Industry observers expect FINRA may soon begin requiring that highly-paid brokers who are lured from one financial services firm to a competitor must disclose any “enhanced compensation” that sweetened the employment offer. The Wall Street Journal reported on the expected move recently in an article titled “Brokers Face Pay Disclosures.” FINRA closed comments in March […]
Three South Florida mortgage loan officers and a Pittsburgh title agent are subject to an indefinite debarment by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) following their criminal convictions on charges they defrauded elderly borrowers, mortgage lenders and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Marcos Echevarria, Louis Gendason, John Incandela and Kimberly Mackey pled […]
Lawsuits targeting custodians of self-directed IRAs made the news this week, in a Wall Street Journal article titled “New Suits Over Do-It-Yourself IRAs.” A self-directed individual retirement account (SIDRA) is an IRA held by a trustee or custodian that permits investment in a broader set of assets than is permitted by most IRA custodians. SIDRA […]
The FINRA Board of Governors authorized FINRA to file with the SEC proposed amendments to FINRA Rule 12403 to simplify the panel selection rules. Rather than requiring the customer to elect a panel selection method, parties in all customer cases with three arbitrators would have the same selection method. Under this method, all parties would see […]
William J. Reilly, a New York attorney residing in Boca Raton, Florida, is suspended from practicing as an attorney before the Securities and Exchange. Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida entered a judgment on April 16, 2012, enforcing an order entered by the Securities and Exchange […]
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged an online brokerage and clearing agency specializing in options and futures as well as four officials at the firm and a customer involved in an abusive naked short selling scheme. The SEC’s Division of Enforcement alleges that Chicago-based optionsXpress Inc. failed to satisfy its close-out obligations under Regulation […]
Goldman agreed to pay a $22 million penalty and consent to a censure, a cease-and-desist order, and undertakings to settle SEC charges that the firm lacked adequate policies and procedures to address risks associated with weekly “huddles.” Huddles were a practice where Goldman’s stock research analysts met to provide their best trading ideas–frequently material, nonpublic […]
A check for $1,000 may not do much to offset the financial distress associated with a mortgage foreclosure, but that is the most many victims can expect under a recent government program intended to provide compensation for mortgage errors. The payments will range from $300 to $125,000. Military veterans who incorrectly had their home foreclosed on […]
Gaston E. Cantens was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release for conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. §371 involving a $135 million securities offering fraud and Ponzi scheme targeting Cuban-American investors primarily from South Florida. Cantens, who is now 73, served as president […]
A New York State appellate court, in a surprise move, recently rejected a prenuptial agreement. While the family and divorce laws vary from state to state, prenuptial agreements tend to be respected and upheld in most court proceedings when they are properly prepared and executed. A recent Wall Street Journal article on the topic titled […]
