SEC enforcement

The SEC has charged Thrivent Investment Management for failing to comply with Regulation Best Interest's care and compliance obligation in connection with recommendations to retail investors in 529 Savings Plans.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California entered a final judgment against Matthias O'Meara and Choice Advisors, fining them $312,572 and $187,337, respectively.

The commission charged the municipal advisors $1.3 million in penalties due to recordkeeping failures stemming from use of unmonitored communications, such as text messages, to conduct business.

The Supreme Court decision in SEC v. Jarkesy held that Congress can't force regulated entities to defend themselves in the SEC's in-house court, but likely won't change much for the Public Finance Abuse Unit.

The use of unregistered municipal advisors in the public-private partnership sector can lead to unnecessarily expensive deals for cities and states, said SEC's Dave Sanchez.

Ex-IFS Securities head of fixed income Keith Wakefield committed criminal securities and wire fraud from 2017 to 2019, a federal jury in Illinois found.

Brandon Comer and his firm Comer Capital Group have to pay the sum as part of a final judgment reached in federal court in Illinois.

Capital Markets Advisors and its co-principals Richard Ganci and Richard Tortora are caught up in a legal back and forth with the SEC over how MSRB Rule G-42 on conflicts of interest applies to their case.

Bond Buyer Executive Editor Kyle Glazier discusses the coming year in D.C. with Bond Dealers of America's Brett Bolton. (15 minutes)

Vern Breland has agreed to pay a $35,000 fine and is permanently barred from participating in future municipal securities offerings.

"Nothing is off the table in terms of looking at who we can potentially charge," said Brian Fagel, assistant director of the SEC's Public Finance Abuse Unit.  

The SEC's Examination Division will focus on solicitor municipal advisors' compliance with new MSRB Rule G-46, which goes into effect on Mar. 1, 2024.

Brandon Comer and his firm Comer Capital Group are in talks to settle the Securities and Exchange Commission charges against them ahead of a pretrial conference Nov. 17.

The SEC has settled with Robert Benecke and his firm Benecke Economics for acting as an unregistered MA in a case that is emblematic of the growing problem regulators and advisors alike face.

The exemption, which has been recently enforced by the Securities and Exchange Commission for the first time, will likely force some underwriters to opt out of it for fear of enforcement.

The SEC recently brought its first ever enforcement actions for violating its limited offering exemption, and market participants are beginning to tighten up their policies and procedures in response.

The Commission has settled with Roberto Mejill-Tellado for acting as an unregistered broker in the scheme that defrauded the city of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.

The Ohio-based was underwriter on 47 limited offerings, violating the Commission's limited offering exemption.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's examination priorities for the year include big ticket items like Regulation Best Interest.

BVAL marketed its bond valuation methods as sophisticated but sometimes based the valuation on a single broker quote, the SEC said.