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Experts: No ‘silver bullet’ to protect investors in wake of Peregrine

Despite efforts to beef up fraud detection in the wake of the $215 million embezzlement at Peregrine Financial Group in Cedar Falls, legal experts say no silver bullet will ultimately protect investors. The National Futures Association, a Chicago-based self-regulating industry organization, has begun electronic surveillance of customer segregated funds held by brokerages such as Peregrine to buy futures contracts for clients. The NFA was transitioning to the new system as brokerages were due for an audit. Read more in The Gazette here. [...]

Stanford investor appeals on basis of false SEC claim

A Georgia attorney contends the Securities and Exchange Commission did not properly represent him and other victims of convicted swindler Robert Allen Stanford in Louisiana and other states in a courtroom dispute over securities industry-funded insurance. Richard R. Cheatham, of Atlanta, wants a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to suspend the judge’s recent ruling that Cheatham and thousands of other investors who lost billions of dollars are not eligible for securities industry insurance coverage. More in The Advocate here. [...]

Sen. David Vitter urges SEC to appeal Ponzi scheme ruling

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., is urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to appeal a judge’s ruling last week that blocked proceedings that could lead to compensation for victims of Allen Stanford’s $7 billion Ponzi scheme. Some victims, including a good many in Baton Rouge, lost their life savings. The judge ruled that the SEC had not met the burden of showing why the Securities Investor Protection Corp., which says it is running out of funds, should be forced to begin the compensation process. More in The Times-Picayune here. [...]

ANALYSIS-A decade on, is Sarbanes-Oxley working?

When Peregrine Financial collapsed earlier this month, a nagging question resurfaced. As in the implosion of Lehman Brothers, the fall of Bernard Madoff and other cases in recent years, many asked: Where were the accountants? That this question still arises could be seen as an indictment of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley law, enacted 10 years ago on Monday. The law was a response to accountants’ fa ilures to sound the alarm about financial misconduct at Enron Corp, WorldCom and a host of other companies. But, lawyers and analysts say that for the most part Sarbanes-Oxley is working. It has strengthened auditing, made the accounting industry a better steward of financial standards, and fended off Enron-sized book-cooking disasters. Read Reuters report [...]

Alert – Markup of H.R. 757 – The Equitable Treatment of Investors Act – Scheduled

Wednesday, August 1st, 2012 at 10:15am in 2128 Rayburn HOB.
If your Congressman is a Capital Markets Subcommittee member and not currently a co-sponsor, we need your letters now!
Click here to check and submit your letter [...]

Madoff trustee wants victims to get more money

Victims of imprisoned Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme could be getting back more of their stolen money. Irving Picard, the trustee in charge of liquidating Madoff’s assets, is asking a New York court for permission to distribute another $1.5 billion to $2.4 billion to investors who lost money in Madoff’s fraudulent investments. Picard’s job is to recover as much money as possible for the victims, and the process has been arduous. Ever since Madoff’s firm collapsed, more than three and a half years ago, some victims have filed lawsuits and made other complaints over how Picard has chosen to distribute the money. Picard estimates he has recovered $9.1 billion, but has been able to distribute only $1.1 billion. Read Associated Press report [...]

Amid Battles, Madoff Trustee Seeks $2 Billion Payout

Irving Picard, the trustee assigned to the Bernard Madoff bankruptcy, asked a federal judge Thursday to allow him to make a $2.4 billion payout—more than double the amount released so far—to victims of the massive Ponzi scheme. If the judge approves the request, more than a thousand people who lost money investing with Mr. Madoff could receive checks as early as this fall. Mr. Picard described the move in his court filing as a “major milestone in the world-wide Madoff recovery.” If approved, the payout would come as relief for many victims, some of whom lost most of their savings when the fraud was unveiled nearly four years ago. More in the Wall Street Journal [...]

Second Interim Distribution to Madoff Victims Will Total Approximately $1.5 Billion-$2.4 Billion

Irving H. Picard, the SIPA Trustee for the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (”BLMIS”) filed a motion today in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York seeking approval for an allocation of recovered monies to the BLMIS Customer Fund and for a second pro rata interim distribution – of a minimum of approximately $1.5 billion and up to approximately $2.4 billion – from the Customer Fund to BLMIS customers with allowed claims. The second interim distribution, when combined with the funds already returned to BLMIS customers would – at a minimum – satisfy approximately 46 percent of the current allowed claims in the BLMIS liquidation and could satisfy up to approximately 50 percent of the current allowed claims. Read MarketWatch report [...]

ALERT:

Representative Michael Grimm joins Co-sponorship of H.R. 1635 – Ponzi Scheme Victims’ Tax Relief Act of 2011.
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The Financial Stability Oversight Council: Late To Crises Every Time

It was two years ago this month that President Obama signed the massive Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The act mandated a rare event: the elimination of a federal agency, the Office of Thrift Supervision. But it also created two new agencies: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC). More in Forbes [...]