Colling, Gilbert, Wright & Carter Securites Fraud

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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Expert Witness Testimony Questioned in NY Mets Madoff Claw Back Suit

Expert witness John Maine, who frequently appears and testifies on behalf of Respondent brokerage firms in Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration, was attacked by the Madoff Trustee. Maine, who was testifying on behalf of Met owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, described them as unsophisticated investors despite their massive real estate holdings and substantial wealth. Trustee Irving Picard in turn said Main, the expert witness, issued a report that lacked "any principle or methodology" and cited no surveys, sources, books, treatises, industry guides, periodicals, studies or any other objective third party analysis" (see NY Times article dated Jan. 27, 2012).

These revelations are not insignificant as John Maine has built a substantial expert witness practice, primarily on the defense side, in the securities industry. He has been retained over 1600 times and testified over 600 times. Surely Claimants' lawyers are licking their chops at the thought of Maine appearing in their next arbitration hearing.

The attorneys at Colling Gilbert Wright & Carter has a practice area devoted exclusively to filing arbitration claims on behalf of individual investors who have lost money through the negligence or fraud on the part of their financial advisor. If you have lost money in your brokerage account and believe your broker may be responsible, please contact our office for a free case evaluation.

posted by William B. Young Jr. Esq. at 6:31 AM

Friday, January 13, 2012

Raymond James Financial to Purchase Morgan Keegan & Co.

After months of speculation and one failed deal, on January 11, 2011, Raymond James Financial, Inc., announced that the firm entered into a stock purchase agreement to acquire Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc. and related affiliates from banking giant Regions Financial Corp. (RF) The cost of the deal was approximated at $930 million, making it the largest acquisition in the history of the publicly traded Raymond James Financial (RJF). Morgan Keegan will also pay Regions a dividend of $250 million before closing, pending regulatory approval, resulting in total proceeds to Regions of $1.18 billion.

According to sources, as part of the deal Regions will also indemnify Raymond James for all litigation matters related to pre-closing activities. In addition, Regions will receive the benefit of previously established reserves by Regions at Morgan Keegan. This is particularly important as Morgan Keegan still faces investor lawsuits and FINRA arbitrations pertaining to the marketing and sale of the proprietary RMK bond funds.

The attorney's at Colling Gilbert Wright & Carter have investigated and litigated numerous investor suits regarding the RMK funds, including the flagship Select Intermediate Bond Fund. If you purchased any of the seven RMK bond funds, please contact our office for a free case evaluation.

Labels: breach fiduciary duty, broker misconduct, fraud, lack of due dilligance, misrepresentation/omission

posted by William B. Young Jr. Esq. at 10:41 AM

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Fannie Mae CEO to Step Down

Fannie Mae Chief Executive Michael Williams announced today he is stepping down from the government-controlled mortgage firm once a successor is appointed to take over.

Fannie Mae is the US's largest provider of residential mortgages and was at the center of the mortgage crisis in 2008 when both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were seized by the government as losses on mortgage loans escalated.

The two Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE) serve as a financing conduit, buying mortgages from lenders and then repackaging them as guaranteed securities sold to investors. Along with the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the two enterprises provide funding for approximately 90 percent of all new U.S. mortgages.

As a result of the housing crisis, the companies are still losing money and have required taxpayer bailouts. (see related CNN Money article).

Also, when they were seized in the summer of 2008, investors holding their preferred stock were completely wiped out. Many such investors have filed FINRA arbitration claims alleging their brokers sold the preferred securities as having the same risk as a government issued bond. They found out that was not the case when the government refused to back the preferred stock of Fannie and Freddie and investors lost their entire investment.

If you were sold preferred shares of Fannie Mae or Freddi Mac as being guaranteed by the U.S. government, please contact our office for a free case evaluation. Thank you.

posted by William B. Young Jr. Esq. at 1:11 PM

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Regions Financial Ends Talks with Stifel on Possible Morgan Keegan Sale

According to a recent Bloomberg.com article, Regions Financial Corp. (RF) has ended talks to sell its Morgan Keegan brokerage unit to Stifel Financial Corp. (SF) The two sides presumably could not agree on the sale terms. The company is said to still be in talks with St. Peters burg, Florida based brokerage Raymond James Financial about a possible sale of Morgan Keegan.

