Adesa Impact

I noticed with interest that Citigroup is in negotiations with NY state & Federal regulators about its possible wrongdoing in the auction-rate securities market. Citigroup may have to buy back billions of dollars of securities from investors and pay a sizeable fine. Amazingly, Citigroup is considering HIRING Schwartz, the former head of Bear Stearns ! Maybe Citi is going to offer a new course at NYU or Columbia this fall, how NOT to run a big Wall Street firm. Or maybe, how * I * lost...Read Full Story

Wall Street is a product machine. They are always devising new “packages” to sell their customers. A basic word of advice I can never share enough with new and seasoned investors alike is: “Know what you are buying.” This hit me again last week. Major brokerage firms settled class action suits with clients who bought a “risk-free” product called “auction rate securities.” Until February, auction rate securities had been a place investors could pocket a slightly higher yield without, they...Read Full Story

In this morning's Tennessean , there was a teeny little two column-inch piece (so tiny they didn't put it on their website, so I can't link to it) about securities regulators from several states raiding Wachovia's headquarters in St. Louis over "the collapse of the $330 billion auction rate securities market." "Hmm," I thought. "That sounds really interesting. I wonder what an auction rate security is." It turns out that the story is much bigger, it's just that with all the chatter about...Read Full Story

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo Thursday brought a multi-billion dollar civil lawsuit against the Swiss banking giant UBS for allegedly pushing everyday investors into buying troubled auction-rate securities. The lawsuit charges UBS ( UBS ) with falsely marketing and selling auction-rate securities as safe, cash-equivalent investments at a time when the market for these securities was under severe strain. "Today we bring the first nationwide lawsuit...Read Full Story

Wall Street is a little hung over after yesterday's rapturous climb. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down about 169 points at midday, which is still ahead of two days ago, so that's good. Oil is going for something like $118 a barrel. That would have sounded like insanity a year or 18 months ago, but today, it feels like a relief. Forbes blames the financial malaise on two things: people not buying stuff, because they can no longer afford to; and the forecast wave of regular mortgage (as...Read Full Story

The collapse of the auction r ate securities market is drawing more attention from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo . UBS and Citigroup have already agreed to buy back billions of dollars of the now-worthless securities that they had described as being as liquid as cash. They've also coughed up $250 million in fines. Now under the microscope are JPMorgan Chase , Morgan Stanley , and Wachovia . Wachovia is also "look[ing] forward to the discussions" with regulators in Missouri, where...Read Full Story

FINRA Fines SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, SunTrust Investment Services a Total of $5 Million for Auction Rate Securities Violations is a post from: Before You Invest Your Money The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced today that it has fined SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc. (SunTrust RH) and SunTrust Investment Services, Inc. (SunTrust IS) for violations related to the sale of auction rate securities (ARS). SunTrust RH, which underwrote the ARS, was fined $4.6 million for...Read Full Story

July 09, 2010 // Franchising.com // Minneapolis - Citigroup Incorporated must buy back at par student loan auction rate securities purchased by Faegre & Benson LLP client Intevac Inc. While prior auction rate securities cases have been arbitrated against Citigroup, this is the first in which a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel has ordered the seller to buy back the securities at the full price paid by the customer. Under the award issued June 29 by the arbitration...Read Full Story

Treasury departments are still paying a price for auction-rate securities. Vincent Ryan - CFO Magazine July 15, 2009 Email Print Reprints Single Page Share LinkedIn Del.icio.us Digg Facebook StumbleUpon Permalink On February 7, 2008, Joseph Broce, assistant treasurer of Ashland Corp., authorized Oppenheimer Co. to buy $15 million worth of auction-rate securities (ARS) on Ashland's behalf. The money was from a 2005 asset sale that netted the...Read Full Story

It's the latest firm to be targeted by state or federal regulators. Three of the firm's managers are named, as well. Stephen Taub - CFO.com | US November 18, 2008 Email Print Reprints Share LinkedIn Del.icio.us Digg Facebook Permalink A Massachusetts state administrative complaint made Oppenheimer & Co. the latest financial services firm to be accused of violating securities laws in its sale of auction rate securities. Massachusetts Secretary of...Read Full Story