Posts tagged ‘Massachusetts securities attorney’
BTS Asset Management fined by SEC
On October 29, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued an Order Instituting Administrative and Cease-and-Desist Proceedings Pursuant to Sections 203(e) and 203(k) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, Making Findings, and Imposing Remedial Sanctions and a Cease-and-Desist Order against BTS Asset Management, Inc. (BTS), a registered investment adviser headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts.
The Order finds that, from at least the 1990s to 2010, BTS Asset Management’s advertisements for its High Yield Bond Fund Program (“HYP”) claimed that the program had experienced no down years since 1981. The advertisements based this claim on the performance of a model that applied BTS Asset Management’s buy/sell signals to, at various times, a single high yield bond fund, a composite of six high yield bond funds, or a composite of five high yield bond funds.
In 2005, BTS became aware that, in contrast to the model performance reflected in the advertisements, approximately half of HYP’s clients would have experienced a down year in 2004 (with losses of up to 3.3%) based on the application of High Yield Bond Fund buy/sell signals to the funds known by BTS Asset Management to be held by the clients in the program. The fact that, on this basis, a significant percentage of High Yield Bond Fund program clients likely experienced investment results in 2004 that were materially different (i.e., they had a down year) from the claims made in the advertisements BTS disseminated from 2005 to 2010 rendered those advertisements misleading.
BTS consented to the issuance of the Commission order without admitting or denying any of the findings. The Order censures BTS Asset Management, requires the firm to cease and desist from committing or causing any violation and any future violation of Section 206(4) of the Advisers Act and Rule 206(4)-1(a)(5) thereunder, and requires BTS Asset Management to pay a penalty of $200,000.
The foregoing information, which is publicly available on the SEC’s website, is being provided by The White Law Group. The White Law Group is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, and investor protection law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida.
For more information on The White Law Group visit http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.
State Street Corp. fined over CDO Role
According to reports, the Massachusetts Secretary of State has fined a unit of State Street Corp. $5 million for its role in a mortgage-backed debt obligation.
State Street is a Boston-based financial services company registered with FINRA. According to Secretary of State’s office, State Street Global Advisors failed to disclose a hedge-fund’s involvement in a $1.56 billion collateralized debt obligation known as Carina CDO Ltd. State Street purportedly acted as the investment manager of Carina.
Apparently the Carina CDO consisted primarily of mortgage-backed securities and subsequently defaulted.
The settlement order censures State Street and requires it to pay a civil administrative penalty of about $1.4 million to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and to disgorge to the Commonwealth an additional $3.5 million.
Collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) are a type of structured asset-backed securities with multiple risk “tranches” that are issued by special purpose entities and collateralized by debt obligations including bonds and loans. With the real estate market collapse in 2008, many of these investments plummeted and investors lost billions.
If you have questions about a CDO investment you purchased, the securities attorneys of The White Law Group may be able to help. For a free consultation, please call the firm’s Chicago office at 312/238-9650.
The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida.
For more information on The White Law Group, visit http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.
Securities Regulatory Information Regarding MML Investors Services
The following is a brief breakdown of publicly available information regarding MML Investors Services and its securities sales practices and FINRA regulatory history.
MML Investors Services is a FINRA registered broker-dealer based in Springfield, Massachusetts. The firm is the broker-dealer arm of MassMutual.
Although MML Investors Services has a solid reputation in the securities industry, investors should know that the firm does have numerous reportable events on its FINRA Broker Report (or CRD).
According to the firm’s CRD, MML Investors Services has been named in at least 9 regulatory events related to possible securities fraud violations. The firm has been the subject of investigations conducted by FINRA, the State of Nevada Securities Division, the State of Vermont, and the Maryland Securities Commissioner (among others). These regulatory investigations involved the following investment products (among others): equities, mutual funds, and variable annuities.
The foregoing is but a brief summary of the firm’s FINRA Broker Report. To access MML Investors Services’ full CRD, you can visit http://brokercheck.finra.org.
If you have any questions about investments you made with MML Investors Services, or if you believe that you have been the victim of a securities fraud, The White Law Group may be able to help. To contact the firm, please call 312/238-9650 or 561/807-6804.
The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida.
For more information on The White Law Group, please visit http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.
Securities Regulatory Information Regarding Commonwealth Financial Network
The following is a brief breakdown of publicly available information regarding Commonwealth Financial and its securities sales practices and FINRA regulatory history.
Commonwealth Financial is a FINRA registered broker-dealer based in Waltham, Massachusetts. Although Commonwealth Financial has a solid reputation in the securities industry, investors should know that the firm does have numerous reportable events on its FINRA Broker Report (or CRD).
According to the firm’s CRD, Commonwealth Financial has been named in at least 15 regulatory events related to possible securities fraud violations. The firm has been the subject of investigations conducted by FINRA, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Maine Office of Securities, and Illinois Securities Department (among others). These regulatory investigations involved the following investment products (among others): options, unregistered securities, equities, and mutual funds.
The firm has also been named in over 10 FINRA arbitration claims filed by investors. These claims involved various investment types and causes of action.
The foregoing is but a brief summary of the firm’s FINRA Broker Report. To access Commonwealth Financial’s full CRD, you can visit http://brokercheck.finra.org.
If you have any questions about investments you made with Commonwealth Financial, or if you believe that you have been the victim of a securities fraud, The White Law Group may be able to help. To contact the firm, please call 312/238-9650 or 561/807-6804.
The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida.
For more information on The White Law Group, please visit http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.
Securities Regulatory Information Regarding LPL Financial
The following is a brief breakdown of publicly available information regarding LPL Financial and its securities sales practices and FINRA regulatory history.
LPL Financial is a FINRA registered broker-dealer based in Boston, Massachusetts. LPL’s website states that the firm provides an integrated platform of proprietary technology, brokerage, and investment advisory services to over 12,000 financial advisors as the nation’s largest independent broker/dealer.
Although LPL Financial has a fine reputation in the securities industry, investors should know that the firm does have numerous reportable events on its FINRA Broker Report (or CRD).
According to the firm’s CRD, LPL Financial has been named in at least 30 regulatory events related to possible securities fraud violations. The firm has been the subject of investigations conducted by FINRA, the State of Missouri, the Kentucky Division of Securities, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (among others).
The firm has also been named in over 35 FINRA arbitration claims filed by investors. These claims involved various investment types and causes of action.
The foregoing is but a brief summary of the firm’s FINRA Broker Report. To access LPL Financial’s full CRD, you can visit http://brokercheck.finra.org.
If you have any questions about investments you made with LPL Financial, or if you believe that you have been the victim of a securities fraud, The White Law Group may be able to help. To contact the firm, please call 312/238-9650.
The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Boca Raton, Florida.
For more information on The White Law Group, please visit http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.