Recent failures of private placement deals, including notes issued by Medical Capital Holdings, has brought to light the issue of due diligence performed by broker-dealers. The issue that has been raised is that there is little to no pre-screening of private placement investment products by a regulatory body. This lack of regulatory oversight has exposed […]
Just months before his now-infamous Ponzi scheme collapsed, Bernie Madoff snookered a Merrill Lynch adviser who was attempting to perform due diligence on him for a foundation that serves the elderly, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court in Florida last week. In the complaint, MorseLife Foundation is seeking at least $33 million in […]
Former AIG CEO Hank Greenberg has agreed to pay the SEC $15 million to settle past accounting issues, according to the Wall Street Journal. Also, former AIG CFO Howard Smith will reportedly pay $1.5 million to the SEC in the settlement. An official announcement by the SEC on the settlement is expected late on Thursday.
The U.S. trustee for Delaware, where DBSI is incorporated, will ask a bankruptcy court Tuesday to appoint a trustee to run the company, ending DBSI owners’ control. “It appears that certain of the debtor’s officers and directors, including (President) Douglas Swenson, have engaged in misconduct, fraud and mismanagement which collectively caused damage to the debtors’ […]
U.S. Senator Arlen Specter introduced legislation to let investors sue law firms, accountants and investment banks that helped perpetrate fraud, seeking to overcome recent Supreme Court limits on such cases. The measure would make individuals or firms that provide “substantial assistance” in a fraud subject to investor lawsuits, Specter, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said on the […]