SEC investigations into financial services firms Best answer on the web

Posted in: darrelrussell.com edit
07 Jan 2009
  • I'm looking for a list of financial services companies that have settled, lost cases, or are under significant investigation with the SEC in the past four years for doing things that harm their retail clients. I'm thinking about the big scandals of the past few years: conflicts of interest between a firm's research and the advice they give their clients and the "market timing" fraud that has been found in many mutual fund companies.
    Here are a few examples and resources I found with a quick search:
    http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2003-54.htm
    http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=199990
    http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=373760

    I've got a pretty good understanding of the general scope of the issues, but I don't have a convenient and comprehensive list of the firms involved. Links to details about the various settlements would be great, but even knowing the firm's name and the rough outline of the issue would be a help.
    Some things I'm not looking for:

    Every little SEC investigation into every individual who did something wrong. Just the big issues; I'm interested in information that suggests serious ethical or legal lapses at the firm.
    Investigations that don't affect retail clients. I'm not worried about one bank charging another about a deal that went bad. I'm looking for firms that have significantly harmed their individual consumer customers.


  • Today's New York Times has an article about two more fund companies settling market timing allegations: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/08/business/08place.html
    It's not online, but the print edition has a graphic with 9 firms and settlement size:
    600M Alliance Capital
    225M Massachusetts Financial Services
    675M Bank of America and Fleet Boston
    10M Putnam Investments
    225M Janus Capital Group
    60M Richard Strong (Strong Capital Management)
    100M PBHG Funds
    90M Bank One
    450M Invesco Funds Group

    So there's another list. The purpose of my question is to get a comprehensive list of settlements like this in the past four years.


  • I could really use the URLs though. Whatever way you can paste them in is fine.


  • Here's a list of SEC announcments of actions or settlements at financial companies in 2004:

    Aug. 31, 2004 Three Former Employees of Invesco Funds Group, Inc. Agree to Settle Charges Relating to Market Timing Abuses
    Aug. 26, 2004 SEC Brings Settled Fraud Action Against Mutual Fund Adviser Van Wagoner Capital Management, Inc., and Garrett Van Wagoner
    Aug. 26, 2004 Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Thomas Weisel Partners LLC Settle Enforcement Actions Involving Conflicts of Interest Between Research and Investment Banking
    Aug. 25, 2004 SEC Files Civil Fraud Charges Against JB Oxford Holdings, National Clearing Corporation, and Three Officers for Facilitating Fraudulent Late Trading and Market Timing
    Aug. 25, 2004 Seven Broker-Dealer Firms Settle Enforcement Actions Involving Non-Disclosure of Payments for Research Needham & Company, Inc. (Needham)
    Janney Montgomery Scott LLC (Janney)
    Morgan Keegan & Co., Inc. (Morgan Keegan)
    Prudential Equity Group, LLC f/k/a Prudential Securities Inc. (Prudential Equity)
    Adams Harkness, Inc. f/k/a Adams Harkness & Hill, Inc. (Adams Harkness)
    Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., Inc. (Friedman Billings)
    SG Cowen & Co., LLC f/k/a SG Cowen Securities Corporation (SG Cowen).

    Aug. 18, 2004 Janus Capital Management Agrees to Pay $100 Million to Settle SEC Fraud Charges for Undisclosed Market Timing Agreements SEC Brings First Enforcement Action Against Insurance Companies for Permitting Market Timing of Mutual Funds Through Variable Annuities The insurance companies are subsidiaries of Conseco, Inc. (CIHC, Inc., Conseco Services, LLC, and Conseco Equity Sales, Inc.), and the company to which Conseco sold its variable annuity business in 2002, Inviva, Inc., and its subsidiary Jefferson National Life Insurance Company.
    Aug. 3, 2004 SEC and NYSE File Settled Action Charging Fidelity Brokerage Services for Violating Federal Securities Laws and NYSE Rules in Connection with Document Alteration and Destruction
    Aug. 2, 2004 Franklin Advisers to Pay $50 Million and Undertake Compliance Reforms to Settle Market Timing Charges SETTLEMENT REACHED WITH TWO SPECIALIST FIRMS FOR VIOLATING FEDERAL SECURITIES LAWS AND NYSE REGULATIONS SIG Specialists, Inc. and Performance Specialist Group LLC

