Enforcement

A federal court in New York delayed the sentencing of former UBS Banker Mark Zaino to Dec. 12 for his role in rigging municipal bond contracts.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is conducting nationwide, "limited scope examinations" of certain mutual funds that invest in Puerto Rico securities, according to a document obtained by The Bond Buyer and knowledgeable sources.

Two law firms have filed cases against UBS over losses on closed-end funds holding Puerto Rico municipal bonds.

Sentencing for convicted bid-rigger David Rubin has been pushed back to Dec. 3 from Oct. 18, at the request of defense attorneys who said they needed more time to prepare an analysis disputing the $11.5 million of restitution federal prosecutors are seeking.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined three firms a total $115,000, and ordered two of them to pay $35,441 of restitution to customers, for violating municipal securities fair pricing, fair dealing and primary offering disclosure rules.

Regulators warned brokers at a Bond Dealers of America conference not to play loose with municipal securities rules, and asked them to report competitors they suspect.

St. Louis-based broker-dealer L.J. Hart & Co. was censured and paid a $200,000 fine to settle FINRA charges that it improperly gave more than $183,000 in sports tickets to issuer clients

A federal judge has issued an order for mediation between the City of Miami, Fla. and the Securities and Exchange Commission, a step the SEC said is required for its securities fraud case against the city and its former budget director.

For the first time in four years, Miami has a budget without declaring a fiscal emergency but the city faces legal hurdles, including a federal lawsuit filed by the SEC.

Elaine Greenberg, former chief of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s municipal securities and public pension unit, made her private-sector speaking debut after joining Orrick.

Bond lawyers need to tell federal tax regulators what aspects of the proposed issue price rules are unworkable and then recommend alternatives or fixes, a Treasury Department official said Wednesday in Chicago.

The National Association of Bond Lawyers is working on projects aimed at shedding more light on the varying strength of general obligation bond pledges, as well post-issuance tax and disclosure compliance, NABL president-elect Allen Robertson said in a recent interview.

Elaine Greenberg, former chief of the Securities and Exchange Commission's municipal securities and public pensions enforcement unit, has joined the Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP's office here, the firm announced Monday.

The Nebraska Public Power District has agreed to pay $350,000 to the Internal Revenue Service to settle a tax law dispute regarding $50.36 million of Build America Bonds it issued in 2009.

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel has ruled against The Police and Fire Retirement System of the City of Detroit, which was seeking at least $39.9 million from Citigroup Global Markets, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and other firms over risky investments.

The sentencing of former UBS banker Mark Zaino, who pleaded guilty of municipal bond bid-rigging, was rescheduled to Oct. 24 in a New York federal court.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined three firms and one individual a total of $87,500 for violating pricing, trade reporting and other muni violations, with Tradition Asiel Securities accounting for $80,000 of that.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged the operator of Miami-Dade County, Fla.'s largest hospital with defrauding investors by failing to disclose its financial woes prior to an $83 million bond offering.

A tax-exempt bond advisory panel to the Internal Revenue Service has recommended that the agency publish three documents to provide guidance to issuers of small governmental bond issues and conduit borrowers of small 501(c)(3) nonprofit bond issues about complying with arbitrage rebate and yield restriction requirements.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, Miami, Fla., and the city's former budget director agree they are unlikely to settle a bond-related securities fraud case and that the trial will be lengthy, according to a joint scheduling report they filed with a federal court in Miami.