Gaining Market Savviness
In my last blog I mentioned that I had been diagnosed with a minor health issue called Depuytren’s contracture. The surgeon opined that I needed hand surgery in three places, but the operation was scheduled a year out at Toronto Trillium Hospital, so I decided to get a new referral from my family doctor to the Hand Clinic at Toronto Western Hospital. The surgeon, Dr Heather Baltzer had recently returned from a residency at Mayo Clinic, so I was looking forward to a second opinion. On Monday, she told me surgery is needed in just one place and that injections would likely solve the other problems. Then the doctor told me she did not like the appearance of a mole on my nose, so, by good fortune, a biopsy was done right away. A minor health issue may become something larger as I have a history of three melanomas and two other types of skin cancers. So be it; I feel healthier now than in many years. Full-time boating is more than merely pleasurable; it’s also a healthy lifestyle.
Interesting that Dupuytren is called Vikings Disease. That got me thinking that while growing up with a long Italian name (my dad’s mother and father are from the city of Caserta, near Naples), friends often chided me about having long blond hair. My response, rather absurdly, was that my lineage was from Northern Italy, Scandinavia. Weak joke then but got me thinking this week. Sure enough, knowing that my mother’s grandmother were Dobson’s from Clan MacLeod of Isle of Skye, northern Scotland, I googled Isle of Skye and Vikings and sure enough the Viking raiders started attacking there in 794 AD.
Might explain my love of big boats and voyaging as well as a strong desire to fight elitists.
Today we continue to fight the gremlins in our server. The old server keeps crashing as we attempt to move old files over to the new one. If push comes to shove, I might be calling upon the Great Heathen Army for assistance.
This blog is really about gaining market savviness. People often query me as to why I happen to be so distrustful of authority figures. My short answer is that trust is earned but the elitists who control capital markets have proven themselves untrustworthy. The efficacy of self-regulation is a myth. We need a stronger SEC.
To demonstrate my point, I will simply copy the story items published by Law360.com in the past 30 days.
Ex-JPMorgan Execs Near Deal With SEC In Pay-To-Play Suit
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has reached a settlement with two former JPMorgan Securities directors it claims were part of an $8 million pay-to-play scheme to land underwriting funding from county officials, according to an order from an Alabama federal judge on Tuesday
UBS Hit With Fraud Suit Over $500M Chinese Investment
Ace Decade Holdings Ltd. sued UBS in New York on Monday, blaming the Swiss bank for its $500 million loss in an investment deal UBS allegedly structured in its own favor after concealing its close ties with an intermediary.
‘London Whale’ Claims Rightly Bypassed Board, NY Court Told
JPMorgan Chase investors seeking to revive derivative claims over the infamous $6 billion “London Whale” trading loss told a Manhattan appeals court Tuesday that bringing the claims to the bank’s board would have been futile because of personal liability some directors potentially faced.
Audit Firm Watchdog Scores First Admission Of Wrongdoing
The regulator of public company auditors signaled a tougher approach Friday when it announced it had required an auditor to admit wrongdoing as part of a settlement with the agency.
Wells Fargo Ordered To Pay $17.8M Over Mismanaged Trusts
A Missouri judge has ordered Wells Fargo to pay $17.8 million in a breach of trust suit brought by the mother of a former private equity fund manager imprisoned for tax evasion who claimed the bank mismanaged two family trusts.
JPMorgan Beats Bulk Of $8.6B Lehman Collapse Suit
A New York federal judge on Thursday axed most of a suit in which Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. accused JPMorgan Chase Bank NA of extorting an $8.6 billion “slush fund” through unjustified collateral demands in the frenzied days before Lehman’s demise.
Big Banks Finalize $1.9B Deal Over CDS Claims
Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and 11 other market participants on Thursday officially signed off on a $1.86 billion settlement in a class action alleging that they rigged the credit default swaps market, attorneys for the plaintiffs announced.
