Investors in Charles Schwab’s YieldPlus Fund have important decisions to make. Recently, a California Federal court tentatively certified a class action brought by YieldPlus investors against Schwab. YieldPlus investors need to determine (i) whether they are members of one or more of the designated classes, (ii) if so, whether they wish to remain in the […]
Wachovia Bank, JPMorgan and other major financial institutions have filed their second motion to dismiss a complaint brought against them by more than a dozen state and local governments alleging price-fixing and bid-rigging of municipal derivatives markets. This according to a recent article by Erin Fuchs in Law360 entitled “Banks Shoot To Kill Municipal Bond […]
The Wall Street Journal recently reported on a federal district court decision that could pave the way for future lawsuits by investors against credit rating firms such as Moody’s, Standard & Poors and Fitch, whose ratings of junk investments as investment grade have come under fire by Congress. The September 4th article by Nathan Koppel, […]
A Nevada based Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration panel awarded damages to a Nevada couple as a result of losses sustained in the Charles Schwab YieldPlus Fund. The panel awarded the Raymond and Elsie Kelly 100 percent of their net out of pocket losses of $74,430.77 plus interest at the rate of 3.25% per […]
A California federal court has issued an order allowing a Schwab YieldPlus Fund lawsuit filed against Charles Schwab to proceed as class action. The Fund is also the subject of numerous FINRA arbitrations as well as this class action. The order, filed on August 21, 2009, certified three classes, consisting of two federal classes of […]
Northern Trust Securities, Inc. has succeeded in obtaining the dismissal of a class action filed against it by Aimis Art Corp. arising out of the sale of auction rate securities, reported Liz McKenzie in her Law360 article entitled “Northern Trust Escapes Investor’s ARS Action.” Aimis filed the lawsuit on September 17, 2008. On September 29, […]
Investors have filed a class action complaint against Proshares Advisors LLC and others for violating anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws by misrepresenting and failing to disclose material risks associated with an inverse leveraged exchange traded fund (“ETF”), reported Evan Weinberger in his recent 360Law article entitled “Class Alleges ProShares ETF Is ‘Defective Product.’” […]
Today, Bank of America agreed to pay a $33 million fine to settle charges brought by the SEC arising out of Bank of America’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch. Specifically, the SEC accused Bank of America of misleading of investors about performance bonuses that were to be paid to executives at Merrill Lynch following the acquisition […]
Evergreen Investment Management Company (“Evergreen”), a unit of Wells Fargo & Co., has agreed to pay more than $40 million to settle an enforcement action by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the Massachusetts Securities Division, according to articles in the Wall Street Journal and Reuters. Evergreen was a subsidiary of Wachovia at the […]
OppenheimerFunds’ 529 Plans are facing a rash of suits and complaints regarding alleged mismanagement of its college education funds. The State of Oregon has sued OppenheimerFunds to recover money lost by members of the plan, alleging mismanagement of a nominally conservative bond fund in which Plan funds are invested. According to the Oregon Attorney General’s […]
