In shareholder derivative suits connected to investments with Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, a judge has signed off on a $2.45 million dollar settlement between investment funds and an auditing firm. Nassau County Supreme Court Justice Stephen Bucaria (See Profile) approved the settlement in Sacher v. Beacon Associates Management Corp., 5424/2009, calling the accord a “fair and reasonable consideration for the compromise of all the claims asserted” against Friedberg, Smith & Co. More in New York Law Journal [...]
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The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration pools that decide many investor disputes with brokers lack diversity, raising the prospect the system may be “unfair,” a new report charged Tuesday. Issued by an organization of lawyers who represent aggrieved investors, the report found that the Wall Street self-regulator’s arbitration pool is roughly 80% male, signaling under-representation of women. More on USA Today [...] WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama on Monday urged U.S. financial regulators to keep looking for new ways to rein in excessive risk-taking in the financial sector, possibly through compensation and additional capital rules for the biggest financial firms, a White House spokesman said. In a meeting Monday morning at the White House, Mr. Obama urged regulators “to consider additional ways to prevent excessive risk-taking across the financial system, including as they continue to work on compensation rules and capital standards,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said during a press briefing Monday. More in the Wall Street Journal [...] The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s offer of huge payouts for details on Wall Street wrongdoing hasn’t stopped whistle-blowers who want quick results from calling New York’s top cop. A tip that helped spur New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s June lawsuit against Barclays Plc was first shopped to the SEC, as was another that triggered his investigation into a controversial trading practice at BlackRock (BLK) Inc., said people with direct knowledge of the matter. By going to Schneiderman, informants risk hurting their chances of collecting as much money as possible from the SEC. More on Bloomberg [...] WASHINGTON — Even tucked away inside a high-security federal prison in Central Florida, former Houston billionaire banker Allen Stanford is still thinking big — and flouting the rules. Stanford filed a 299-page brief last month with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, making no fewer than 15 lengthy arguments about why he should be set free. He was convicted in 2012 on 13 felony charges related to America’s second-largest Ponzi scheme ever and sentenced to 110 years in prison. More in the Dallas News [...] Five former aides to jailed conman Bernard Madoff who were convicted of aiding the biggest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history will be sentenced in November, a Manhattan judge said. Annette Bongiorno, who ran the investment advisory unit at the center of the fraud, and Daniel Bonventre, the former operations chief of Madoff’s broker-dealer business, will be sentenced Nov. 10, U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain said today. U.S. probation officials have recommended that both be sentenced to 20 years in prison, according to court papers. Two others — Joann Crupi, who managed large accounts for Madoff, and computer programmer Jerome O’Hara — will be sentenced Nov. 12. Probation officials suggested a term of 14 years for Crupi and eight years for O’Hara. More on Bloomberg [...] NEW YORK—A judge on Wednesday approved a payout to MF Global’s unsecured creditors, who have waited nearly three years as customers of the collapsed brokerage already had their money returned. Judge Martin Glenn of U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan said James W. Giddens, the trustee in charge of winding down the brokerage, could pay the unsecured creditors about $295 million. A lawyer for Mr. Giddens said distributions to the unsecured creditors could begin as soon as the order is final. He also said settlements of unresolved claims could soon result in “very substantial” creditor distributions beyond the one approved Wednesday. More in the Wall Street Journal [...] The hedge fund world often finds itself at the center of insider trading investigations after profiting from corporate secrets. But for the first time, regulators are saying that a hedge fund’s investment plan itself can be the secret. Stretching the boundaries of insider trading law, the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday accused two men of possessing confidential information about plans by Pershing Square Capital Management to attack Herbalife. One of the men, Filip Szymik, settled the case; his friend and co-defendant, Jordan Peixoto, did not. More in the New York Times [...] A mammoth data-collection system that Wall Street’s industry-funded watchdog wants to develop to ramp up its oversight of the securities industry would cost an estimated $8 million to $12 million to build, the regulator said on Tuesday. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced the figures in a revised proposal that includes the most details to date about the controversial system, which would ultimately require approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. FINRA is asking the industry and public for input on a revised version of its plan, it said in a regulatory notice on Tuesday. The plan, known as the Comprehensive Automated Risk Data System, or CARDS, has caused a stir on Wall Street since FINRA unveiled it in late 2013. More on Reuters [...] Bernard Madoff’s last surviving son was under investigation for possible involvement in his father’s multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme until the day he died from cancer earlier this month, but scrutiny over his $16m estate lives on. The court-appointed trustee seeking to recover money for bilked investors began taking aim at Andrew Madoff’s money even before his death, filing an updated lawsuit this summer accusing him and his brother of having full knowledge of their father’s scheme and using it as their “personal cookie jar” that they tapped through sham loans, fictitious trades and deferred compensation. More in The Guardian [...] |
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