    Jun. 29, 2004 Banc One Investment Advisors Corporation Agrees to Pay $50 Million To Settle SEC Fraud Charges For Market-Timing Abuses
    Jun. 24, 2004 SEC Settles Insider Trading Matter Against Former FleetBoston Employee
    Jun. 21, 2004 Pilgrim Baxter & Associates Agrees to Pay $90 Million to Settle Fraud Charges Concerning Undisclosed Market Timing
    May 20, 2004 Strong Capital Management and Founder Richard Strong Agree to Pay $140 Million to Settle Fraud Charges Concerning Undisclosed Mutual Fund Trading
    May 6, 2004 SEC Files Civil Fraud Charges Against the PIMCO Equity Funds' Mutual Fund Advisers, Distributor, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and a Portfolio Manager for Undisclosed Market Timing Arrangements
    Apr. 8, 2004 Putnam Agrees to Pay $55 Million to Resolve SEC Enforcement Action Related to Market Timing by Portfolio Managers
    Mar. 31, 2004 Mutual Fund Manager MFS Pays $50 Million Fine To Settle SEC Enforcement Action; Firm Failed To Adequately Disclose Use of Mutual Fund Brokerage Commissions To Pay for "Shelf Space" at Brokerage Firms
    Mar. 30, 2004 Settlement Reached With Five Specialist Firms for Violating Federal Securities Laws and NYSE Regulations; Firms Will Pay More Than $240 Million in Penalties and Disgorgement Bear Wagner Specialists LLC; Fleet Specialist, Inc.; LaBranche & Co., LLC; Spear, Leeds & Kellogg Specialists LLC; and Van der Moolen Specialists USA, LLC.
    Mar. 15, 2004 SEC's Division of Enforcement Announces Agreement to Settle Civil Fraud Charges Against Fleet's Columbia Mutual Fund Adviser and Distributor for Undisclosed Market Timing
    Mar. 15, 2004 SEC Reaches Agreement in Principle to Settle Charges Against Bank of America for Market Timing and Late Trading
    Mar. 10, 2004 SEC Brings Enforcement Action Against Banc of America Securities for Repeated Document Production Failures During a Pending Investigation; Firm Is Censured and Pays a $10 Million Penalty to Settle Charges
    Feb. 24, 2004 SEC Files Civil Fraud Case Against Fleet's Columbia Mutual Fund Adviser and Distributor for Multiple Undisclosed Market Timing Arrangements
    Feb. 12, 2004 Fifteen Firms to Pay Over $21.5 Million in Penalties to Settle SEC and NASD Breakpoints Charges Wachovia Securities, LLC
    UBS Financial Services Inc.
    American Express Financial Advisors Inc.
    Raymond James Financial Services, Inc.
    Legg Mason Wood Walker, Inc.
    Linsco/Private Ledger Corp.
    H.D. Vest Investment Securities, Inc.
    Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc.
    Lehman Brothers Inc.
    Cresap, Inc.
    SWS Financial Services
    Kirkpatrick, Pettis, Smith, Polian Inc.
    Southwest Securities, Inc.
    David Lerner Associates, Inc.
    Brecek & Young Advisors, Inc.

    Feb. 5, 2004 Massachusetts Financial Services Co. Will Pay $225 Million and Make Significant Governance and Compliance Reforms To Settle SEC Fraud Charges Concerning Mutual Fund Market Timing; MFS's Two Top Executives Prohibited From Serving as Officers or Directors of Any Investment Adviser for Three Years; Entire Amount Paid To Be Returned to Investors Harmed by Market Timing
    Feb. 3, 2004 SEC Charges Former CIBC Managing Director With Fraud for Role in Financing Unlawful Mutual Fund Trading
    Jan. 20, 2004 SEC Institutes Fraud Action Against Accounting Firms Grant Thornton and Doeren Mayhew and Certain of the Firms' Personnel in Connection with Their Audit of MCA Financial Corporation
    ==========

    Is this the type of information you're after? These are titles of press releases, and each item is linked to a more detailed document. Obviously, there is a lot of information out there, but it sounds as if you're looking for a "headlines only" type of summary.
    Let me know if this suits your needs, and if so, I'll see if I can generate similar lists going back a few years.
    pafalafa-ga


  • Thanks for the feedback...here's one more link I'd like you to look at:


    http://snipurl.com/8v5o


    See the second article on this page: "Is Your Fund Company Clean?"

