A United States District Court judge has ruled that a class action may proceed against Citigroup and others for making an array of material misrepresentations and omissions in public offering materials associated with bonds purchased by the plaintiffs (Reuters, “Judge Rules Bondholders Can Pursue Citigroup Suit,” July 12, 2010).
In response to recent concerns over high-risk private offerings such as Medical Capital and Provident Royalties, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has issued a Notice to Members (NTM-10-22) that reminds brokerage firms of their obligations to investigate private placements before allowing their representatives to sell those investment products. However, FINRA only regulates registered broker-dealers, and many such offerings are recommended or sold by financial advisory firms that are not FINRA-registered.
Continue reading "Problems Involving Private Offerings Escalate" »
On April 8, 2010, the Wall Street Journal ran an article under the headline “Banks Winning When Investors Sue.” However, that article only told part of the story.
According to Craig T. Jones, a lawyer who represents investors at the Atlanta law firm of Page Perry LLC, “the Journal article was focused on lawsuits filed in court, primarily class actions in federal court. But the vast majority of individual investors who make claims against banks and broker-dealers do so in arbitration, and investors have won a higher percentage of securities arbitrations over the past year than they have in years past.” Jones, whose firm handles investment fraud cases all over the country, points out that recent changes in federal law have made it more difficult to sue in federal court, and class action reform legislation over the last several years has made it tougher for investors to bring such cases. “Big class actions get a lot of press,” says Jones, “and a disproportionate number of those have been thrown out on technical grounds due to new procedural requirements, but getting a case thrown out on a technicality should not be taken as a vindication of the banking industry for the abuses that led up to the financial crisis.”
Continue reading " Investors Are Winning Cases Against Wall Street Banks" »
A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitrator awarded damages to Mr. Weigel as a result of losses sustained in the Schwab YieldPlus Fund. The panel awarded the Mr. Weigel $19,400 in a claim submitted under FINRA’s special “simplified” procedure for claims of $25,000 or less (exclusive of interest and costs). Mr. Weigel’s actual trading loss in Schwab YieldPlus Fund was $22,279 while his net out of pocket loss was $15,359. In a simplified claim, a single arbitrator decides the case based on the paper submissions of the parties without an in-person hearing.
Continue reading "The Beat Goes On - Schwab Loses Another Schwab YieldPlus Case" »
Time is running out for Schwab YieldPlus investors to opt out of the class action. A properly completed Request for Exclusion must be received by the class action administrator no later than December 28, 2009. With the holidays, the time to do that is running very short.
A federal court recently certified a class action against Charles Schwab & Company, Inc. brought on behalf of investors in the Schwab YieldPlus Fund. The certification means that the lawsuit can proceed as a class action; no settlement has been reached. Most importantly for YieldPlus investors with significant losses, the deadline to be excluded from this class action is December 28, 2009.
Continue reading "Only 40 Days Left for Schwab YieldPlus Investors to Preserve their Rights" »
The Receiver for Medical Capital Holdings Inc. issued his Third Report on October 9, 2009. The most recent report did contain some additional information but was, in most part, a recap of what was included in the Second Report. The reports can be found at http://www.medicalcapitalreceivership.com. Nothing in the Third Report indicates any greater likelihood of recovery for investors directly from Medical Capital. As indicated in the reports, out of the 104 medical accounts receivable clients listed, 53 of the accounts, totaling some $542,894,528, appear to no longer exist.
Continue reading "Medical Capital Holdings Alert - Investors Face Tremendous Losses" »
A federal court recently certified a class action against Charles Schwab & Company, Inc. brought on behalf of investors in the Schwab YieldPlus Fund. The certification means that the lawsuit can proceed as a class action; no settlement has been reached. Most importantly for YieldPlus investors with significant losses, the deadline to be excluded from this class action is December 28, 2009. Otherwise, YieldPlus investors who happen to be class members (i.e., who purchased the YieldPlus Fund within certain dates) are automatically included and will be bound by any settlement that may be reached.
There has recently been a spate of litigation and regulatory activity surrounding exchange-traded funds (ETF’s), particularly leveraged or inverse ETF’s. Both the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) have issued warnings that leveraged and inverse exchange ETF’s are not suitable for most retail investors, and at least one state has announced an investigation into the sales practices of ETF’s. More recently, several class actions have been filed against specific EFT providers, notably ProShares Trust, which is one of the largest providers of leveraged and inverse ETF’s.
Continue reading "Have You Lost Money in ETF's?" »
Investors in Charles Schwab’s YieldPlus Fund need to be aware of their options in light of the recent certification of a class action brought by YieldPlus investors against Schwab. Most importantly, YieldPlus investors who are class members need to request exclusion from the class if they wish to maintain individual claims against Charles Schwab (even if those claims are already filed). Requests for exclusion must be properly filed and received by the claims administrator no later than Monday, December 28, 2009.
Continue reading "Schwab YieldPlus Investors Should Consider Their Options" »
A federal judge in Atlanta recently dismissed a class action lawsuit brought against SunTrust for fraud in the sale of auction rate securities. The case was not dismissed on the merits of investors’ claims against SunTrust, but based on technical legal requirements about what it takes to plead a claim. Those requirements are strict in securities fraud cases that get filed in federal court, especially class actions, but they do not apply to cases that get filed in arbitration.
