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The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is a non-governmental organization that has Congressional authorization to regulate the financial services industry, and it is one of the key watchdogs helping to protect individual investors against fraudulent investment losses. Investment advisors working in the United States must register with FINRA, and FINRA […]
Puerto Rico filed for bankruptcy on May 3, 2017, setting in motion an uncertain chain of events that will not only have drastic consequences for the territory’s bondholders, but which could also provide guidance for other United States territories – such as the U.S. Virgin Islands which is currently carrying […]
Each month, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) publishes a report of disciplinary actions taken against brokerage firms and investment advisors. You can find reports dating back to 1996 on FINRA’s website: Monthly and Quarterly Disciplinary Actions. Here is a summary of some of the most-noteworthy actions from FINRA’s report […]
The Department of Labor’s fiduciary duty rule – proposed under the Obama administration – was thought to be dead on arrival when Donald Trump was elected president. The Obama administration over several years created the rule because it claimed that conflicted financial advice costs American families $17 billion a year and pushes […]
Mom and pop bondholders in fiscally troubled Illinois could soon find themselves in the same rocky boat as Puerto Rico bond investors. Puerto Rico this month declared bankruptcy on $123 billion in debt and pension obligations. Indeed, Puerto Rico has become, in the immortal words of Thomas Hobbes, “the war […]
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the oversight entity authorized by Congress to take action against investment advisors and advisory firms that harm investors, recently announced that it has fined thirteen investment firms more than $17.5 million for recordkeeping and disclosure violations. The firms facing fines are: Deutsche Bank First […]
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced the sentencing of a Rhode Island financial advisor who admitted to misappropriating $21 million in investors’ funds and using other investors’ funds as collateral to secure a personal $2.5 million home loan for a waterfront property. Patrick Churchville, owner of ClearPath Wealth […]
Investment fraud scams targeting senior citizens have long been on the federal government’s list of priorities. As we reported in 2015, brokers often sell complex and risky investment products to senior investors without adequately explaining the risks, and in many cases without disclosing the high commissions they earn from the […]
When a ship is in danger of capsizing and drowning its passengers, the Captain yells, May Day! May Day! Puerto Rico’s new governor, Dr. Ricardo Rossello, is facing a May Day call as the island is drowning in debt. Many political balls are in the air right now. It appears […]
The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently issued separate press releases warning investors nationwide of the risks of affinity fraud schemes – schemes targeting individuals within certain groups or affiliations – being perpetrated by religious leaders. The press releases discuss two separate cases in […]