    Is this sort of information helpful, and if so, what additional information would you need as an answer to your question...?
    Thanks.

    pafalafa-ga


  • Thanks for looking, pafalafa, but that's not what I'm looking for. I've never heard of Online Power Supply, but I'm pretty sure it's not a financial services firm. And the judgement looks like sort of run-of-the-day small time securities fraud, not a settlement for millions of dollars for systemic fraud.
    I'm looking for investigations into big financial services firms. Again, this link is an example, probably the biggest one: http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2003-54.htm

    From this I've learned about a major impropriety involving 10 major financial services firms. What are the other major improprieties in the past few years? What are the other firms?


  • If it's a lot of extra work for you, definitely no need to do the reformatting. Apologies for the confusion!


  • Thanks for sticking with me, pafalafa, the new list from SEC releases is exactly what I'm looking for. Thank you! You're right that a headline-only summary is most useful to me. The list you already gave me is great, if you can run that back a few years and include URLs I'll be more than satisfied. If you're reformatting the information anyway what would be ideal is a list sorted by company name, with one sentence summaries and links for each company. Ie:
    Deutsche Bank
    2004-08-26
    Conflicts of Interest Between Research and Investment Banking
    http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2004-120.htm
    2001-06-03
    (hypothetical second issue)
    http://...


  • Thanks again for your time, pafalafa, but you're not quite finding what I'm looking for. The "is your fund company clean" article is sort of interesting, but the author doesn't get very deep into it. Of course a bunch of companies got subpoenaed, but that doesn't tell me whether they did anything wrong. And the author doesn't investigate anything. For instance for Federated Investors, "an internal investigation found exceptions to company rules regarding market timing and late trading". Well, sure, but what really happened?
    I'm really looking for primary sources, like the SEC release I mentioned. Or for secondary sources I'd like higher quality, major news sources like the New York Times, Barron's, etc. I've been reading about these scandals for the past few years, I want a summary of who's dirty.


  • OK...thanks again.

    This question is open to all the Google Answer researchers, so perhaps there are others who will look into it as well. Mean time, I'll keep poking around to see if I can find something on-target for your needs.
    pafalafa-ga


  • Take a look at this link, please, and let me know what you think:



    http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/lr18529.htm


    Is it on target? Too minor? Off base for what you're interested in? Your feedback will help me focus my research.

    Thanks.


    pafalafa-ga


  • That will do very nicely, thanks for your help!


  • investmentconsumer-ga,

    Man oh man...things really hit the fan for the financial services industry starting in 2003. You'd be hard-pressed to find a financial firm NOT included in the list below.
    Hope this information is exactly what you needed. But before rating this answer, please let me know if there is anything else you need, or if anything below is not clear.
    Thanks for hanging in with me on this one.

    pafalafa-ga


    ==========


    http://www.sec.gov/news/press.shtml
    2004 Press Releases

    Aug. 31, 2004 Three Former Employees of Invesco Funds Group, Inc. Agree to Settle Charges Relating to Market Timing Abuses
    Aug. 26, 2004 SEC Brings Settled Fraud Action Against Mutual Fund Adviser Van Wagoner Capital Management, Inc., and Garrett Van Wagoner
    Aug. 26, 2004 Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Thomas Weisel Partners LLC Settle Enforcement Actions Involving Conflicts of Interest Between Research and Investment Banking
    Aug. 25, 2004 SEC Files Civil Fraud Charges Against JB Oxford Holdings, National Clearing Corporation, and Three Officers for Facilitating Fraudulent Late Trading and Market Timing
    Aug. 25, 2004 Seven Broker-Dealer Firms Settle Enforcement Actions Involving Non-Disclosure of Payments for Research Needham & Company, Inc. (Needham)
    Janney Montgomery Scott LLC (Janney)
    Morgan Keegan & Co., Inc. (Morgan Keegan)
    Prudential Equity Group, LLC f/k/a Prudential Securities Inc. (Prudential Equity)
    Adams Harkness, Inc. f/k/a Adams Harkness & Hill, Inc. (Adams Harkness)
    Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., Inc. (Friedman Billings)
    SG Cowen & Co., LLC f/k/a SG Cowen Securities Corporation (SG Cowen).

