Posts Tagged ‘ Citigroup ’

10 Biggest SEC Securities Settlements So Far This Year

September 20th, 2012. By AbiK

If you’ve been wondering what the largest SEC securities settlements have been for the first half of the year, the National Economic Research Associates, Inc., (NERA) recently released it’s mid-year update. NERA has a proprietary database of SEC settlements and judgments going back to July 21, 2002, and they track SEC settlement trends each year.

According to the NERA report for the first half of 2012, there are some interesting trends to keep an eye on:

• The SEC is on pace to settle with more defendants in FY12 than it has in any year since FY05.

• This increase is being driven by heightened settlement activity with individuals, particularly for allegations related to insider trading and Ponzi schemes; the SEC is on pace for a record number of insider trading settlements in FY12.

• The median settlement value with individuals continued to follow the upward path observed since FY10, while the median value of settlements with companies declined after reaching a record value in FY11.

• The largest settlements in 1H12 are the highly publicized settlements with Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. ($285 million), still under appeal after being rejected by Judge Jed Rakoff, and Raj Rajaratnam ($92.8 million).

The 10 largest SEC securities settlements for the first six months of the year were:

	Settling Defendant	Announcement Date	Settlement  Amount	Allegation
	1. Citigroup Global Markets Inc.	10/19/11	$285M	Financial Services Misrepresentation to Customers
	2. Raj Rajaratnam, Galleon Management, LP	11/8/11	$92.81M	Insider Trading
	3. Magyar Telekom	12/29/11	$90.80M	FCPA
	4. George David Gordon, Attorney	2/16/12	$50.51M	Market Manipulation
	5. Wachovia Bank N.A.	12/8/11	$46.08M	Trading Violations
	6. Pentagon Capital Management	3/30/12	$42.05M	Market Timing/Late Trading
	7. GE Funding Capital Market Services	12/23/11	$24.90M	Market Manipulation
	8. MAAA Trust1	12/22/11	$24.75M	Insider Trading
	9. Aon Corporation	12/20/11	$14.55M	FCPA
	10. Joseph F. Skowron III, Portfolio Manager, FrontPoint Partners, LLC	11/17/11	$13.37M	Insider Trading
	1Settlements that included a jointly liable individual.
	Read the full NERA Report here.

Tags: AON, Citigroup, FrontPoint, Galleon Management, GE Funding, George David Gordon, Joseph F Skowron, MAAA Trust, Magyar Telekom, NERA, Pentagon Capital, Raj Rajaratnam, SEC, Securities Fraud, securities settlement, Wachovia
Posted in Emerging Issues, Insecurities, Securities | No Comments »

Mary Watson v. Plastic: A Tale of One Pissed-Off Retailer

April 18th, 2011. By Hunter West

We’ve been ticked off at credit card companies for a long time, haven’t we? The high interest rates, the late-payment fees, and the propensity to jack up the rates at the drop of a hat. Congress finally called the credit card companies to the carpet and forced them to reign in some of their practices—although critics have always maintained there will be other ways found to make up for any lost revenue. 

And that’s just for us—the schmucks who use credit cards. What about the merchants? 

Well, according to a proposed class action lawsuit filed Monday in Canada, merchants aren’t happy with the status quo, either… 

Mary Watson is a retailer who operates a furniture store in British Columbia. She has since 1990. And like most merchants who sell big-ticket items, she can understand that most people would rather use plastic to buy that pricey leather sofa, than pull out a wad of hundred-dollar bills. 

No, she’s okay with that. What Mary is upset about are all the fees charged to her business when a consumer uses plastic. The fees are hard to track. What’s more, she’s not allowed to promote, or suggest that her customers use an alternative form of payment, such as cash or debit.

She’s not exactly required to suggest her customers use their credit cards. But at the same time, Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Bank of America, Bank of Nova Scotia, BMO Financial Group, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Capital One, Citigroup, Credit Card fees, credit cards, Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec, Mary Watson, MasterCard International, National Bank of Canada, Retailer fees, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Visa Canada
Posted in Financial, lawsuits | 1 Comment »