Morgan Keegan has been under heavy legal pressure from state and federal securities regulators as well as investors who purchased shares of the company's seven proprietary RMK bond and income funds. Regulators have accused the firm and fund manager of fraud in the marketing and sale of the flagship Intermediate Bond Fund. The five other funds contained similar instruments and have been the subject of hundreds of FINRA arbitration claims. The company entered into a consent order and agreed to pay $200 million to settle the claims.

If you have lost money investing in one of the seven RMK bond and income funds, please contact our office for a free case evaluation.

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posted by William B. Young Jr. Esq. at 9:30 AM

Monday, December 19, 2011

Poor Regulation and Oversight Led to Morgan Keegan RMK Bond Fund Losses

According to a December 18, 2011 Memphis Commercial Appeal article, investor losses in the Morgan Keegan RMK family of bond funds could have been prevented had someone other than James Kelso Jr., the fund manager been watching the store. As it stands, investors, many of them retirees, lost close to a billion dollars when the funds crashed at the beginning of the credit and housing market meltdowns. Fund manager Kelso made significant and risky bets on sub prime mortgage paper and lost. Thousands of arbitration claims soon followed costing the firm millions in legal fees and FINRA arbitration awards. Now Regions Bank has put Morgan Keegan is up for sale but nobody is buying. Perhaps if state and federal securities regulators and Morgan Keegan's in-house compliance would have done more, there would have been a happier ending for all involved.

The full article appears here.

If you have lost money investing in any of the six Morgan Keegan RMK bond funds, please contact our office for a free consultation regarding your options for pursuing recovery of your losses. Thank you.

Labels: breach fiduciary duty, broker misconduct, fraud, lack of due dilligance, misrepresentation/omission, neg

posted by William B. Young Jr. Esq. at 11:35 AM

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Judge Approves Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy Plan

Last week, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. received a federal judge’s approval to begin winding down the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. As part of the plan, the Trustee for the bankruptcy estate said he would begin distributing approximately $23 billion in available cash to creditors. The plan also calls for an orderly liquidation of the defunct firm's remaining assets, bringing the expected total for distribution to approximately $65 billion.

The company announced it will distribute some of the $23 billion to creditors in the first quarter, equating to roughly 18 cents on the dollar claimed for creditors and approximately 21 cents for senior bondholders.

The bankruptcy examiner's report indicated Lehman failed because of too much debt and risky real estate investments. When the firm filed for bankruptcy, on September 15, 2008, with approximately $613 billion in debt outstanding. The case is In re Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., 08-13555, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

The attorneys at Colling Gilbert Wright & Carter have litigated and resolved dozens of Lehman Brothers claims through the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)
arbitration system. Even with a 21 cent payout, bond and note holders are still out approximately 80% of their investment...much of which came in the form of Principal Protected and other Structured Notes.

If you have lost money in Lehman Brothers, please contact our office for a free case evaluation.

posted by William B. Young Jr. Esq. at 9:28 AM

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Too Big To Fail? Problems Still Exist with Big Financial Institutions

A December 8, 2011 Yahoo finance blog explores what has changed since the failure of investment banking firms Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers as well as government sponsored enterprises (GSE)Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. According to the article, the problems that caused the failures and the corresponding financial market meltdown still exist and in some instances, may be worse.

The full blog may be found here.

The attorneys at Colling Gilbert Wright & Carter have filed and litigated dozens of FINRA arbitration claims to recover losses on behalf of investors who invested in the common stock and debt securities of financial service companies that failed in 2008. If you have lost money on an investment in Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, pleas contact our office for a free case evaluation. Thank you.

Labels: misrepresentation/omission, neg

posted by William B. Young Jr. Esq. at 10:08 AM

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