    Aug. 18, 2004 Janus Capital Management Agrees to Pay $100 Million to Settle SEC Fraud Charges for Undisclosed Market Timing Agreements SEC Brings First Enforcement Action Against Insurance Companies for Permitting Market Timing of Mutual Funds Through Variable Annuities The insurance companies are subsidiaries of Conseco, Inc. (CIHC, Inc., Conseco Services, LLC, and Conseco Equity Sales, Inc.), and the company to which Conseco sold its variable annuity business in 2002, Inviva, Inc., and its subsidiary Jefferson National Life Insurance Company.
    Aug. 3, 2004 SEC and NYSE File Settled Action Charging Fidelity Brokerage Services for Violating Federal Securities Laws and NYSE Rules in Connection with Document Alteration and Destruction
    Aug. 2, 2004 Franklin Advisers to Pay $50 Million and Undertake Compliance Reforms to Settle Market Timing Charges SETTLEMENT REACHED WITH TWO SPECIALIST FIRMS FOR VIOLATING FEDERAL SECURITIES LAWS AND NYSE REGULATIONS SIG Specialists, Inc. and Performance Specialist Group LLC

    Jun. 29, 2004 Banc One Investment Advisors Corporation Agrees to Pay $50 Million To Settle SEC Fraud Charges For Market-Timing Abuses
    Jun. 24, 2004 SEC Settles Insider Trading Matter Against Former FleetBoston Employee
    Jun. 21, 2004 Pilgrim Baxter & Associates Agrees to Pay $90 Million to Settle Fraud Charges Concerning Undisclosed Market Timing
    May 20, 2004 Strong Capital Management and Founder Richard Strong Agree to Pay $140 Million to Settle Fraud Charges Concerning Undisclosed Mutual Fund Trading
    May 6, 2004 SEC Files Civil Fraud Charges Against the PIMCO Equity Funds' Mutual Fund Advisers, Distributor, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and a Portfolio Manager for Undisclosed Market Timing Arrangements
    Apr. 8, 2004 Putnam Agrees to Pay $55 Million to Resolve SEC Enforcement Action Related to Market Timing by Portfolio Managers
    Mar. 31, 2004 Mutual Fund Manager MFS Pays $50 Million Fine To Settle SEC Enforcement Action; Firm Failed To Adequately Disclose Use of Mutual Fund Brokerage Commissions To Pay for "Shelf Space" at Brokerage Firms
    Mar. 30, 2004 Settlement Reached With Five Specialist Firms for Violating Federal Securities Laws and NYSE Regulations; Firms Will Pay More Than $240 Million in Penalties and Disgorgement Bear Wagner Specialists LLC; Fleet Specialist, Inc.; LaBranche & Co., LLC; Spear, Leeds & Kellogg Specialists LLC; and Van der Moolen Specialists USA, LLC.
    Mar. 15, 2004 SEC's Division of Enforcement Announces Agreement to Settle Civil Fraud Charges Against Fleet's Columbia Mutual Fund Adviser and Distributor for Undisclosed Market Timing
    Mar. 15, 2004 SEC Reaches Agreement in Principle to Settle Charges Against Bank of America for Market Timing and Late Trading
    Mar. 10, 2004 SEC Brings Enforcement Action Against Banc of America Securities for Repeated Document Production Failures During a Pending Investigation; Firm Is Censured and Pays a $10 Million Penalty to Settle Charges
    Feb. 24, 2004 SEC Files Civil Fraud Case Against Fleet's Columbia Mutual Fund Adviser and Distributor for Multiple Undisclosed Market Timing Arrangements
    Feb. 12, 2004 Fifteen Firms to Pay Over $21.5 Million in Penalties to Settle SEC and NASD Breakpoints Charges Wachovia Securities, LLC
    UBS Financial Services Inc.
    American Express Financial Advisors Inc.
    Raymond James Financial Services, Inc.
    Legg Mason Wood Walker, Inc.
    Linsco/Private Ledger Corp.
    H.D. Vest Investment Securities, Inc.
    Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc.
    Lehman Brothers Inc.
    Cresap, Inc.
    SWS Financial Services
    Kirkpatrick, Pettis, Smith, Polian Inc.
    Southwest Securities, Inc.
    David Lerner Associates, Inc.
    Brecek & Young Advisors, Inc.

