Author Archives: FLSecurities
FINRA Increases Arbitrator Scrutiny After One Indicted
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) will increase its review of arbitrators’ backgrounds after one of its arbitrators continued to serve after he was indicted for practicing law without a license. Previously, FINRA only checked the backgrounds of potential applicants when they applied for inclusion on FINRA’s arbitrator roster. FINRA relied on arbitrators to… Read More »
Florida Updates LLC Laws to Attract New Business to the State
Florida’s Legislature has unanimously passed Senate Bill 1300 (the “Bill”) aimed at updating the state’s decades-old limited liability company (LLC) laws. The Bill will first take effect on January 1, 2014. Florida’s LLC laws date back to 1982, when the state was the second in the nation, after Wyoming, to pass such laws. Since… Read More »
SEC charges the City of Victorville, CA and Others with Defrauding Municipal Bond Investors
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged the City of Victorville in California, City Manager Keith Metzler, the Southern California Logistics Airport Authority, and Kinsell, Newcomb & DeDios (KND) – the Airport Authority’s bond underwriter – with defrauding bond investors by falsely inflating the value of property tied to a municipal bond offering…. Read More »
Stanford Ponzi Scheme Receiver and Liquidators agree to distribute $300 Million to Defrauded Investors
Attorney Ralph Janvey, the U.S. receiver of Stanford Financial Group, and accountants Marcus Wide and Hugh Dickinson, international liquidators of Stanford International Bank Ltd. (the “Bank”), have agreed to distribute up to $300 million of the Bank’s assets that have been frozen since regulators uncovered Stanford’s decade-long Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of more… Read More »
FINRA Hits LPL With $7.5 Million Fine in E-mail Failure Case
LPL Financial LLC has signed a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (“AWC”) to resolve allegations by FINRA that it made material misrepresentations to the regulator during its investigation of significant and repeated e-mail failures by the firm. According to the AWC, between 2007 and 2013, LPL suffered 35 separate, significant failures in its… Read More »
FINRA Caves-in on BrokerCheck Proposal
In a less than shocking move, FINRA has scrapped its proposed rule regarding BrokerCheck access after receiving pushback from the securities industry. The proposed rule mandated that brokerage firms include a direct link to its stockbrokers’ and firm’s specific BrokerCheck reports – rather than the BrokerCheck homepage – on its website and social media… Read More »
Victims of Investment Scheme to Receive Return of Principal
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced that the victims of a fraudulent security offering targeting non-U.S. investors will receive the return of their principal investment. In February, the SEC requested and obtained a court order freezing $147 million of investors’ funds being held in escrow by Anshoo R. Sethi and two of his… Read More »
Office Depot Shareholder Seeking to Replace Board Members
New York investment firm, Starboard Value, Office Depot’s largest shareholder with approximately 15% of its stock, has sent a letter to Office Depot’s board that it intends to seek approval of its proposed board members directly from the shareholders. Starboard filed a preliminary consent solicitation letter with the Securities and Exchange Commission that would… Read More »
John Thomas Financial Charged with Fraud
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) has filed a complaint against New York-based John Thomas Financial (“JTF”) and its CEO Anastasios “Tommy” Belesis. FINRA alleges that JTF and Belesis committed fraud in connection with the sale of America West Resources, Inc. common stock. FINRA also alleges that JTF and Belesis intimidated registered representatives, failed… Read More »