February 18, 2011
InvestmentNews
Judge combines private-placement arbitration claims with class actions; plaintiff’s attorney decries decision Securities America Inc. scored a huge legal victory this morning when a federal judge in Dallas halted three upcoming Finra arbitration cases against the firm and its brokers over the sale allegedly bogus private placements. Judge W. Royal Furgeson Jr. of U.S. District […]
February 8, 2011
Wall Street Journal
Suzanne Barlyn
Two units of Citigroup Inc. have been ordered to pay $6.4 million to a group of investors, including the head of a Chicago-area investment-banking firm, for losses they incurred in a family of municipal arbitrage funds. The award by a divided securities arbitration panel represented a partial victory for the investors, who included D. Theodore […]
February 2, 2011
Ignites
In what is being hailed as an historic change to the securities arbitration process, the SEC has approved a rule that allows investors to choose only public arbitrators to hear and decide their claims against brokers. Previously, in cases with three arbitrators (those involving claims over $100,000), the panels have been made up of two […]
December 3, 2010
Wall Street Journal
A unit of Citigroup Inc. (C) must pay a group of investors a total of $2.43 million for losses they incurred in a municipal arbitrage fund that lost about 80% during a period between 2007 and 2008. Five Memphis-based investors filed the claim in 2009, seeking damages related to MAT Five, which is among a […]
October 14, 2010
Investment News
Bruce Kelly
Dozens of plaintiffs suing brokerage firms this month and last have seen a veritable gusher of multimillion-dollar awards – leaving some plaintiff’s attorneys anticipating a continued stream of such arbitration rulings. The awards, all decided by Financial Industry Authority Inc. arbitration panels in September and October include: Larry “J.R. Ewing” Hagman’s $11.5 million award vs. […]