The White Law Group, LLC, a South Florida securities fraud, broker fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection and Chapter 7 bankruptcy law firm based in Boca Raton, Florida.

Posts tagged ‘NASD’

Wells Fargo to settle SEC claim involving CDO sales.

According to the Investment News, home loan giant Wells Fargo & Co. has agreed to pay $11.2 million to settle federal securities charges involving mortgage-based investments that Wachovia Capital Markets LLC sold to the Zuni American Indian tribe and other investors.

According to a complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Wachovia sold the tribe and an individual investor collateralized debt obligations that were tied to the health of residential mortgage-backed securities. The SEC alleged that Wachovia sold the tribe the CDOs at prices that were 70% higher than its own estimate of the mark-to-market value of the securities.

The commission also claimed that Wachovia did not inform investors in another CDO that it had transferred 40 residential mortgage-backed securities from an affiliate at above-market prices to avoid losses on its own books, the commission said.

Wells Fargo, which bought Wachovia in 2008, agreed to pay restitution of $6.75 million and a $4.45 million penalty to settle the charges. Of the total, $7.4 million will be returned to investors who were harmed by the misconduct, the SEC said.

The firm settled the matter without admitting or denying the allegations.

If you have questions about a CMO or CDO investments you purchased through Wachovia Securities or Wells Fargo, the securities attorneys of The White Law Group may be able to help. For a free consultation, 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. With over 30 years of securities law experience, including experience working at FINRA (f/k/a the NASD) and the SEC, The White Law Group has the expertise to help investors and financial advisors in securities litigation matters. If you have questions about the way your investments have been handled, the securities attorneys of The White Law Group may be able to help.

For more information on The White Law Group, visit http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.

Recovery of Bradford Energy and Oil and Gas Investment Losses

Recovery of Waveland Oil and Gas Investment Losses

Have you suffered investment losses in a Waveland Oil and Gas Investment? The White Law Group may be able to help.

The White Law Group is investigating potential securities fraud claims on behalf of investors involving various broker-dealers’ recommendation that investors purchase risky oil and gas partnerships like Waveland Oil and Gas.

Before recommending an investment, a broker-dealer has a fiduciary duty to adequately disclose the risks involved in the investment and to perform the necessary due diligence to determine whether the investment is suitable for the investor.  It appears that many brokerage firms failed to perform the necessary due diligence with respect to oil and gas partnership investments like Waveland prior to recommending them to their clients.

To determine whether you may be able to recover investment losses incurred as a result of your purchase of a Waveland Oil and Gas partnership, please contact The White Law Group 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. With over 30 years of securities law experience, including experience working at FINRA (f/k/a the NASD) and the SEC, The White Law Group has the expertise to help investors defrauded in securities, investment and financial business transactions.

For more information on The White Law Group, please visit our website at http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.

Securities America Bailout?

According to the Investment News, Ameriprise Financial Inc. is taking preliminary steps to help its beleaguered independent broker-dealer subsidiary, Securities America Inc.

On Friday, Securities America’s chief financial officer, Kelly Windorski, testified in a federal court in Dallas that the firm could go bust if a federal judge did not approve a $21 million class action settlement. The judge rejected the settlement later in the day.

The class action is part of a welter of litigation that Securities America is facing after its brokers sold $400 million in private placements from 2003 to 2009 that are now in default. The firm has almost $9 million in excess net capital on hand.

It’s been widely debated in the industry whether Securities America’s corporate parent, Ameriprise, will step in and infuse the firm with cash. At the moment, the brokerage has dwindling resources, is spending $2 million a month on lawyers and could be in danger of violating its net-capital requirement if it suddenly loses a handful of arbitration claims investors have brought against the firm over soured private placements.

Securities America’s statement gave no specifics about how much money Ameriprise would be willing to contribute to the firm, but a Securities America spokeswoman said the parent company has reached out to the beleaguered firm.

