Enforcement

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.

The trustee firm in many recent troubled bond deals assembled by accused fraudster Christopher Brogdon is taking a harder line against the former employee it blames for its involvement in the mess.

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.

Allegations of securities violations against Calvin Grigsby should be dismissed, an Illinois hearing officer recommended in a case that stemmed from his firm Grigsby & Associates advising a state agency to invest in a bank that later failed.

Miami’s “dramatically improving and diverse economy” was a driving force that led Moody's Investors Service to upgrade the city’s general obligation bonds to Aa3 from A1, despite pending SEC and pension suits.

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.

A Chicago-based investment advisor faces jail time after pocketing more than $4 million from the sale of phony Chicago-backed securities that she described as "Chicago Anticipatory Notes."

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.

A lawyer facing Securities and Exchange Commission charges that he violated federal securities laws as part of a pay-to-play scheme to secure Ohio pension business is arguing the commission’s charges cannot apply to him and should be dismissed.

Ramapo, N.Y.’s A1 rating from Moody’s Investors Service is on review for downgrade in the wake of federal fraud charges alleging misstatements of financial reporting.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s municipal enforcement unit could be bringing more cases with concurrent criminal charges in the future as it plans to increase its coordination with the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

First Winston Securities, Alton Securities Group, and MidAmerica Financial Services were ordered to pay a total of $115,000 in fines and restitution by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for violation of municipal securities rules.

In parallel actions on Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. district attorney for the Southern District of New York filed civil and criminal charges against Ramapo, N.Y., officials for misleading investors in connection with bonds issued to finance a minor league baseball stadium.

Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Mary Jo White cited a voluntary municipal continuing disclosure enforcement program for dealer and issuers as one of the commission’s successful efforts at deter securities law violations and change market behavior.

The Securities Exchange Commission has charged Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton with securities fraud in a case involving a Texas-based technology company. Paxton was already under indictment in Texas for acting as an unregistered financial advisor.

The Conroe Industrial Development Corporation in Texas has paid a penalty and agreed to redeem bonds under the Internal Revenue Service’s voluntary closing agreement program (VCAP) to settle a tax violation relating to bonds it issued in 2008 and refunded in 2012.

The Supreme Court’s refusal to take up a case on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s use of administrative proceedings to impose penalties in enforcement cases prompted a law firm to recommend those subject to administrative proceedings to challenge their constitutionality.

Some investors holding millions of dollars of bonds in default in the Florida panhandle are upset by what they see as inaction by trustee Bank of Oklahoma Financial and a fired employee with links to accused fraudster Christopher Brogdon.