Stock market volatility and low interest rates these days have caused more than a few investors to contemplate alternative investments, and one possibility is the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT).

Concern over the clarity of these investments has led the Office of Investor Education and Advocacy of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to issue alerts recently explaining the ins-and-outs of REITS, especially those REITS that are not publicly tra...

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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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A National Examination Risk Alert was issued on Nov. 30 to inform broker-dealers how to develop effective policies and procedures for branch office inspections as a way to combat broker fraud, unsuitable investments and failures to supervise.

The alert was jointly issued by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, or OCIE. The alert reminded firms of sup...

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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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