The Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations has launched a program to scrutinize newly-regulated municipal advisors, the SEC announced Tuesday.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority censured and fined Greenwich, Conn.-based Interactive Brokers, Inc. was censured and fined $7,500 municipal securities trade reporting failures.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating West Contra Costa, Calif. United School District and its general obligation bond financings dating back to 2009.

A group of bondholders trying to recoup their investment in a failed Moberly, Mo. artificial sweetener plant has added as a defendant Raymond James Financial Inc. — which acquired the bond deal's underwriter and lawsuit's original target.

The Fannin County Public Facility Corp. in Texas has settled tax law violations with the Internal Revenue Service by agreeing to pay $1.75 million and redeem all of the outstanding bonds from the $30.78 million it issued in 2008 to finance a jail.

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.