The SEC today indicted four individuals for helping Bernie Madoff in his colossal Ponzi scheme. One of the individuals was a registered rep and a second was an investment advisor. If the allegations are true, the men and one woman are quite wicked...
Allen Stanford, the flamboyant 59-year-old billionaire CEO of the Stanford Group Companies was indicted Friday on charges of conspiracy to commit securities, mail and wire fraud. Six other individuals were also indicted, including the chief...
Among other measures, the Obama administration proposed today that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) require that broker-dealers offering investment advice be held to the fiduciary standard rather than the suitability standard. The SEC...
Four new members were elected to the FINRA Board o Governors today: LPL Chairman and CEO, Mark Casady, took over the Independent Dealer/Insurance Affiliate seat from John Simmers, former Chairman and CEO of ING Advisors Network, who stepped down...
You know that your industry has a problem — a serious trust issue — when a New York Times columnist today sums up the case against financial advisor Matthew Weitzman thusly: “So most readers of this newspaper could be victims in...
When the auction rate securities market froze up in February 2008, angry clients blamed their financial advisors; financial advisors blamed their firms. Today, the SEC announced finalized settlements with Bank of America, RBC Capital Markets and...
In a recent keynote address, I asked my audience of advisors and managers to imagine the following scenario: We're in the midst of a serious flu epidemic. As a result, a lot of sick people have flooded hospitals and doctors' offices throughout the...
It wasn't long ago that Larry Rothenberg had the kind of problem most advisors would kill for. Sometime in 2004, he recalls, his team, which then consisted of three senior financial advisors, three junior FAs and six client associates (CA), was...
Hedgie Gets $62M Fine: Michael Lauer, head of Lancer management Group and Lancer Management Group II, two Connecticut-based hedge funds, was ordered on May 14 to fork over $62 million within 15 days as a result of being found liable on SEC fraud...
