The Securities and Exchange Commission has frequently pursued recent municipal market enforcement actions in federal court rather than in front of its own administrative law judges, where critics have charged that the SEC enjoys a distinct home field advantage.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority faced criticism from House Republicans Friday wondered if the broker-dealer self-regulator is too heavy-handed with small firms.

U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli has until May 20 to respond to a request from Miami, Fla.'s former budget director that the Supreme Court hear his argument that he should be shielded from a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit.

Maverick County, Texas, faces an uncertain future after losing the operator of its $42 million private detention center that defaulted on its debt amid a federal corruption investigation and missing audits.

StateTrust Investments, Inc. has been penalized $90,000 and censured by the Securities and Exchange Commission in a settlement over charges it broke Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board rules when it sold Puerto Rico bonds for an amount less than the issuer's specified minimum denomination.

Los Angeles Unified School District officials stand behind their disclosure after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission opened an informal inquiry into the district’s compliance with legal guidelines in the use of bond proceeds to buy iPad tablets.

New York State and New York City comptrollers Thomas DiNapoli and Scott Stringer, respectively, called on the SEC to compel fossil fuel industry companies to better disclosure climate change material risks

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a New York City-based financial advisor with fraud, saying he stole at least $20 million from customers who were told their money would be invested in municipal bonds when it actually evaporated in riskier trades.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined two firms $55,000 for muni trade rule violations and suspended a former broker, as well as fined him to pay $5,000 in fines and ordered him to disgorge $2,837 of ill-gotten gains plus interest, for making unsuitable municipal securities recommendations to clients.

Two divisions of Morgan Stanley have agreed to be censured and pay $675,000 to settle Financial Industry Regulatory Authority charges that the dealers misrepresented taxable municipal bond interest paid to customers as tax-exempt.

Nine large public pension funds, including those from New York and Connecticut, have asked the SEC to strengthen the disclosure of corporate board diversity.

A federal appeals court will hear oral arguments May 15 in the case of three convicted bid riggers seeking to have their convictions overturned.

A Republican congressman said Tuesday he is concerned that the Securities and Exchange Commission's approach to municipal market enforcement risks creating an environment where only big players will get a seat at the table.

Former RBC Capital Markets managing director Mel Schonhorst achieved a measure of success after seven years trying to clear his name in a Texas investigation that cost him his job though he was never accused of anything.

Lawmakers are concerned about the Securities and Exchange Commission's extensive use of administrative proceedings to enforce securities laws in the wake of the Dodd-Frank Act, a trend that has not extended to municipal cases.

Former Miami budget director Michael Boudreaux wants the U.S. Supreme Court to grant him immunity from a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit that has attracted a lot of attention from issuer officials and attorneys.

A federal ruling against states may set a precedent for risky local spending on broadband, credit analysts said.

Lawyers, issuer officials, and others consulted about the fund agreed that the three firms did nothing against the rules when they gave the money to the fund, which is governed by a board independent of the city leadership and which does nothing to politically support Garcetti or any other political interest.

Securities and Exchange Commission member Daniel Gallagher is calling for Congress to mandate that municipal issuers use Government Accounting Standards Board benchmarks, possibly as a condition for the bonds to be tax-exempt.

The Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission is selling $158 million of power refunding bonds tied to the controversial Prairie State coal plant, which recently won a round of fresh praise from ratings analysts.