Merrill Lynch On Its Own In Suit Over $690M Zale-Signet Deal
A Delaware state judge on Thursday dismissed Signet and the Zale board of directors from shareholder litigation over the companies’ $690 million merger, but said Merrill Lynch must face allegations that it was conflicted when advising the board.
Bankers Not Liable For Board Actions, Del. Justices Told
An attorney for RBC Capital Markets fighting a $76 million award to a class of former Rural/Metro Corp. shareholders over a private equity buyout told the Delaware Supreme Court on Wednesday that the award should not stand, saying investment bankers should not be expected to monitor the activity of corporate directors.
BofA Gets Suit Over $219M Bond Offering Trimmed
Three Bank of America units can fend off negligence claims over bad tax advice the bank and Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC allegedly gave on a $219 million Virgin Islands bond offering, but two BofA affiliates must face related claims, a federal judge in the territory ruled Thursday.
Madoff Trustee Can’t Claw Back Foreign Transfers, Cos. Say
Dozens of investment companies that withdrew funds from Bernie Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme before it collapsed asked a New York bankruptcy court Wednesday to toss the Madoff trustee’s clawback bid because the transfers took place outside the U.S.
SEC Fines High-Speed Trader $8M Over Order Rule Violations
High-frequency trading firm Latour Trading LLC will pay $8 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claims it sent millions of orders to exchanges that violated market structure rules, and collected trading profits and rebates it wasn’t entitled to, the SEC said Wednesday.
Board’s Knowledge Key To 2nd Circ. ‘London Whale’ Appeal
An investor seeking to hold JPMorgan chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon and its board liable for failing to check the $5.8 billion “London whale” bloodbath told the Second Circuit that directors ignored bright red warning flags, but the megabank countered that those warnings were “pale pink” at best.
SEC’s Stein Fumes Over Slow Audit Trail Rollout
Securities and Exchange Commissioner Kara Stein on Wednesday blasted the slow rollout of a consolidated audit trail to monitor digital trading activity, saying last month’s stock market plunge underscored the need for SEC-guided securities exchanges to develop the system.
Credit Suisse To Pay $4.25M Over Faulty Reports
Credit Suisse has agreed to pay a $4.25 million penalty to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges that it submitted inaccurate information about trading activity, the SEC announced Monday.
Swiss Antitrust Watchdog Probes 7 Banks’ Metals Trading
Switzerland’s antitrust watchdog said Monday that it has opened an investigation into whether Barclays, Deutsche Bank and five other financial institutions colluded in the trading of precious metals, which include gold, silver platinum and palladium.
SEC Fines NM Bank $1.5M Over Fudged Loan Accounting
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday announced that New Mexico-based Los Alamos National Bank and its owner agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle charges that senior executives of the bank conspired to avoid reporting loan losses during the financial crisis.
Global Regulators Reach Deal On Bail-In Bonds For Top Banks
Global finance regulators reached a draft agreement Friday on a rule on preventing banks from being “too big to fail” by requiring them to hold enough equity capital and bonds to avoid taxpayers being called on in a crisis.
Goldman Sachs Investors Win Class Cert. In Abacus Case
A New York federal judge has agreed to certify a class action accusing Goldman Sachs Group Inc. of lying about its ethical compliance ahead of the $1 billion in investor losses caused by its infamous Abacus collateralized debt obligation, ruling Goldman couldn’t show a stock drop wasn’t caused by the misstatements.
25 Treasury Securities Suits Belong In New York, JPML Told
Twenty-five class actions accusing Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Barclays Capital Inc. and other financial giants of manipulating the prices of U.S. Treasury securities belong in the Southern District of New York, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation was told Thursday.
BNY Mellon, Investor Plaintiffs Settle Forex MDL For $335M
The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and institutional investor clients who sued over its forex charges settled the multidistrict litigation for $335 million in New York federal court Thursday, with the plaintiffs’ counsel set to receive a total of $83.75 million in attorneys’ fees.
JPMorgan Escapes BNY Mellon’s $600M RMBS Suit
A New York judge on Friday dismissed Bank of New York Mellon Corp.’s suit seeking $600 million from JPMorgan Chase Bank NA and a General Electric Capital Corp. unit over a $1.275 billion residential mortgage-backed securitization deal gone bad, calling the case time-barred.