    Feb. 5, 2004 Massachusetts Financial Services Co. Will Pay $225 Million and Make Significant Governance and Compliance Reforms To Settle SEC Fraud Charges Concerning Mutual Fund Market Timing; MFS's Two Top Executives Prohibited From Serving as Officers or Directors of Any Investment Adviser for Three Years; Entire Amount Paid To Be Returned to Investors Harmed by Market Timing
    Feb. 3, 2004 SEC Charges Former CIBC Managing Director With Fraud for Role in Financing Unlawful Mutual Fund Trading
    Jan. 20, 2004 SEC Institutes Fraud Action Against Accounting Firms Grant Thornton and Doeren Mayhew and Certain of the Firms' Personnel in Connection with Their Audit of MCA Financial Corporation

    ==========

    http://www.sec.gov/news/press/pressarchive/2003press.shtml
    2003 Press Releases

    Dec. 23, 2003 SEC Files Emergency Action against Security Brokerage, Inc. and Daniel Calugar for Engaging in Mutual Fund Late Trading and Market Timing Schemes
    Dec. 23, 2003
    SEC Halts $800 Million Investment Fraud in Orange County
    fraudulent scheme in which over 5,200 investor accounts purportedly hold investments of over $813 million through an Orange County, Calif., business known as Financial Advisory Consultants (FAC).
    Dec. 18, 2003 Alliance Capital Management Will Pay Record $250 Million and Make Significant Governance and Compliance Reforms To Settle SEC Charges; Entire Amount Will Be Returned To Investors Who Lost Money Because of Firm's Illegal Market Timing Arrangements
    Dec. 15, 2003 SEC Brings First Failure To Supervise Action Against Principal of an Unregistered Investment Adviser to a Hedge Fund; Also Charges Hedge Fund Director of Investments With Fraud The Commission charged Wilfred Meckel, principal, and Robert T. Littell, director of investments, of Marque Millennium Group, Inc. (MMG), an unregistered investment adviser to three hedge funds called Marque Partners I (MPI), Marque Partners II and Marque Fund II Limited.
    Dec. 11, 2003 SEC Levels Fraud Charges Against Heartland Advisors, Inc., 12 Company Officials and Others for Misrepresentations, Mispricing and Insider Trading in Two High Yield Bond Funds
    Dec. 4, 2003 SEC Charges Dallas Investment Complex and Three of its Officers with Defrauding Hundreds of Mutual Funds in Market Timing and Late Trading Scheme The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced civil fraud charges against Mutuals.com, Inc., of Dallas, Tex., its CEO, its president, and its compliance officer, as well as two affiliated broker-dealer firms. Charged in the SEC's action are -- Mutuals.com, an SEC-registered broker-dealer and investment adviser with 18 institutional and hedge fund clients and the adviser for the Mutuals.com Trust mutual fund (f/k/a 1-800 MUTUALS Advisor Series); Connely Dowd Management, Inc. (CDM) and MTT Fundcorp, Inc. (MTT), two affiliated broker-dealers; Richard Sapio, age 37, of Dallas, Mutuals.com's CEO; Eric McDonald, age 35, of Desoto, Tex., Mutuals.com's president; and Michele Leftwich, age 35, of Dallas, Mutuals.com's compliance officer.
    Dec. 2, 2003 SEC Charges Invesco Funds Group, Inc. and CEO Raymond Cunningham With Fraud and Breach of Fiduciary Duty for Allowing Market Timing at Invesco Funds
    Nov. 25, 2003 Federal and State Agencies Announce Actions Against Security Trust Company; Phoenix Bank will Undergo Orderly Dissolution and Close by March 31, 2004
    Nov. 20, 2003 Founders of PBHG Funds and Pilgrim Baxter & Associates Charged with Fraud in Connection with Market Timing of PBHG Funds
    Nov. 17, 2003 SEC Charges Morgan Stanley With Inadequate Disclosure in Mutual Fund Sales; Morgan Stanley Pays $50 Million To Settle SEC Action
    Nov. 13, 2003 Putnam Agrees to Make Restitution and Implement Immediate, Significant Structural Reforms in Partial Resolution of SEC Enforcement Action
    Nov. 12, 2003 Former Goldman Economist Youngdahl Agrees to Fraud Injunction and $240,000 Penalty in SEC Treasury Bond Insider Trading Case
    Nov. 4, 2003 SEC Brings Fraud Charges Against Former Prudential Brokers in Connection with Market Timing of Mutual Funds
    Nov. 3, 2003 SEC and NASD Announce Actions as a Result of Findings of "Breakpoint" Overcharges on Mutual Fund Transactions [This action involved 450 firms!, 175 of whom were identified as having particularly poor records. A summary of the issue can be seen here: http://www.sec.gov/news/studies/breakpointrep.htm ]

