Enforcement

Stark Municipal Brokers and Performance Trust Capital Partners have agreed to pay a combined $25,000 over reporting violations uncovered by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and a former chief executive officer of an Atlanta-based securities company has agreed to be barred from the market in a FINRA action that involves alleged securities fraud.

The securities fraud jury verdict against the city of Miami and its former budget director Michael Boudreaux on Wednesday will likely embolden the Securities and Exchange Commission to litigate rather than settle cases against issuers and their officials, lawyers said on Thursday.

In a first-of-a-kind verdict, a Miami jury found on Wednesday that Miami and its former budget director, Michael Boudreaux, were guilty of securities fraud for faulty disclosures in connection with three 2009 municipal bond offerings.

Amid a federal corruption probe, Opa-locka, Fla.'s former manager, David Chiverton pleaded guilty to taking pay-offs as a state financial oversight panel attempts to prevent the city from having to file for bankruptcy.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ordered UBS to pay $750,000 in damages to two Puerto Rico bondholders.

Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. has preliminarily agreed to pay a penalty and disgorge ill-gotten gains to settle SEC charges that it misled five Wisconsin school districts, which ultimately lost $200 million from investments that failed during the financial crisis.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday announced that a subsidiary of BOK Financial Corp. that served as indenture trustee and dissemination agent for municipal conduit bonds previously tied to securities fraud has agreed to pay more than $1.6 million to settle charges that it helped to conceal numerous problems and red flags from investors in the securities.

The Government Finance Officers Association and the National Association of Bond Lawyers on Thursday each issued guidance to issuers and counsel on how to comply with tax-exempt bond rules after the issuance of tax-advantaged bonds.

The Government Finance Officers Association sent an alert to its members on Thursday about the importance of timely disclosures in the wake of issuer settlements with the Securities and Exchange Commission under its voluntary continuing disclosure enforcement initiative.

The Ramapo Local Development Corp. and three individuals facing Securities and Exchange Commission securities fraud charges are asking a federal judge to dismiss the SEC's complaint, claiming, among other things, that no one was hurt.