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California IOUs May Be Treated As Municipal Securities

The recipients of billions of dollars in IOUs being issued by California soon may have a regulated market where they could sell them. Some of the nation’s largest banks say that, starting Friday, they will no longer accept the IOUs. The banks want to pressure the state to end its budget impasse, but their action […]

Provident Royalties — SEC OBTAINS ASSET FREEZE IN $485 MILLION NATIONWIDE OFFERING FRAUD

On July 2, 2009, the Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a temporary restraining order and emergency asset freeze in a $485 million offering fraud and Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Paul R. Melbye, Brendan W. Coughlin and Henry D. Harrison through a company they owned and controlled, Provident Royalties LLC. In addition to the asset freeze, […]

NH Pursues UBS – Lehman Principal Protected Notes

Mark Rufo said he thought he had found a “good conservative investment” for his 88-year-old mother when, in 2007, he put $26,000 of her money with UBS Financial Services in Concord. The Nashua lawyer bought Asian Currency Basket Principal Protected Notes. Asian currencies appeared stable at the time, especially compared with the debacle of a […]

The Sentencing of Bernard Madoff

Bernard Madoff’s lawyer has told a judge scheduled to sentence the disgraced financier next week that 12 years in prison will be sufficient punishment for the man who swindled tens of billions of investor’s dollars in one of history’s biggest frauds. Attorney Ira Sorkin also said in court papers made public Tuesday that his 71-year-old […]

Brokers and Their Fiduciary Duty

Investment advisers and consumer advocates have applauded President Obama’s proposal to establish a fiduciary duty for broker-dealers offering investment advice. “We think it’s great,” said Diahann Lassus, chairwoman of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors in Arlington Heights, Ill. “There should be a fiduciary standard for all advisers.” Richard Salmen, president of the Denver-based […]