The Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority filed a lawsuit this week against their former bond counsel and financial advisor, alleging they were negligent when they advised that $219.49 million of bonds issued in 2006 would be tax exempt.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is proposing to establish limits on the gifts and non-cash benefits municipal advisors can provide in their professional capacities.

The Bond Dealers of America is urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to crack down on non-dealer municipal advisors acting as unlicensed broker-dealers by assisting municipalities in placing their debt through the direct placement markets.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said that new technology and investigative techniques led to a strong fiscal 2014 enforcement year, including municipal bond cases.

Public officials who have traditionally believed that they are safe from Securities and Exchange Commission action if they avoid exchanges of favor should think again in the face of increased SEC focus on anti-corruption efforts, former commission enforcement lawyer Peter Chan said.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined two firms a total of $28,500 for violations of municipal securities rules, including excessive markups and trade reporting failures.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott reached a settlement with Houston-area financial advisor R. Craig Rathmann, accused of colluding with RBC Capital Markets to limit competition on bond deals for municipal utility districts.

Inspections of municipal advisors will be low-stress and MAs will be notified in advance before seeing any Securities and Exchange Commission personnel at their doors, members of the SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations told non-dealer advisors.

UBS has agreed to compensate 34 Puerto Rico-based investors for their losses in investments in their municipal bond closed ended funds.

Municipal issuers need to understand the thinking inside the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement division, take steps to protect themselves, and think about whether fundamental changes to muni market regulation might be in their best interests, said former SEC lawyer Peter Chan.

Broker-dealers who voluntarily reported disclosure missteps under the Securities and Exchange Commission's Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative shouldn't just sit around waiting for the SEC to make contact.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced settlement of an investigation of anticompetitive activities involving underwriting fees paid by municipal utility districts in the Houston area.

Peter Chan, the architect of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative, will join Morgan, Lewis & Bockius as a partner in the firm's Chicago office, it announced Thursday.

Three municipal securities regulators plan to hold the first Compliance Outreach Program for Municipal Advisors in Chicago on Nov. 3 and are asking folks to register for it.

Issuers battling dealer firms over the right to seek arbitration to settle disputes over auction rate securities are planning to take their case to the Supreme Court now that a federal appeals court has ruled against them.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Barclays Capital Inc. with failing to maintain an adequate internal compliance system after it acquired the advisory business of Lehman Brothers in September 2008.

Crystal City, Texas has reached an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service to settle tax rule violations and preserve the tax-exempt status of interest already paid on $13.94 million of jail bonds issued by an authority in 2003 and now in default.

Future Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative settlements may offer more detail on the Securities and Exchange Commission's priorities and the SEC's Office of Municipal Securities may offer more municipal advisor rule guidance, commission officials said Thursday.

The Internal Revenue Service's tax-exempt bond office is modifying its market-segment approach to audits, the office's director, Rebecca Harrigal, said.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will probably use emergency court action to stop state and local governments from selling municipal bonds if it thinks their offerings are fraudulent, an enforcement division official told bond lawyers meeting here.