Articles Posted in News Releases

On April 19, 2013, Rep. Maxine Waters introduced legislation that would allow the SEC to charge user fees to investment advisors to fund their oversight. Ms. Waters said that the SEC needs a source of revenue dedicated to regulating advisors and the bill would authorize fees to fund investment advisor examinations. Under the bill, the user…

On April 18, 2013, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a report that detailed its view that regulators need to do more to stop older Americans from being confused by “the scores of senior designations that financial advisors use.” The CFPB believes the SEC should consider setting up a centralized tool for investors to verify an…

On April 12, 2013, we posted a blog entitled FINRA Charges Discount Firm with Fraudulent Sales, which detailed FINRA’s complaint against Success Trade Securities Inc, an online discount firm, and its CEO, Fuad Ahmed alleging fraudulent sales of promissory notes. New details are emerging in this case. Yahoo! Sports reports that many of Success Trade Securities…

On April 12, 2013, we posted a blog entitled In Proposal, SEC’s Budget to Oversee Investment Advisors Increased, which detailed the recent federal budget proposal that would increase the SEC’s funding by $256 million to allow the SEC to hire hundreds of examiners to increase investment advisor oversight. On April 16, 2013, however, SEC member Elisse Walter…

On April 12, 2013, FINRA announced that has filed a complaint against Success Trade Securities Inc, an online discount firm, and its CEO, Fuad Ahmed. The complaint alleges that Success Trade Securities Inc. fraudulently sold more than $18 million in promissory notes to 58 investors, most of them former professional football and basketball players. The notes…

Florida legislation, likely to be enacted Summer 2013, will make broker dealer and investment advisor branch office set-up instantaneous. A bill that would replace the current registration process with one that grants instant approval once an application is filed has been approved by the financial committees in the Florida state House and Senate. Under current…

Under the recent federal budget proposal by the President, the SEC’s funding would increase an extra $256 million allowing the SEC to hire hundreds of additional examiners to increase investment advisor oversight. Under the proposal, the SEC’s budget would rise to $1.67 billion, from $1.42 billion. The SEC wants to use part of the money to “beef…

On April 10, 2013, four top executives of DBSI Inc. were indicted by a federal grand jury in Idaho on 83 charges, including conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property. Allegedly, DBSI was acting like a Ponzi scheme to continue operations and pay returns to other investors. The…

With many baby boomers entering retirement every day, FINRA is increasing its focus on how financial advisory firms are selling financial products to seniors. FINRA is gathering data from firms regarding the products firms marketed to seniors, the percentage of revenue firms derived from those sales, and the designations firms are using to market themselves to…

On April 8, 2013, the SEC charged ThanhHa Bao, a former employee at Abaxis Inc. a California-based medical device manufacturer, with illegally tipping. Bao allegedly tipped confidential financial data to her brother, Tai Nguyen, who illegally traded in Abaxis Inc.’s stock and enabled his hedge fund clients, at Insight Research, to do the same. Bao worked…