Larry Hagman, better known as JR Ewing, or my favorite: Major Nelson, appears to have won an $11 million award against Citigroup.

Not only did the Panel award Mr. Hagman compensatory damages in the amount of $1.098,386.00, but also award Mr. Hagman attorney's fees of $439,354.40.

In addition, the Panel also ordered that Citigroup pay $10,000,000 directly to the IRS Tax-Exempt 501 c(3) charitable organization(s) of Mr. Hagman's choice.  Notwithstanding the outrageous circumstances warranting the imposition of punitive damages, Citigroup...

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Merrill Lynch UIT Sales Charge Investment Fraud

Firm is fined $500,000, Ordered to Pay Over $2 Million to Customers

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced today that it has fined Merrill Lynch $500,000 for failing to provide sales charge discounts to customers on eligible purchases of Unit Investment Trusts (UITs). FINRA also found that Merrill Lynch failed to have an adequate supervisory system in place to ensure customers received appropriate UIT discounts. The firm also agreed to provide remediation of more than $...

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FINRA (The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) settled an enforcement action and entered into an Acceptance Waiver & Consent with HSBC Securities (USA) Inc., which included a $375,000 fine, for recommending unsuitable sales of inverse floating rate Collateralized Mortgage Obligations (CMOs) to retail customers.

FINRA found that HSBC failed to supervise the suitability the sales of CMOs to customers and also failed to fully disclose or explain the risks of these...

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In a highly unusual legal maneuver, the trustee overseeing the receivership of private placements that went bust last year is suing 49 broker-dealers seeking to claw back $285 million in claims, including commissions, from the firms.

On June 21, the liquidating trustee, Milo H. Segner Jr., filed the lawsuit in federal bankruptcy court in Dallas against the broker-dealers, alleging they "failed miserably in upholding their fiduciary obligations" when selling the series of Provident Royalties LLC private placements.

The Securities and Exchange Commission las...

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Many investment advisors are brokerage firm rejects.

They may have been disciplined or subject to numerous complaints while at a brokerage firm, but then reinvent themselves as investment advisors.

The only problem is that once they have been unregistered for two years, FINRA, subject to certain recent exceptions, does not provide any information regarding these individuals, and the SEC's Investment Advisor database provides no information regarding individuals registered with investment advisory firms.

However, as of yesterday, that has all changed.<...

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