Jack Casey

The House Natural Resources Committee will meet to vote on the recently revised Puerto Rico bill starting on Tuesday and continuing the following day.

The mayor of Harvey, Ill. has agreed to pay $10,000 and to never participate in a municipal bond offering again in order to settle charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission that he helped the city mislead bond investors by diverting proceeds from projects for which they were intended.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has filed a complaint against Phoenix-based Lawson Financial Corp. and the firm's president and chief executive officer, charging them with securities fraud in connection with the sale of millions of dollars of municipal revenue bonds to customers.

House members, government officials, and stakeholders all say the newest version of a bill to help Puerto Rico is a step forward, but their support for the measure seems tepid at best.

Three state Republican parties are challenging the constitutionality of a revised Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board rule designed to prevent municipal advisors as well as dealers from engaging in pay-to-play practices. The revised rule was approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission in February.

Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday urged the federal government to extend emergency loans to Puerto Rico to aid in debt restructuring. But he opposed the idea of a control board, which has been a cornerstone of legislation proposed by House Republicans.

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, a subsidiary of Bank of America, was ordered to pay $422,708 in fines and restitution by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for charging customers excessive markups and markdowns on municipal securities.

The Government Finance Officers Association is seeking a new senior associate to engage in legislative and regulatory advocacy as part of the group’s federal liaison center here.

The Government Finance Officers Association posted an alert on Thursday encouraging its members to both voluntarily disclose the terms of their bank loans and pay attention to regulators’ increased scrutiny of the lack of such disclosures.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has filed revised amendments with the Securities and Exchange Commission that would require municipal securities transactions to be closed out within 20 days of settlement.

The House Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday postponed its scheduled release of a new bill to help Puerto Rico for what members hope will be only one day as discussions about acceptable revisions continued.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is charging a father, his son, and five of their associates with defrauding investors in Native American tribal bonds to pay for, among other things, their luxury expenses and legal costs associated with prior fraud charges.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is using Peter Cannava, a banker involved in an ill-fated private placement for a startup video game company, as a scapegoat and has no basis for charging him with defrauding investors, his lawyers claimed this week.

With the House Natural Resources Committee planning to release a new Puerto Rico bill on Wednesday and vote on it a week later, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew traveled to the commonwealth to hold meetings to drum up support for a legislative solution.

Municipal industry experts on Thursday urged analysts to continue focusing on how the presence of statutory liens can change the treatment of debt in bankruptcy proceedings and ratings analyses.

Infrastructure financing and tax reform will be major issues for presidential and other candidates in November, said municipal market participants.

A regulatory official and market participants sparred over the merits of the Securities and Exchange Commission's voluntary continuing disclosure enforcement initiative during a panel here on Wednesday while acknowledging the need to improve municipal disclosure.

The National Federation of Municipal Analysts presented awards to six municipal market professionals and one issuer during a luncheon at its annual conference here on Wednesday.

Treasury Department secretary Jack Lew on Monday sent a letter to congressional leaders warning them that further inaction on a bill to help Puerto Rico pending in the House could lead to a taxpayer-funded bailout.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is opening an application window between May 3 and May 10 to allow more individuals associated with banks and broker-dealers to apply for a seat on next year’s board.