increase if more money […]
Categories: Brokerage Firms, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Financial Industry Whistleblowers, Investment Advisers, Investment Malpractice, Regulatory Developments, SEC Whistleblowers, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation
Posted by Page PerryonAugust 6, 2012
A former UBS research analyst has filed a lawsuit filed against the bank alleging that he was fired for refusing to write inaccurate research reports to benefit (or avoid harming) UBS’s trading positions in the commercial mortgage-backed securities market. The analyst reportedly seeks reinstatement with 2.5 times accrued back pay. (“Former UBS Research Analyst Sues […]
Categories: Alternative Investments, Brokerage Firms, Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities, Common Securities Broker Abuses, Employment Issues, Fairness/Just & Equitable Conduct, Financial Industry Whistleblowers, Investigations, Investment Advisers, Investment Malpractice, Investor Alerts, Misrepresentation/Omission, Mortgage Backed Securities, SEC Whistleblowers, Securities, Securities/Commodities Arbitration, Securities/Commodities Litigation, UBS