Investment Fraud Lawyer Blog

Simply stated, senior investors (in fact, all investors) should be very leery of high-risk structured products. Author John Wasik, in conjunction with Demos and The Nation Institute, has published a white paper entitled “How Safe Are Your Savings? How Complex Derivative Products Imperil Seniors’ Retirement Security.” The paper’s focus is on structured products and how they are mis-marketed to seniors, the group most in need of safe and secure income. The paper is reportedly the result of more than a year of research involving interviews with investors, state securities regulators, investors’ attorneys and officials with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Continue reading "Study: Structured Products Pose Huge Risks to Investors' Portfolios" »

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel in Denver has ordered Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. to pay over $54 million in damages for its abusive conduct in marketing and managing various investments including municipal bond hedge funds known as MAT/ASTA. The arbitration panel issued their award on April 8, 2011.

Continue reading "Arbitration Panel Renders $54 Million Award Against Citigroup in Case Involving MAT/ASTA Municipal Arbitrage Investments" »

Citigroup's problems with its proprietary MAT/ASTA municipal arbitrage funds just keep growing. A recent Wall Street Journal article by Suzanne Barlyn entitled “Citi Units Must Pay $6.4 Million Over Muni-Arbitrage Loss,” which concerns Citi’s disastrous MAT/ASTA municipal arbitrage funds, reports a significant $6.4 million award issued against Citigroup in a MAT/ASTA case by a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel. Despite their high risks, the funds were marketed as an alternative to municipal bond portfolios. The funds also falsely emphasized their strong risk management and controls.

Continue reading "Citigroup Hit with a $6.4 Million Judgement Involving its MAT/ASTA Municipal Arbitrage Funds." »

The Wall Street Journal reports that several former Citigroup/Smith Barney brokers have been sharing information with the SEC about alleged fraudulent practices associated with the MAT/ASTA municipal bond arbitrage funds that lost more than 75% of their value between 2007 and 2008. (“Citi Debt Funds Probed by SEC,” 11/8/10). These brokers may stand to be compensated handsomely if the SEC imposes big financial penalties against Citigroup for misrepresenting the risks of MAT/ASTA funds. That is because of an obscure provision in the recently enacted Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act creating a financial rewards program that can pay a large sum of money to any person who provides “original information” to the SEC that leads to a successful enforcement action relating to the violation of federal securities laws. The Act provides for payments to “whistleblowers” ranging between 10% and 30% of the amount recovered by the SEC.

Continue reading "Brokers May Reap Big Rewards for Reporting Alleged Fraudulent Conduct by Citigroup in the MAT/ASTA Municipal Arbitrage Funds" »

A recent front-page Wall Street Journal article by Randall Smith entitled “Citi Debt Funds Probed by SEC,” which concerns Citi’s disastrous MAT/ASTA municipal arbitrage fund, features a highly significant $1.8 million award issued against Citigroup in a MAT/ASTA case by a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel.

Continue reading "Front Page Article in the Wall Street Journal Highlights Recent MAT/ASTA Arbitration Award" »

In his September 9, 2010 article in The Bond Buyer entitled “Judgment Aids Investors in Citi Case,” author Dan Seymour describes a recent Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration award of more than $1.8 million in favor of MAT/ASTA investors as “[a] grand-slam judgment [that] has emboldened the lawyers and investors seeking to recoup losses on $2 billion in municipal arbitrage funds run by Citigroup.”

Continue reading "Citigroup's Mismanagement of MAT/ASTA Funds Produces "Grand Slam" Award for Investors" »

Citigroup misled its representatives who sold the firm’s MAT/ASTA municipal arbitrage hedge funds, and arbitrators are placing the blame squarely on the firm, according to a September 5 article by Bruce Kelly in InvestmentNews (“Arbitrators: B-Ds Kept Brokers in the Dark on Private Deals”).

Continue reading "The MAT/ASTA Municipal Arbitrage Funds - Citi's Latest Product Problems" »

Investors who purchased MAT/ASTA municipal arbitrage funds between 2002 through 2005 may mistakenly believe that they have waited too long and it is too late to pursue a claim for damages against Citigroup. Fortunately, this is not the case.

Continue reading "It's Not Too Late for Investors to Obtain Recovery of MAT/ASTA Municipal Arbitrage Losses" »

In a recent Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration, a South Florida panel specifically found that Respondents Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. f/k/a Citigroup Investment Services, and Citigroup Alternative Investments, LLC were guilty of negligent mismanagement of MAT/ASTA funds, as well as negligent supervision of their registered representatives. This award should open the door for many investors to recover the damages they sustained, particularly in early MAT/ASTA deals.