Continue reading "Arbitration or Class Action - Which is Better for Investors?" »
The threatened SEC enforcement action against The Charles Schwab Corp. relating to sales of its YieldPlus Fund increases the likelihood that Schwab will need to settle a class action and FINRA arbitrations involving the YieldPlus Fund, according to industry analysts, as reported by Bruce Kelly on October 18 in InvestmentNews. On October 14, Schwab disclosed that it had received a Wells notice from the staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the staff intends to recommend the filing of a civil enforcement action against Schwab Investments, Charles Schwab Investment Management, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. and the president of the funds for possible violations of the securities laws with respect to the Schwab YieldPlus Fund and the Schwab Total Bond Market Fund.
Continue reading "SEC Threatens Action Over Schwab YieldPlus Fund" »
Investors in Charles Schwab’s YieldPlus Fund have important decisions to make. Recently, a California Federal court tentatively certified a class action brought by YieldPlus investors against Schwab. YieldPlus investors need to determine (i) whether they are members of one or more of the designated classes, (ii) if so, whether they wish to remain in the class action or pursue individual claims against Schwab, and (iii) what actions, if any, they need to take.
Continue reading "Investor Alert: Schwab YieldPlus Class Notice Issued" »
Wachovia Bank, JPMorgan and other major financial institutions have filed their second motion to dismiss a complaint brought against them by more than a dozen state and local governments alleging price-fixing and bid-rigging of municipal derivatives markets. This according to a recent article by Erin Fuchs in Law360 entitled “Banks Shoot To Kill Municipal Bond Antitrust MDL.” The MDL action, captioned In re: Municipal Derivatives Antitrust Litigation, case number 1:08-md-01950, is pending in the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported on a federal district court decision that could pave the way for future lawsuits by investors against credit rating firms such as Moody's, Standard & Poors and Fitch, whose ratings of junk investments as investment grade have come under fire by Congress. The September 4th article by Nathan Koppel, Andrew Edwards and Chad Bray, entitled "Judge Limits Credit Firms' 1st-Amendment Defense," describes an Opinion and Order ("Order") issued by Judge Shira A. Scheindlin in a class action brought by two institutional investors, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, King County, Washington, against Moody's Investors Service, Inc. and its affiliates, and The McGraw Hill Companies, Inc. and its affiliates, including its wholly owned and controlled business division, Standard and Poors Ratings Services (collectivley, "the Rating Agency Defendants"), and others. The case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Continue reading "Court Ruling Paves Way for Legal Claims against Credit Ratings Firms" »
A Nevada based Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel awarded damages to a Nevada couple as a result of losses sustained in the Charles Schwab YieldPlus Fund. The panel awarded the Raymond and Elsie Kelly 100 percent of their net out of pocket losses of $74,430.77 plus interest at the rate of 3.25% per annum from July 8, 2008 through August 26, 2009, plus an additional $25,650.00 designated as attorney’s fees, and assessed the entire cost of the arbitration proceeding against Charles Schwab (SCHW).
A California federal court has issued an order allowing a Schwab YieldPlus Fund lawsuit filed against Charles Schwab to proceed as class action. The Fund is also the subject of numerous FINRA arbitrations as well as this class action. The order, filed on August 21, 2009, certified three classes, consisting of two federal classes of investors with claims under Sections 11 and 12 of the Federal Securities Act, and a single class of California investors with an unfair competition claim alleging that the fund changed its investment policies regarding asset concentration without a required shareholder vote.
Northern Trust Securities, Inc. has succeeded in obtaining the dismissal of a class action filed against it by Aimis Art Corp. arising out of the sale of auction rate securities, reported Liz McKenzie in her Law360 article entitled “Northern Trust Escapes Investor’s ARS Action.” Aimis filed the lawsuit on September 17, 2008. On September 29, 2008, Northern Trust announced a program through which it would repurchase certain of the auction rate securities. In December 2008, Aimis received the par value of its investment in the auction rate securities. The case was pending in the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Investors have filed a class action complaint against Proshares Advisors LLC and others for violating anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws by misrepresenting and failing to disclose material risks associated with an inverse leveraged exchange traded fund (“ETF”), reported Evan Weinberger in his recent 360Law article entitled “Class Alleges ProShares ETF Is ‘Defective Product.’” That fund is the UltraShort Real Estate ProShares fund offered by ProShares Trust. The Complaint notes that sales of such products have “exploded in popularity” in recent years, that ProShares Trust is the fifth largest provider of ETFs in the United States and managed 99% of the inverse and leveraged ETFs in the country.
Continue reading "Class Action Filed Over Leveraged and Inverse ETF Securities" »
Today, Bank of America agreed to pay a $33 million fine to settle charges brought by the SEC arising out of Bank of America’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch.
Specifically, the SEC accused Bank of America of misleading of investors about performance bonuses that were to be paid to executives at Merrill Lynch following the acquisition of Merrill. The bank neither admitted nor denied these charges in agreeing to the settlement.
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