Enforcement

Securities and Exchange Commission chair Mary Jo White announced today that she will leave her position at the end of the Obama administration.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking a $450,000 civil penalty against former Miami budget director Michael Boudreaux, who refused to reach a settlement after a jury found him guilty of securities fraud.

Scottrade has agreed to pay $150,000 to settle Financial Industry Regulatory Authority charges that it did not identify bonds as callable in approximately 5,000 municipal securities transactions.

A New York audit firm and one of its senior partners have agreed to pay a combined $555,000 and take a number of corrective actions to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that they issued fraudulent audit reports in connection with municipal bond offerings from the town of Ramapo, N.Y.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will continue to go after investment bankers and issuer officials to try to debunk the notion that enforcement is just another “cost of doing business,” an SEC official said here on Friday.

Underwriters should walk away from municipal securities transactions when they discover the issuer has failed to disclose key information, dealer officials said here, citing their own experiences as examples.

Tax controversy lawyer Brad Waterman argues allegations of misconduct against him are “payback” for his winning a student loan bond case.

A federal court judge has approved Miami's $1 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over charges the city acted fraudulently in taking steps to hide its deteriorating financial condition from bondholders.

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority examiners are probing firms’ involvement with bank loans and other alternative financings in the municipal market, a FINRA official said at an industry seminar here.

Underwriters’ counsel should be more proactive in keeping up to date with regulators’ concerns and then communicating those to their underwriter clients, a dealer official said here.