Enforcement

Halifax Hospital Medical Center in Florida will pay $11.9 million on top of $85 million to settle claims made by the federal government and a whistleblower.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged the state of Kansas with violating federal securities laws by failing to disclose in bond documents that the state's pension system was significantly underfunded, creating a repayment risk for investors.

A lawsuit challenging the Securities and Exchange Commission's pay-to-play rules could have implications for the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's effort to write such rules for muni advisers, as well an existing rule for dealers.

The Securities and Exchange Commission could have trouble punishing issuers and underwriters in court if they choose to fight rather than settle under the Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative, lawyers and an economist said during a Thursday webinar.

Issuers believe guidance recently released by bond lawyers will help them determine whether they made materially misleading statements in offering documents that they could consider self-reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The National Association of Bond Lawyers has released a paper designed to provide issuers considering whether to participate in the Securities and Exchange Commission's Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation Initiative with an analytical framework to decide whether they made material misstatements about their continuing disclosure compliance.

Louisiana State Bond Commission and Department of Justice attorneys entered into a settlement of the government's housing discrimination lawsuit even though the commission's chairman claims it was not authorized by the full SBC..

The Securities and Exchange Commission's changes to its disclosure violation self-reporting program are somewhat helpful to issuers but may create further problems in their relationships with underwriters, market participants said.

An unfavorable federal ruling on high quality liquid asset status for municipal bonds would sharply curb bank appetite for munis, said economist George Friedlander.

In light of the MSRB's dual mission to protect both municipal entities and investors, SIFMA urges the MSRB to interpret MSRB Rule G-17, effective immediately, to apply specific baseline provisions to municipal advisors.

As banks make more loans to lower-rated municipalities, they may have to follow Interagency Guidance on Leveraged Lending that was developed with private and corporate borrowers in mind.

UBS is facing more than $600 million in damage claims filed by Puerto Rico investors in closed-end bond funds, the bank said in its second quarter earnings report Tuesday.

Brian Zwerner, former manager of Bank of America's municipal derivatives trading desk, received three years' probation and a $10,000 fine for mini bond bid-rigging

Municipal bond issuers, dealers, and lawyers are making another push to alter the Securities and Exchange Commission's Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative, asking the SEC to narrow the program's scope and delay its deadline by several months.

The Kansas Public Employees Retirement System is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for its pension disclosure practices, a probe that began in 2010, according to a KPERS spokeswoman and bond documents.

Based on two court cases, two former JPMorgan bankers want the SEC's pay-to-play case involving Jefferson County, Ala.'s failed sewer deals dismissed.

Louisiana issuers should take advantage of the SEC's initiative to self-report continuing disclosure lapses, the State Bond Commission urged Thursday.

A Republican congressman is pushing the Securities and Exchange Commission to limit the scope of its disclosure violations self-reporting program to the last two years, warning that if it does not he and other lawmakers may seek a legislative solution.

Four Senators from both sides of the aisle are warning the Treasury Department that the tax consequences of proposed rules could deter state and local governments and businesses from using institutional money market funds for cash management.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has permanently barred a former employee of a broker-dealer and investment advisory firm from the financial markets and ordered him to pay more than $200,000 of restitution to a customer he swindled.