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SEC Completes Muni-Underwriter Enforcement Sweep

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced enforcement actions against 14 municipal underwriting firms for violations in municipal bond offerings.  The actions conclude charges against underwriters under the Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation (MCDC) Initiative.  In all, 72 underwriters have been charged under the voluntary self-reporting program targeting material misstatements and omissions in municipal bond offering […]

Barclays, Credit Suisse Charged With Dark Pool Violations

The New York Attorney General’s office is announcing parallel actions against the two firms. Barclays agreed to settle the charges by admitting wrongdoing and paying $35 million penalties to the SEC and the NYAG for a total of $70 million. Credit Suisse agreed to settle the charges by paying a $30 million penalty to the […]

SEC Charges Goldman Sachs With Improper Securities Lending Practices

According to the SEC’s order instituting a settled administrative proceeding, broker-dealers such as Goldman Sachs are regularly asked by customers to locate stock for short selling.  Granting a “locate” represents that a firm has borrowed, arranged to borrow, or reasonably believes it could borrow the security to settle the short sale.  The SEC finds that […]

SEC Announces Fraud Charges Against Investment Adviser

The SEC alleges that Atlantic Asset Management LLC (AAM) invested more than $43 million of client funds in illiquid bonds issued by a Native American tribal corporation without disclosing the conflict of interest that the bond sales generated a private placement fee for the broker-dealer, whose parent company partially owns AAM. “As alleged, Atlantic violated […]

High-Yield Bond Funds: Increasing Blood in the Water

As reported by Bloomberg on December 13, 2015 (“Investors See Third Avenue Fueling More Bond Market Carnage”), “top bond managers are predicting more carnage for high-yield investors amid a market rout that forced at least three credit funds in the past week to wind down.” The three bond funds that suffered losses within the past week […]