    Oct. 29, 2003 SEC Announces Fraud Charges Against Former Portfolio Manager of the Lipper Convertible Hedge Funds
    Oct. 28, 2003 SEC Brings Enforcement Actions Against Putnam Investment Management LLC and Two Putnam Managing Directors for Self-Dealing in Putnam Funds
    Oct. 16, 2003 New York AG and SEC Bring Criminal and Civil Actions Against Mutual Fund Executive New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and the Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the arrest, conviction, and lifetime industry bar of James P. Connelly, Jr., former Vice Chairman and Chief Mutual Fund Officer of Fred Alger & Company, Inc., a prominent mutual fund firm.
    Oct. 1, 2003 SEC Sues J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. for Unlawful IPO Allocation Practices J.P. Morgan Agrees to Settlement Calling for Injunction and Payment of $25 Million Penalty
    Sep. 25, 2003 Former Ernst & Young Audit Partner Arrested for Obstruction Charges and Criminal Violations of Sarbanes-Oxley Act
    Sep. 16, 2003 Attorney General Spitzer and Securities and Exchange Commission File Charges Against Bank of America Broker
    Sep. 11, 2003 SEC Charges American International Group and Others in Brightpoint Securities Fraud; AIG Agrees To Pay $10 Million Civil Penalty
    Sep. 4, 2003 SEC Brings Enforcement Actions against Three Individuals, Goldman Sachs, and Massachusetts Financial Services Company Related to Trading Based on Non-Public Information about the Treasury's Decision to Cease Issuance of the 30-Year Bond
    Aug. 28, 2003 U.S. Attorney and SEC Charge Fraud in $20 Million Washington State Municipal Bond Sale; Defendants Orchestrated Fraudulent Sale of Bonds for Holmes Harbor Sewer District Named in both the criminal indictment obtained by the U.S. Attorney's Office and in the Commission's civil complaint were Terry Martin of Mukilteo, Wash., the controlling shareholder of the project's developer; J. David Smith of Edmonds, Wash., the developer's attorney; and John H. White of Stanwood, Wash., and Edward L. Tezak of Sheridan, Mont., who were involved in arranging private financing for the project.
    Also named in the Commission's civil complaint were Michael McCall of Elk Grove, Calif., and Charles Tull of Bellingham, Wash., attorneys who represented Holmes Harbor Sewer District in the bond sale; Ibis Securities of Walnut Creek, Calif., the underwriter of the bonds; Ibis principals Kenneth Martin of Concord, Calif., and George Tamura of San Leandro, Calif.; and Signal Mortgage, Inc., a Washington state mortgage broker of which defendant John H. White was a vice president and part owner.
    Aug. 20, 2003 SEC Brings Settled Enforcement Action Against UBS PaineWebber for Failure to Supervise Broker, Imposes $500,000 Penalty
    Aug. 19, 2003 SEC Brings Settled Enforcement Action Against Deutsche Bank Investment Advisory Unit in Connection with Its Voting of Client Proxies for Merger Transaction; Imposes $750,000 Penalty
    Aug. 18, 2003 SEC Sues NCFE Executive for Role in $1 Billion Fraud