“Ameriprise has reached out to us to determine whether it can help the parties find a reasonable resolution for all constituents,” wrote Janine Wertheim, a spokeswoman for the broker-dealer, which has about 1,800 reps and advisers. “We hope to develop a process in the coming days that would facilitate exploration of such a resolution and to have a good sense by the end of the week.”

“While Ameriprise Financial has no obligation to participate in Securities America’s settlement discussions, we have reached out to Securities America to determine if we can help the parties find a reasonable resolution to all constituents,” Ameriprise said in a statement published on its investor relations website.

In its annual report, Ameriprise said it was setting aside $40 million in reserves due to legal actions stemming from brokers at Securities America selling private placements of Medical Capital Holdings Inc. and Provident Royalties LLC.

Sold by dozens of independent broker-dealers in the last decade, the two series of private placements went into default in 2009 and the sponsor companies were later charged with fraud by the SEC. Securities America was by far the largest seller of Medical Capital notes, with brokers selling about $700 million of the product.

Ameriprise previously had reached a proposed $28 million settlement with the class action plaintiffs suing Securities America. That proposed settlement is a separate fund from Securities America’s.

Last month, Federal Judge W. Royal Furgeson Jr. temporarily halted three arbitration claims from investors suing Securities America in order to weigh Securities America’s $21 million proposed settlement. Under the terms of that deal, the arbitration claims would have been rolled into the class action.

Mr. Furgeson’s decision pushes one of two class actions, Billitteri v Securities America, et al., back to where it originated in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California. The case was moved to Dallas and landed before Mr. Furgeson this winter because he is overseeing the class action claim against Securities America and other broker-dealers that sold Provident Royalties investments.

This information has been provided by The White Law Group.  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. With over 30 years of securities law experience, including experience working at FINRA (f/k/a the NASD) and the SEC, The White Law Group has the expertise to help investors and financial advisors in securities litigation matters.  If you have questions about the way your investments have been handled, the securities attorneys of The White Law Group may be able to help.

For more information on The White Law Group, visit http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.

Anne Marie Schlenker, former Edward Jones Financial Advisor, Charged With Theft of Client Funds

ANNE MARIE SCHLENKER was a financial adviser representative and salesperson for Edward Jones and Company in Bozeman, Montana, from May 31, 2004, until her fraud was discovered in February 2010. SCHLENKER used her position at Edward Jones to misappropriate $329,682.15 of client money for her own personal use from October 18, 2006 to November 16, 2009. SCHLENKER made misrepresentations to clients to have funds wired from her clients’ accounts to her own personal accounts at Wells Fargo, First Horizon, Suntrust, and Citifinancial. SCHLENKER made misrepresentations to have over $50,000 wired from a client’s account to pay for upgrades to a house she was building. Aside from her personal accounts, SCHLENKER also had $11,485.00 wired from a client’s account to a jewelry business in Bozeman, Montana, to pay off her jewelry debt. At the time, this client was a 72-year-old retiree. Additionally, SCHLENKER made misrepresentations to have funds moved from one client’s account to pay back another client from whom SCHLENKER had taken money. The total amount returned was $63,862.21, which results in a total fraud loss of $265,819.94.

SCHLENKER ultimately confessed to Edward Jones that she took money from client accounts via unauthorized transactions. Edward Jones terminated her on February 18, 2010.

SCHLENKER faces possible penalties of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years’ supervised release.

In November, Edward Jones entered into a settlement agreement in which it agreed to pay $349,464.92 in restitution to Schlenker’s victims, pay a fine of $100,000, and make specific changes to its books and records retention policies and procedures.

The investigation into SCHLENKER’s actions was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a cooperative effort between the Securities and Insurance Commissioner’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

This information has been provided by The White Law Group.  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. With over 30 years of securities law experience, including experience working at FINRA (f/k/a the NASD) and the SEC, The White Law Group has the expertise to help investors and financial advisors in securities litigation matters.  If you have questions about the way your investments have been handled, the securities attorneys of The White Law Group may be able to help.

For more information on The White Law Group, visit http://www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.