Investment News
A common Wall Street practice to encourage clients to take out margin loans has come under fire from plaintiff’s lawyers who claim brokers put their own financial interest ahead of their clients’. To boost margin-loan business, the lawyers claim, some brokerage houses changed the wording on new client account forms while others boosted their broker […]
OnWallstreet.com
Weary from investigations and bad press, the securities industry has gotten tougher with clients who threaten legal actions. Plaintiffs’ attorneys say firms have, for one thing, begun counterclaiming disgruntled investors. This is usually done by requesting that the claimant pay the firm’s attorneys’ fees. One such counterclaim by Merrill Lynch has had a “real chilling […]
Dow Jones Newswires
WASHINGTON — Regulators’ $1.4 billion settlement with Wall Street Friday concluded a potentially expensive and lengthy investigation, but all eyes are now on the potential for private litigation against the firms involved. The settlement requires 10 major investment banks and brokerage firms to pay fines, provide independent research for their customers, end the practice of […]
San Diego Union Tribune
Paula Whitsell was at her desk in Wells Fargo’s branch in Chula Vista when the FBI burst in, put her in handcuffs and led her past a line of stunned customers and bank clerks. Five years later – long after federal prosecutors dropped their charges – arbitrators with the National Association of Securities Dealers last […]
Wall Street Journal
An arbitration panel of the National Association of Securities Dealers ordered Wells Fargo Securities Inc., a subsidiary of Wells Fargo & Co., San Francisco, to pay a former financial consultant $1.15 million and admit that an error by the company caused her to be arrested and indicted. In 1997, federal authorities charged the consultant, Paula […]