Blog
June 15, 2021
On June 9, 2021, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California entered a final judgment against Bingqing Yang, the CEO of Luca International, LLC, in a previously-filed action against eight defendants alleging an affinity fraud scheme that generated more than $68 million from illegal sales of securities in an oil and […]
August 26, 2020
he Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Interactive Brokers LLC will pay an $11.5 million penalty to settle charges it repeatedly failed to file Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) for U.S. microcap securities trades it executed on behalf of its customers. In parallel actions, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Commodity Futures Trading […]
May 26, 2020
On May 15, 2020, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued a Regulatory Notice (“Oil-Linked Exchange-Traded Products”), which highlighted the fact that Exchange-Traded Products (ETPs), which provide different types of exposure to the oil market through several product structures, might not be understood by investors or investment professionals and that the performance of such products […]
May 11, 2020
On April 30, 2020, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued an a report (“Protecting Senior Investors 2015-2020, An Update on the FINRA Securities Helpline for Seniors, Other FINRA Initiatives and Member Firm Practices”), which highlighted the fact that seniors, who “make up an increasingly large share of the American population and hold higher levels […]
March 26, 2020
Real estate investment trusts (REITs) that purchase mortgage-backed securities are playing a prominent role in the current market turmoil, dumping their holdings in response to margin calls by their banks. The mortgage Reits entered the coronavirus crisis owning an estimated $500bn of bonds backed by property loans and have come under pressure because they use […]