Enforcement

New York City public advocate Letitia James has filed a friend of the court brief in support of the Securities and Exchange Commission's pay-to-play restriction on investment advisers, which is under attack in a lawsuit filed by two state Republican parties last year.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating bonds issued in 2013 by the former scandal-ridden Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority and underwritten by Citi.

Par volume traded for municipal securities was $2.77 trillion in 2014, the lowest volume in over a decade, according to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board fact book released Wednesday.

The SEC concluded without charges an investigation it launched into Bell, Calif.'s bond debt in 2010 after fraud perpetuated on the city by the former administration came to light.

Securities and Exchange Commission officials are seeking changes to practices in the municipal market and more stringent actions to enforce rules protecting investors.

Former Pennsylvania Treasurer Rob McCord pleaded guilty in a Harrisburg courtroom to two federal counts of attempted extortion.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined two firms $370,000 for violating securities rules in their management of Puerto Rico funds, and dinged another firm $50,000 for violating trade reporting requirements.

The ruling that the former mayor was liable for violations of securities laws as a "control person" is one of which every official of a state or local government issuing debt should be aware.

The cost of complying with the Securities and Exchange Commission's MCDC initiative has been "staggering," an industry representative told the The Bond Buyer's Texas Public Finance Conference.

Bond insurers Assured Guaranty and MBIA may be among the beneficiaries after a federal judge ruled Puerto Rico's Recovery Act was unconstitutional, according to analysts at BTIG LLC.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's disclosure violation self-reporting program has highlighted that issuers and underwriters should take steps to strengthen their disclosure and due diligence procedures to protect themselves from SEC enforcement action, bond lawyers said Thursday.

The Republican parties of New York State and Tennessee will square off against the Securities and Exchange Commission in oral arguments in a federal court March 23 over rules restricting finance professionals from giving money to political candidates.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's requested fiscal year 2016 budget of $1.722 billion would allow the commission to hire hundreds of examination staff and step up enforcement, as well as help the muni office coordinate with self-regulators.

Ex-JPMorgan bankers have asked a federal judge to dismiss federal pay-to-play charges related to the sewer deals that helped push Jefferson County, Ala., into bankruptcy.

Clarke Howatt, the California agency finance director wanted in connection with the disappearance of $1.3 million in bond proceeds has resigned

As if bond rating downgrades, a $50 billion unfunded pension liability and teetering school districts weren’t enough, Pennsylvania must wrestle with more political scandal as its treasurer resigns to plead guilty after a federal investigation.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a motion for summary judgment in its securities fraud case against two former JPMorgan bankers involved in Jefferson County's sewer deals and swaps.

Two former Allen Park, Mich. officials have settled a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit against them by agreeing to be barred from involvement in any future municipal bond offerings, and ex-Mayor Gary Burtka agreed to pay a $10,000 civil penalty, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

A federal judge ordered the former comptroller of a Harvey, Ill., to pay more than $200,000 in fines and barred him from participation in any future municipal issues for his role in misleading investors on several of the south Chicago suburb's past bond offerings.

Bondholders will learn later this month how much they stand to recoup from a settlement that ended a trial accusing Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc. of misleading them on a bond deal that soured after the failure of an artificial sweetener plant project in Moberly, Mo.