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Transamerica To Pay $3.8M For Excessive Fees

Transamerica has agreed to settle an excessive-fee lawsuit with its employees who participated in its 401(k) plan for $3.8 million. The Plaintiffs in the case allege that Transamerica and its affiliates breached their fiduciary duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 for charging excessive administrative and investment management fees. Transamerica serves as record keeper and investment manager for its $1.6 billion 401(k) plan. It allegedly administered the plan "for the benefit of Aegon," the firm's parent company, and acquired excessive fees for itself through revenue sharing payments, stated the complaint filed in February of last year. Judge Edward McManus of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa, Cedar Rapids Division, granted preliminary approval of the settlement last week. The settlement also includes a number of non-monetary provisions. These include capping fees on a bond index mutual fund, S&P 500 fund and separate account investments; hiring a third-party investment consultant; and continuing [...]

By |June 29th, 2016|Press Releases & News|
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FINRA Panel Orders UBS To Pay For Bond Losses

A FINRA arbitration panel ordered UBS Group AG's wealth management business for the Americas to pay over $470,000 to three investors who claimed damages because their accounts were over-concentrated in Puerto Rico bonds that plummeted. The investors--Obdulio Melendez Ramos, Ramon Velez Garcia and Carlos L. Merced--filed the arbitration in 2014 and sought up to $570,243 in damages, alleging fraud and negligent supervision. "Although the arbitrators awarded less than the full damages the claimants requested, UBS is disappointed with the decision to award any damages, with which we respectfully disagree," said Gregg Rosenberg, a spokesman for UBS. "The decision in this case was based on the facts and circumstances particular to these particular claimants, and is not indicative of how other panels may rule with regard to other customers who invested in similar products," he said. Damages related to Puerto Rico's distressed debt were among the litigation matters outlined in the Swiss bank's financial supplement for its fourth-quarter earnings results. The supplement [...]

By |March 25th, 2016|FINRA, Fraud, Press Releases & News|
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NJ Financial Advisor Pleads Guilty To Fraud

An ex-JPMorgan Chase financial advisor from Livingston, New Jersey pleaded guilty to embezzlement and securities fraud in connection to a $22 million investment fraud that lasted seven years. Prosecutors have called the scheme an elaborate "game of hide and seek." Michael Oppenheim confessed that he lied to his customers by telling them he would invest their money in low-risk municipal bonds. He also sent them false account statements that supposedly reflected those investments and the profits earned. Oppenheim however put the money into his own high-risk investments that performed poorly. Oppenheim managed $89 million for about 500 clients. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara from Manhattan's Southern District stated that Oppenheim used his customers' cash to acquire cashier's checks and then deposited the cashier's checks in at minimum three online brokerage accounts he controlled at financial institutions other than JPMorgan Chase. He used the funds to trade in accounts he controlled as well as to pay for personal expenses, [...]

By |March 18th, 2016|Fraud, Press Releases & News, SEC|
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Frankowski Firm Investigating Morgan Stanley Broker

The Frankowski Firm is investigating claims pertaining to Angel E. Aquino-Velez of Miami, Florida, who has been registered with Morgan Stanley since February 2010. Aquino has also been registered with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico (September 2006-September 2009) and UBS Financial Services, Inc. in Manati, Puerto Rico (May 2000-September 2006). The Morgan Stanley broker has been the target of a number of customer complaints pertaining to closed-end funds and Puerto Rico municipal bonds. According to FINRA's BrokerCheck, Aquino has been the target of the following complaints: November 2015: A customer alleged unsuitable investments, overconcentration, and misrepresentations concerning closed-end funds. November 2015: A customer alleged, among other things, unsuitability and misrepresentation with respect to purchases of municipal bonds in accounts from 2012 to 2015. July 2015: A customer alleged, among other things, unsuitability with respect to the recommendation and overconcentration of municipal bonds in trust accounts from 2012 to 2014. April 2014: A customer alleged, among other [...]

By |March 16th, 2016|Broker Check, FINRA, Press Releases & News|
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