Regulation and Compliance issues for Wealth Professionals can be challenging to navigate especially when the SEC is involved. Catch the latest news and analysis on compliance updates that impact financial advisors.
In October 2003, a back-office glitch made Robert Burns the recipient of $12,000 that did not belong to him. Burns was an advisor with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, and the error involved crediting the funds to Burns' personal account...
Theodore Sihpol III, a former broker at Banc of America Securities (BAS), and poster boy for the market-timing scandals and the first target of Spitzer to say no to a plea offer has settled with the SEC. In 2003, the SEC alleged that Sihpol helped...
Q: Is there any way my employer can find out if I receive W-2 income from other sources, which, by the way, are not from other brokerage firms? When I called the IRS, I was told there is no way it would disclose that confidential information to a...
Cooked Books: Philip Bennett, former CEO of Refco Inc., the largest independent commodities and futures exchange, was arrested on securities fraud charges in October. It is alleged that a firm Bennett controlled owed Refco as much as $545 million...
In mid-September, the SEC ordered Raymond James Financial Services (RJFS) to pay a $6.9 million fine for failing to supervise Dennis Herula, a former broker who's in prison after pleading guilty to federal fraud charges. In addition, David Lee...
Q: I'm 54 years old and, 19 years ago, was the first woman hired by my firm, which settled a sexual discrimination complaint filed by women employees last year for $54 million. I've got a couple of questions relating to my termination at the firm...
A member of the New York Stock Exchange was arrested in late August for allegedly issuing a death threat to another seat holder who sued to block the Big Board's takeover of Archipelago Holdings. Edward Reiss, 65, a floor broker since 1973...
It's one of those stories that makes an advisor realize: That could have been me. In September 1999, Customer X and her husband transferred their son's custodial account, a joint account and two retirement accounts to Advest. In August 2002, after...
Lawyers, Drugs and Money: Consuelo Marquez, an ex-Lehman Brothers broker who worked at the firm from 1995 to 2000, pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan in August to conspiring to launder roughly $11 million in drug money for a former...
It's a fact that busy workers are happy workers. Or is it the other way around? Either way, it may help explain the apparent mirth at the SEC. The federal regulator fresh off William Donaldson's administration, the busiest enforcement period ever...
