Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., successor by merger to Wachovia Bank N.A., has agreed to pay $46 million to settle charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission that Wachovia fraudulently rigged bids in municipal bond reinvestment transactions in 25 states and Puerto Rico.

The payment consists of a $25 million penalty and disgorgement of almost $14 million, plus prejudgment interest of about $7.3 million.

Wachovia merged with Wells Fargo in March 2010. As successor to Wachovia, Wells Fargo also signed agreements with the Justice ...

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Patricia E. Collantes, the former operations manager at the Palo Alto, Calif., office of Citigroup Global Markets Inc., has been fined and suspended by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, for her failure to supervise a sales assistant who misappropriated almost $750,000 from customers.

Collantes agreed last month to an $8,000 fine and a suspension from associating with any FINRA member in a principal capacity for four months. Collantes signed a Letter of Acceptance Waiver and Consent, or Read Full Article

In an eloquent opinion that reaffirmed the truth-finding mission of the courts, Judge Jed S. Rakoff rejected the $285 million settlement agreement Citigroup reached with Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, to resolve charges that the giant bank had gamed the mortgage bond market.

The judge told the parties to prepare for trial on July 16, 2012.

The SEC alleged that Citigroup led investors to believe that the investments in a $1 billion mortgage-bond deal were independently sele...

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Eight more broker-dealers and 10 individuals have been sanctioned by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, and ordered to pay restitution totaling more than $3.2 million for selling interests in allegedly fraudulent private placements without having a reasonable basis for recommending the securities.

FINRA announced its list of firms sanctioned on Nov. 29. The high-risk private placements were issued by Medical Capital Holdings Inc., Provident Royalties LLC, and DBSI Inc., all of which event...

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According to forensic accountant and frequent expert witness Gordon Yale, the billions of dollars in allegedly fraudulent private placements sold to investors resulted partly from broker-dealers’ massive failure to meet their due-diligence responsibilities.

Yale is certified public account and principal of Yale & Co. who has worked on more than 50 lawsuits brought by investors against broker-dealers after failed deals. He has served as an expert witness for a dozen different plaintiff's lawyers in lawsuits pursuing more than $100 million in claims.

Las...

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