    Aug. 14, 2003 SG Cowen and Lehman Brothers Settle Enforcement Actions with SEC and NYSE for Supervisory Failures in Frank Gruttadauria Case
    Jul. 28, 2003 SEC Settles Enforcement Proceedings against J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup
    Jul. 10, 2003 SEC Alleges Violations of Mutual Fund Sales Practice Requirements, Sanctions Prudential Securities, Incorporated
    May 22, 2003 SEC Finds PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Engaged in Improper Professional Conduct; PwC is Censured and Agrees to Pay $1 Million, Establish New Document Retention Policies and Retain an Independent Consultant
    Apr. 28, 2003 The Securities and Exchange Commission, NASD and the New York Stock Exchange Permanently Bar Henry Blodget From the Securities Industry and Require $4 Million Payment Henry Blodget, a former managing director at Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith

    Apr. 28, 2003 The Securities and Exchange Commission, New York Attorney General's Office, NASD and the New York Stock Exchange Permanently Bar Jack Grubman and Require $15 Million Payment Grubman, of New York City, a former managing director of Salomon Smith Barney Inc

    Apr. 28, 2003 Ten of Nation's Top Investment Firms Settle Enforcement Actions Involving Conflicts of Interest Between Research and Investment Banking The ten firms against which enforcement actions are being announced today are:

    Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. (Bear Stearns)
    Credit Suisse First Boston LLC (CSFB)
    Goldman, Sachs & Co. (Goldman)
    Lehman Brothers Inc. (Lehman)
    J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. (J.P. Morgan)
    Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Incorporated (Merrill Lynch)
    Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated (Morgan Stanley)
    Citigroup Global Markets Inc. f/k/a Salomon Smith Barney Inc. (SSB)
    UBS Warburg LLC (UBS)
    U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray Inc. (Piper Jaffray)

    Mar. 17, 2003 SEC Charges Merrill Lynch, Four Merrill Lynch Executives with Aiding and Abetting Enron Accounting Fraud
    Jan. 29, 2003 SEC Charges KPMG and Four KPMG Partners With Fraud in Connection With Audits of Xerox; SEC Seeks Injunction, Disgorgement and Penalties
    Jan. 14, 2003 SEC Charges Former Day-Trading Principals with Securities Fraud; Others Charged with Fraud or Violating Recordkeeping and Reporting Rules Sheldon Maschler, Jeffrey A. Citron, Michael McCarty, Erik Maschler, and Heartland Securities Corp. with participating in an extensive fraudulent scheme involving the Nasdaq Stock Market's Small Order Execution System
    Jan. 9, 2003 SEC Sues Robertson Stephens Inc. for Profit Sharing in Connection With 'Hot' IPOs; Firm, Former Research Analyst Separately Charged in Connection With Misleading Research Reports; Firm To Pay Total of $33 Million To Settle All Charges

    ==========


    http://www.sec.gov/news/press/pressarchive/2002press.shtml
    2002 Press Releases

    Dec. 20, 2002 SEC, NY Attorney General, NASD, NASAA, NYSE and State Regulators Announce Historic Agreement To Reform Investment Practices; $1.4 Billion Global Settlement Includes Penalties and Funds for Investors Bear Stearns & Co. LLC
    Credit Suisse First Boston Corp.
    Deutsche Bank
    Goldman Sachs
    J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
    Lehman Brothers, Inc
    Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.
    Morgan Stanley
    Salomon Smith Barney, Inc.
    UBS Warburg LLC

    Aug. 6, 2002 SEC Charges 81 Defendants in Telemarketing Stock Fraud Schemes
    charges today arising from 10 schemes in which the defendants conducted unregistered securities offerings and fraudulently diverted the proceeds to pay exorbitant, undisclosed commissions to telemarketers and other unregistered brokers who solicited the investors.
    Jul. 24, 2002 SEC Charges Adelphia and Rigas Family With Massive Financial Fraud

