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CNBC Explains: Securities and Exchange Commission

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission—or SEC—is the watchdog of Wall Street. So how does it work and what power does it really have? CNBC explains. The mission of the SEC, as it says on its website is, “to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation.” In other words, the SEC is out to catch those in the financial industry who are breaking SEC rules and by doing so, keep the stock markets honest and maintain investor confidence. We’ll see how it actually does this in a bit. See CNBC report here. [...]

Madoff Trustee Sues Standard Chartered Financial Services

The trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff’s defunct firm sued Standard Chartered Financial Services (Luxembourg) SA to recoup about $329.7 million allegedly received from the so-called feeder fund Fairfield Sentry Ltd. Irving Picard, the trustee, filed the suit today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan to recover what he called “customer property” from companies that invested with Fairfield Sentry. Read more on Bloomberg [...]

Why should your representative co-sponsor H.R. 757?

Check out the newly posted SIPC Misconduct Top Ten List on our letter-writing webpage -if you haven’t yet written to your representative, we urge you to do so now. Simply click here, select one of the sample templates, print and mail. (If you prefer, you can write your own letter). And don’t forget to forward the link to your friends asking them to write [...]

Lost, then found? Official says missing MF Global money located

It took a while, but investigators say they’ve tracked down the $1.6 billion in customer funds that disappeared from MF Global following the firm’s collapse. Getting it back is another matter. James Giddens, the trustee overseeing the firm once led by former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, testified Tuesday that “our analysis of what happened and where the money went I think has substantially concluded.” Read Fox News report here.
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3rd UPDATE: US Reps Introduce Bill To Outsource Adviser Oversight

Two U.S. House lawmakers unveiled legislation Wednesday to let the Securities and Exchange Commission outsource oversight of investment advisers to a private body, a move aimed at stepping up scrutiny of the industry. The bipartisan measure, introduced by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus (R., Ala.) and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, would set the stage for merging adviser oversight into the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Wall Street’s self-policing body. Finra isn’t explicitly mentioned in the bill, but many in the industry believe it is the only organization poised to take on oversight of the more than 12,000 investment advisers currently registered with the SEC should the regulator give up the role. Finra hasn’t been shy about wanting the job. Read Wall Street Journal Update [...]

SEC Faces Questions About Tipster Policy

The Securities and Exchange Commission faced fresh questions about its efforts to attract whistleblowers who might help regulators uncover wrongdoing on Wall Street, following revelations that the agency unwittingly revealed a tipster’s identity during a probe. The agency’s disclosure of a whistleblower’s identity, as reported in a page-one story in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal, prompted Sen. Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, to request that the SEC detail its policies to protect the confidentiality of whistleblowers and others who share information, often at risk to their jobs or careers. Read Wall Street Journal report [...]

4 More Arrests in Long Island “Mini-Madoff” Swindle

Four brokers who are accused of helping to rip off many middle- and working-class investors on Long Island in a large Ponzi scheme were arrested Wednesday by U.S. postal Inspectors and FBI agents. Investigators said the four helped convicted swindler Nicholas Cosmo run a Ponzi scheme where investors lost nearly $200 million. Cosmo was dubbed the “mini-Madoff” because his Ponzi scheme collapsed a short time after Bernie Madoff’s $60 billion fraud came to light. The four suspects were expected to be arraigned later Wednesday. More on NBC New York here. [...]

Long Island Madoff Victims Still Seek Help; But Trustee Paid Over $200M

It’s been almost three years since NBC News reported the Port Washington, NY meeting of 150 of Madoff’s Long Island and most vocal victims, was held to bring attention to a critical deadline for victims to claim their losses. July 2, 2009 marked the end of a 6 month narrow window for the sea of Madoff victims to claim the estimated $65 billion in fraud related losses to the regulatory agency, Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). SIPC is the administration overseeing those claims under the supervision of the appointed Trustee Irving H Picard, whose legal embattlement in attempts to recover losses related to the largest ever securities fraud enterprise in US history has been widely publicized. Read more on Examiner.com here. [...]

UPDATE 1-MF Global judge OKs payout; Freeh says no bonuses

A federal judge on Tuesday authorized the trustee liquidating MF Global Holdings Inc’s brokerage unit to distribute as much as $685 million to customers whose accounts had been frozen when the futures brokerage went bankrupt. The payout authorized by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn in Manhattan is on top of the more than $4 billion that the trustee James Giddens has already distributed, according to the trustee’s spokesman Kent Jarrell. More on Reuters [...]

SEC’s Schapiro to Press Congress for $245 Million Budget Boost

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro will use an appearance before a congressional panel tomorrow to press lawmakers for a $245 million increase in the agency’s fiscal 2013 funding. In testimony prepared for the House Financial Services capital markets subcommittee, Schapiro said her request for a $1.57 billion fiscal 2013 appropriation would allow the SEC to hire additional examiners. The money would also help the agency implement provisions of the 2010 financial regulatory overhaul and a recently enacted law that eases securities laws for closely held firms and newly public companies, she said. More on Bloomberg [...]