securities fraud news stories on Newser

Taxpayers Have Paid Millions to Defend Fannie Execs

Kevin Spak — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:28:43 CST

The US government has sunk almost $100 million into defending a trio of ex-Fannie Mae executives accused of securities fraud, including $37 million since the government took control of the firm, according to a regulatory analysis released today. The Federal Housing Finance Agency is on the hook for those costs...

SEC Letting Big Banks Skirt Fraud Penalties

Kevin Spak — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:13:39 CST

The Securities and Exchange Commission has repeatedly allowed Wall Street's biggest banks to avoid penalties specifically intended to punish and deter fraud, a New York Times analysis of SEC records reveals. Over the past decade, the SEC has on almost 350 occasions granted waivers exempting big financial companies from sanctions,...

Feds to Charge Crooked Bond Traders

Rob Quinn — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 04:00:00 CST

Looks like it's payback week: Federal prosecutors are planning to file fraud charges against four former Credit Suisse traders accused of overstating the value of mortgage securities in order to boost their bonuses, the Wall Street Journal reports. The alleged fraud happened in early 2008 as problems with complex mortgage...

Feds Nab 7 in $61.8M Stock Fraud Case

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:22:46 CST

Seven people have been charged in an insider trading scheme that netted more than $61.8 million in illegal profits based on trades of a single stock, prosecutors announced today. Two New York hedge fund executives and a Massachusetts man were among four charged in a criminal complaint in federal...

Galleon Founder Slapped With $92.8M Civil Penalty

Rob Quinn — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:30:07 CST

Galleon Group hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam has broken another record. The former billionaire, who received the longest-ever prison sentence for insider trading last month, has been ordered to pay the largest-ever Securities and Exchange Commission civil penalty for insider trading, reports the New York Times . The $92.8 million...

Mets' Owners Won't Lose All Their Madoff Money

Rob Quinn — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 09:18:03 CDT

The New York Mets' owners may have to return some of $300 million in profits they made dealing with Bernie Madoff, but their $700 million principal is probably safe. A judge has decided that for trustee Irving Picard to pursue the Mets owners' principal investment, he must prove that they...

'Amish Bernie Madoff' Busted

Rob Quinn — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 02:21:05 CDT

We've had the Bernie Madoff of campaign treasurers , so now meet the Amish Madoff. A 77-year-old man in Ohio is accused of scamming thousands of investors in 29 states, mostly his fellow Amish, out of $16.8 million. Prosecutors say Monroe Beachy ran a Ponzi scheme for decades, telling investors...

Times May Have Crossed Line by Snooping Emails

John Johnson — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 13:00:05 CDT

The New York Times today has a lengthy backgrounder on the case of Fabrice Tourre, the young Goldman Sachs trader sued by the SEC on allegations of fraud. What has caught the eye of most bloggers, though, isn't any revelations in the story but the way it was sourced: Much...

Insider Trading Suspect Jumps to His Death

Rob Quinn — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 01:41:00 CDT

An executive accused of illegally profiting from inside knowledge of his company's promising new cancer drug jumped to his death from an airport parking garage in New Jersey. Zizhong Fan, manager of clinical programming at Seattle Genetics, is believed to have shared insider information on clinical trials involving the company's...