Senate Dems Urge Swift IRS Crackdown On PE ‘Tax Cheating’
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and three of her Democratic colleagues urged federal authorities on Tuesday to follow through with a crackdown on private equity managers’ use of management fee waivers for preferential tax treatment, arguing that such “tax cheating” has cost the government billions of dollars.
FTC Fines Leucadia For Not Reporting $173M Deal
Holding company Leucadia National Corp. will pay the Federal Trade Commission $240,000 to resolve allegations that it violated premerger reporting laws by failing to report a conversion of its ownership interest in Knight Capital Group Inc. to shares worth about $173 million, the agency announced Tuesday.
BREAKING: SEC Nets $40M In First Case Out Of Mutual Fund Probe
First Eagle Investment Management has agreed to pay $40 million to settle claims by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it misused assets to market and distribute shares, marking the agency’s first case under a new initiative to protect mutual fund shareholders.
SEC Recovers $30M In Trading Profits In Wire-Hacking Case
A Ukrainian investment bank and its CEO have agreed to return $30 million in profits from an alleged insider trading scheme in which computer hackers stole corporate data from news wire services, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday.
Big Banks Near $1.9B Deal In CDS Antitrust Case
A $1.865 billion deal is near in litigation accusing 12 financial giants, including Bank of America Corp., Barclays PLC and Goldman Sachs & Co., of rigging the credit default swaps market, a plaintiff’s lawyer told a Manhattan federal judge Friday, calling it one of the largest private antitrust class action deals ever but cautioning the sides need time for finalization.
SEC Accuses Ex-US Attorney Of Fraud In Botched BDO Audits
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday sued former U.S. Attorney Stephen B. Pence over his work as the former chairman of General Employment Enterprises Inc., as the regulator announced a wide-ranging settlement with national audit firm BDO USA and five of its partners over their work in allegedly deficient audits.
CFTC Investigating JPMorgan Over Investment Tactics
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is probing JPMorgan Chase & Co. over the disclosures given to wealthy investment clients when they were convinced to put their money into JPM’s own investment products, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Ex-Nomura Traders Face Criminal Charges Over RMBS Deals
Federal authorities on Monday announced criminal and civil charges against three former top Nomura Securities International Inc. traders, accusing them of lying to investors about the pricing of residential mortgage-backed securities trades in a bid to pump up the firm’s profits by millions of dollars.
Nomura To Pay FHFA Up To $839M If 2nd Circ. Fight Flops
Nomura Holdings Inc. and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC will pay an extra $33 million on top of $806 million in damages against them for selling risky mortgage securities to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac if they fail in their appeal of the judgment at the Second Circuit.
Sentencing Of Kuo Delayed While High Court Weighs Newman
A New York federal judge agreed Friday to further delay the sentencing of former Whittier Trust Co. research analyst Danny Kuo while the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether to review the closely watched related case of U.S. v. Newman.
Shareholders Win Class Cert. In Wilmington Trust Fraud Suit
A Delaware federal judge granted class certification in a securities suit against Wilmington Trust Corp. on Thursday, saying damages did not need to be calculated yet.
Grand Jury Indicts ‘Flash Crash’ Trader On Criminal Charges
An Illinois federal grand jury has formally indicted the U.K. trader accused of helping cause Wall Street’s 2010 flash crash on criminal charges of market manipulation, according to a filing made public on Thursday.
DOJ Investigating Competition In Muni Bond Listing Market
The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether several inter-dealer brokers have colluded to thwart competition from rival trading and price-listing services for pricing data on secondary sales of municipal bonds, according to sources close to the probe.
NFL Players, BB&T Settle Negligence Suit Mid-Trial
A group of six National Football League veterans and Branch Banking & Trust Co. reached an agreement Wednesday to settle the players’ multimillion-dollar negligence claims against the bank, bringing an abrupt end to a trial in Miami and a nearly 2-year-old dispute.
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