UBS Settles Hedge Fund Suit
UBS AG avoided going to trial today by mere hours by agreeing to settle a lawsuit in which it was alleged to have peddled “crap” and “vomit” securities during the financial crisis of 2007. Connecticut hedge fund Pursuit Partners claimed that UBS sold it asset-backed securities and failed to disclose that they were about to […]
GE Sues AIG For Securities Fraud, Rejects $960M Settlement
General Electric Inc.’s pension and investment funds lawsuit with American International Group Inc. is going to federal court in New York, resurrecting claims from a class action suit settled last year that AIG made misrepresentations to investors regarding the exposure of billions worth of mortgage-backed transactions, despite the housing market crashing. Between 2006 and 2009, […]
Georgia, Utah Men Sentenced In Ponzi Scheme Case
The Frankowski Firm is investigating a two-man Ponzi scheme that victimized Utah investors. Martin A. Pool of Atlanta, Georgia and Armand R. Franquelin of Liberty, Utah pleaded guilty in May to fraud and money laundering charges. The two admitted that they had persuaded investors to convert traditional Individual Retirement Accounts into self-directed accounts and invest […]
Indiana Man Receives 22 Year Sentence For North Carolina Ponzi Scheme
Thomas Kimmel, who federal prosecutors have accused of operating a Washington, North Carolina Ponzi scheme aimed at rural church goers, was sentenced in federal court this week to 264 months in prison. After serving that sentence he will serve three years of supervised release. Further, he has been ordered to pay over $16.5 million in […]
Three Sentenced For Church-Targeting Ponzi Scheme
The Frankowski Firm is currently investigating a Ponzi scheme aimed at church-goers. Two people from North Carolina and one from Florida were sentenced earlier this month for what federal authorities have called a church-targeting Ponzi scheme. All three individuals had previously testified against Thomas Kimmel from Indiana who was the alleged mastermind of the operation. […]
The Fiduciary Duty Rule: From Progress To Impasse
In July 2010, President Barack Obama signed into federal law the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which provided the SEC with the power to create a rule that would mandate all financial advisers act in the best interest of their clients. This rule is called the fiduciary-duty standard of care, which as […]
SEC Orders Exchanges, FINRA To Develop “Tick Size” Pilot Plan
Last week, the SEC issued an order requiring particular national security exchanges and FINRA to jointly develop and file with the SEC a national market system plan to install a 12-month pilot program directed at expanding minimum quoting and trading increments (i.e., tick sizes) for particular small capitalization stocks. The pilot program will target stocks […]
Ocean Springs, Mississippi And Pensacola, Florida Men Sentenced In Montgomery County, Alabama For Violating Alabama Securities Act
Martin Franklin Blane of Ocean Springs, Mississippi and Robert Neil Robinson of Pensacola, Florida were sentenced by Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Eugene Reese to five years in prison, suspended, with three years supervised probation for violating the Alabama Securities Act. Additionally, the Court ordered Blane to pay $81,000 restitution and Robinson to pay $185,520 […]
U.S. Supreme Court Limits Shareholder Class-Action Suits
The U.S. Supreme Court gave Halliburton Co. a partial victory recently, putting further restrictions on class-actions lawsuits by shareholders just shy of eradicating such suits altogether. Halliburton tried to overturn twenty-six year old precedent and end class-action fraud suits over securities brought on public exchanges. A divided court declined to do so, and Chief Justice […]
Retirees Suffer As Rollover Boom Enriches Brokers
Thirty-seven former clients have filed complaints against Kathleen Tarr, a broker who worked for Royal Alliance Associates, after encouraging hundreds of departing AT&T employees to roll over their retirement money into the type of risky high-commission investments that FINRA warns about. These complaints, together with similar complaints against other brokers, underscore a massive rollover boom […]
