On March 19, 2018, federal prosecutors once again reinforced the notion that cryptocurrencies can be securities, as they upheld their certainty that ICOs offered by Maksim Zaslavskiy through his companies REcoin and Diamond Reserve Club, were in fact, securities, and thus, under the SEC’s jurisdiction. As a criminal case relating…
On January 16th, a settlement was reached to create new fiduciary committees to handle a complex transition at the bankrupt Woodbridge firm, following a SEC lawsuit over a billion-dollar Ponzi scheme run by Woodbridge founder Robert Shapiro, who will now be totally excluded from the restructuring process. Upon approval of…
FINRA recently sanctioned Citigroup Global Markets Inc. $11.5 million over inaccurate research rating displays. The sanction includes a $5.5 million in fines and $6 million in compensation for wronged retail customers. According to the SRO’s findings, over at least five years, Citigroup displayed inaccurate research ratings for a large number…
Recently, several cryptocurrency scams have come to light: dishonest individuals advertising their newly concocted crypto-coin as the next big thing, with a potential to make millions for investors willing to take the risk. FINRA recently issued an Investor Alert to warn investors about purchasing shares in companies advertising new cryptocurrencies.…
Last December, FINRA made public its 2018 budget and updated Financial Guiding Principles, after approval by the SRO’s Board of Governors. In a new information release, the SRO also detailed several rule proposals for the year and planned improvements to its registration technology. As part of one of its five…
In a commentary that appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Jay Clayton, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and J. Christopher Giancarlo, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, referred to the new regulation scenario for cryptocurrency trading. In fact, they expanded the concept to ”distributed ledger technology (DLT)” defined…
In line with its expressed intent to increase its oversight over the cryptocurrency market, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has filed three related fraud suits in a single week. The third lawsuit targets the creators of “My Big Coin,” who allegedly used $6 million dollars received from buyers to pay…
In conversation with Chip Jones, FINRA’s Senior Vice President of Member Relations and Education, Mike Rufino, Executive Vice President and Head of FINRA Member Regulation—Sales Practice expanded on Robert Cook’s 2018 Priorities Letter, which was released during the first days of the year. Rufino explained how FINRA plans to examine…
Based on research conducted by the National Center on Elder Abuse, 16% of elder abuse was caused by financial exploitation, which ranked third followed right after self-neglect and neglect by others. This percentage had increased from 12.3% since 2001; however, elder abuse is vastly under reported. According to one study,…
According to former Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White, the SEC insufficient examination of registered investment advisors is a “disaster waiting to happen.” Without adequate oversight, misconduct at small advisory firms could be building up for years. While FINRA and state regulators vet half of all registered broker-dealers…