Continue reading "Citigroup Affiliates Found Liable for Mismanaging the MAT/ASTA Municipal Arbitrage Funds" »

Investors in the MAT Municipal Arbitrage Funds sold by Citigroup/Smith Barney recently won a total of $2.1 million in separate arbitration proceedings and these awards may just be the tip of the iceberg. In fact, Wall Street brokerage firms are being ordered to pay millions to investors who incurred significant losses on what they thought were low-risk investments, but were, in fact, leveraged municipal arbitrage hedge funds, according to a Wall Street Journal article by Randall Smith (“Crisis-Era Munis Haunt Wall Street,” July 27, 2010).

Continue reading "Investors Are Winning MAT/ASTA Claims Against Citigroup/Smith Barney" »

In recent weeks, two Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panels have awarded more than $2.2 million to clients of Page Perry, LLC, Maddox, Hargett and Caruso, P.C., and David R. Meyer & Associates in connection with their purchases of MAT municipal arbitrage fund investments. MAT Five and MAT Three were leveraged municipal arbitrage hedge funds offered by Citigroup Fixed Income Alternatives and sold through Smith Barney. Both MAT Five and MAT Three were marketed only to high net worth clients of the firm as fixed income alternatives. In truth the MAT funds were risky investments that exposed investors to a 100 percent or more loss of principal. The funds imploded in early 2008 causing catastrophic losses to investors.

Continue reading "Page Perry Clients Win MAT Municipal Arbitrage Claims Against Citigroup/Smith Barney" »

A few minutes ago, Matthew Goldstein at BusinessWeek.com reported that one of Citigroup's top brokers, Richard Zinman, has left for Credit Suisse. Barron's magazine recently ranked Zinman as the nation's 6th-largest broker in terms of assets under management, revenues generated, and customer satisfaction.

According to BusinessWeek, Zinman and his team of junior brokers left Citigroup's wealth managment group in part because so many of his wealthy clients had lost millions in Citi-managed hedge funds, notably Falcon Strategies and ASTA/MAT bond funds.

The manager of those hedge funds, Reaz Islam, departed Citigroup recently as well. He had been with the firm for nearly 18 years.

Hedge funds marketed by Citigroup as “ideal investments for conservative retirees” have now lost 75% or more of their value. Citigroup’s Smith Barney brokerage unit raised hundreds of millions of dollars for those hedge funds – called Falcon and ASTA/MAT – from retail clients who were told that the fixed income funds were safe places to stash money. Now Citigroup is facing a huge outcry from injured customers and their brokers.

After weeks of intense internal debate, Citigroup is offering to cover some of the losses. This offer is tantamount to an admission that the hedge funds were misrepresented to investors.

Falcon invested in municipal bonds, mortgage-backed securities, bank loans and other debt instruments; ASTA/MAT emphasized municipal bonds. Each consisted of different funds that were launched periodically. Last year, as it geared up to launch new Falcon and ASTA/MAT funds, Citigroup encouraged the brokers at Smith Barney and Citigroup’s private bankers to pitch the funds to their best customers. Of course, they told none of these customers that one reason for the push was that Falcon had declined more than 10% and Citigroup wanted to stabilize it with new cash.

Continue reading "Citigroup Mismarketed Internal Hedge Funds" »

In an effort to stave off an exodus of wealthy clients, Citigroup recently pumped $661 million into six troubled hedge funds. The bank also devised a restructuring plan that would potentially enable investors to recoup some of their money. By requiring investors to agree that they will not sue as part of the restructuring plan, the bank is trying to “sweep the mess under the mat,” one securities attorney warned.

Sold under the brand names “ASTA” and “MAT,” the six hedge funds used extensive leverage to buy municipal bonds. Approximately $8 for every $1 raised was borrowed by the fund. When the municipal market collapsed in February, the hedge funds tanked. Despite Citi's emergency cash infusion, the funds are down 60 to 80 percent.

Citi’s hedge fund demise follows a plunge by another group of highly leveraged funds that it also managed, $1 billion Falcon Strategies. Late last year, the Falcon funds fell more than 30 percent after making a series of bad bets on the mortgage market. Declines have continued into 2008.

Continue reading "Where Will Citigroup Brokers And Wealthy Clients Go?" »