Investment Litigation Blog

(November 23) What is apparently the largest insider-trading case in history has been filed by the Manhattan office of U.S. Attorney Preet Bahrara against a former portfolio manager for Steven A. Cohen’s well-known SAC Capital Advisors LP. The criminal complaint charges Mathew Martoma of trading on inside information of disappointing Alzheimer’s drug trials, and coming…

(October 23) The president of an insurance and re-insurance company based in Costa Rica has been found guilty of criminal mail fraud and money laundering charges in connection with an international fraud scheme worth half a billion dollars. Minor Vargas Calvo of Provident Capital Indemnity sold guarantee bonds to other companies that sold “life settlement”…

(October 23) The annual enforcement survey of the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) released today shows an increase in state-level securities law enforcement. State securities regulators investigated roughly 6000 cases. About 10% were related to financial abuse of seniors. Unregistered sellers of unregistered securities amounted to the largest single category of investment fraud. NASAA…

(October 18) The British bank HSBC has been sued by three counties in the Atlanta area for the bank’s conduct in the housing collapse. Filed under the Fair Housing Act, the suit accuses HSBC of systematically steering minority borrowers into subprime mortgages, a practice deemed “reverse redlining”. This caused a chain of defaults, falling property…

(October 4) For those of us tracking the progress of former Eugene, Oregon financial planner Scott McKee through the court system, today the Lane County District Attorney Alex Gardner handed down an indictment with another 37 felony counts against him. The total includes nine counts of aggravated theft in the first degree, one count of…

(September 27) FINRA has released one of its periodic Investor Alerts, this one called “When Trading Stops: What You Need to Know About Halts, Suspensions and Other Interruptions.” It explains why, when and how regulatory interruptions in securities trading happen. The document addresses both the broad-market “circuit breaker” halts triggered by a percentage drop in…

(September 25) A case to be decided this year by the U.S. Supreme Court may effectively extend the window of time for potential plaintiffs who suffered losses in the 2008 financial crisis. The case Gabelli et. al. v Securities Exchange Commission hinges on the application of the five-year statutory limitation time clock, called the “discovery…

(September 24) The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has censured and fined Merrill Lynch $500,000 for failing to file some 650 required reports, and failing to acknowledge nearly 300 customer complaints, between 2005 and 2011. As the largest independent regulatory agency for securities firms operating in the United States, FINRA protects investors and maintains the…

Banks Law Office, PC announces that Darlene Pasieczny has joined as an associate. B.A. Reed College, Phi Beta Kappa M.A. Columbia University, Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship J.D. Lewis & Clark Law School 2012, Magna Cum Laude; Business Law Certificate

Forbes Magazine recently reported that many of the so called “net winners” in the ZeekRewards (“Zeek”) Ponzi Scheme will almost certainly be targeted for “clawback” lawsuits seeking the return on their profits. Our firm represents good faith investors who have been sued by trustees and receivers in clawback actions. Our senior attorney at Banks Law,…