    Jul. 18, 2002 The Securities and Exchange Commission Takes Enforcement Action with Respect to the PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. Arising Out of PNC's Improper Accounting and Disclosures Regarding the Transfer of $762 Million of Loans and Other Assets to Special Purpose Entities
    Jul. 17, 2002 PricewaterhouseCoopers Settles SEC Auditor Independence Case

    Jun. 27, 2002 SEC Censures Dutch Ernst & Young Firm and Orders It to Pay $400,000 Civil Penalty
    Mar. 27, 2002 SEC Files Emergency Action to Halt $98 Million Prime Bank Scheme, Recover Investors' Funds
    Mar. 27, 2002 SEC Seeks Contempt Order against Repeat Offender for Alleged Violations of Previous Injunction Global Diamond Fund Inc.

    Feb. 21, 2002 SEC Files Charges Against Former Lehman Bros. Branch Manager Gruttadauria, Seeks Receiver and Asset Freeze
    Feb. 14, 2002 SEC Charges Notorious "Dr. Noe" and Five Others in Million Dollar Prime Bank Fraud
    Jan. 24, 2002 SEC Charges iCapital Markets LLC, Successor to Datek Securities,with Securities Fraud
    Jan. 22, 2002 SEC Charges CSFB with Abusive IPO Allocation Practices, CSFB Will Pay $100 Million to Settle SEC and NASD Actions, Millions in IPO Profits Extracted from Customers in Exchange for Allocations in "Hot" Deals
    Jan. 14, 2002 SEC Censures KPMG for Auditor Independence Violation


    ==========

    http://www.sec.gov/news/press/pressarchive/2001press.shtml
    2001 Press Releases

    Dec. 17, 2001 SEC Revokes Registration of Republic New York Securities Corp., a Broker-Dealer Pleading Guilty to Securities Fraud in Related Criminal Action
    Nov. 19, 2001 State Bank of India and Citibank, N.A. Settle SEC Charges Involving An Unregistered Securities Offering
    Jul. 30, 2001 Bank of America Corp. Agrees to Commission Order Finding That It Violated Reporting andDisclosure Requirements
    Jul. 24, 2001 Bank of Bermuda Agrees to $67.5 Million Proposed Settlement in Lawsuits Arising from SEC ActionShutting Down Cash 4 Titles Ponzi Scheme
    Jul. 18, 2001 SEC Files Financial Fraud Action Against Current and Former Senior Officers and Directors ofAmerican Banknote Corporation, and Former Senior Officers and Directors of American Bank NoteHolographics, Inc.; Fraud Suits Instituted and Settled Against American Bank Note Corporation,American Bank Note Holographics, Inc., and Others
    Jun. 19, 2001 Arthur Andersen LLP Agrees to Settlement Resulting in First Antifraud Injunction in More Than20 Years and Largest-Ever Civil Penalty ? of $7 Million ? in SEC Enforcement ActionAgainst a Big Five Accounting Firm

    ==========


    Again, let me know if you need any additional information.


  • investmentconsumer-ga,

    Thanks so very much for the feedback and the quite generous tip. Hope your work in this area (whatever it may be!) goes well.
    pafalafa-ga


  • Hello again.

    Glad to hear I'm on target, now...sometimes it takes a few warm-ups before hitting the mark.
    I'd be more than happy to extend the list back a few years, if that will meet your needs.
    However, you also asked:

    >>...If you're reformatting the information anyway what would be ideal is a list sorted by company name, with one sentence summaries and links for each company...<<
    I didn't have any reformatting in mind. Since so many of the press releases concern multiple companies, sorting the list by company name is actually a much more complex task than might be supposed. If you need the answer in this format, I would ask that you consider re-pricing your question commensurate with the level of effort involved
    (I rarely make such requests, and hope you don't mind it here...but it really would be a large task to format these as you asked. I'd much prefer to leave the question as is, and provide an answer using the same format as before).
    Let me know your preferences here, and I'll certainly do my best.

    Thanks,

    pafalafa-ga