December 2011 – Financial Treason & Crime

Financial Planning, 28 December 2011

Credit Suisse Securities has been fined $1.75 million by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for failing to properly supervise short-selling activity.

From June 1, 2006 through December 2010, Credit Suisse Securities failed to comply with the locate and marking requirements of Regulation SHO as well as FINRA rules, NASD rules and federal securities laws, according to FINRA.

Specifically, FINRA fined Credit Suisse for Reg SHO violations and for failing to properly supervise short sales and the marking of sale orders. As a result, the financial services firm entered millions of short sales without reasonable grounds to believe that the securities could be borrowed and delivered and mismarked thousands of sales orders, FINRA charges. Continue reading “Article: Credit Suisse Fined $1.75M for Short-Selling System Failures”

12/27/201103/13/2021

Article: Credit Suisse Fined $1.75 Million for Breaking ‘Naked’ Short-Selling Rules

Article - Media, Publications

Credit Suisse Fined $1.75 Million for Breaking ‘Naked’ Short-Selling Rules

Eleazar David Meléndez, 27 December 2011

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) said Monday it was fining the American brokerage unit of Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse $1.75 million for violating rules regarding the controversial market-making practice known as “naked” short-selling.

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC was being fined for violating Regulation SHO, a rule enacted in early 2005 by the Securities Exchange Commission to target prevent market participants from abusing short-selling, according to a statement from the regulatory group,

In a short sale, a market maker sells a security it does not own, later borrowing the instrument from a third-party in order to make good on its transaction. If the price of that security goes down, the short-seller can later buy it back in the open market, returning it to the party from which it borrowed in the first place, and pocketing the difference in prices as profit. Continue reading “Article: Credit Suisse Fined $1.75 Million for Breaking ‘Naked’ Short-Selling Rules”

12/24/201103/13/2021

Article: Credit Suisse Rapped for U.S. Lapses

Article - Media, Publications

Credit Suisse Rapped for U.S. Lapses

finews asia, 24 December 2011

Credit Suisse was hit with a $6.5 million fine for doing too little to prevent potential market manipulation by U.S. clients.

The Swiss bank was slammed by U.S. industry officials for and fined $6.5 million for failing to keep an eye on major U.S. institutional clients, Finra, or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, said in a statement. Credit Suisse said it is «pleased to have resolved these matters with FINRA and these exchanges,» according to a brokerage industry publication

Specifically, the Zurich-based lender granted clients – brokers and other institutional-sized clients – direct access to exchanges without proper oversight. Credit Suisse won more than $300 million in revenue from trading more than 300 billion securities – a move that sparked more than 50,000 alerts at Finra, which is a U.S. broker self-regulatory body. Continue reading “Article: Credit Suisse Rapped for U.S. Lapses”

12/13/201105/08/2020

Filing: FINRA v Credit Suisse

Filing

FINRA v Credit Suisse

13 December 2011

Pursuant to FINRA Rule 9216 of FINRA’s Code of Procedure, the Respondent submits this Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (“AWC”) for the purpose of proposing a settlement of the alleged rule violations described below. This AWC is submitted on the condition that, if accepted, FINRA will not bring any future actions against the Respondent alleging violations based on the same factual findings described herein.

PDF (22 pages): FINRA v Credit Suisse

12/08/201103/13/2021

Article: SEC backs investors’ claim Merrill rigged ARS market, lawyer says

Article - Media, Publications

SEC backs investors’ claim Merrill rigged ARS market, lawyer says

jgoff, 08 December 2011

Auction-rate securities holders seeking to win back part of the $330 billion they’ve invested, may get help from a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission legal brief supporting claims that Merrill Lynch & Co. rigged the moribund market, a lawyer involved in the case said. Continue reading “Article: SEC backs investors’ claim Merrill rigged ARS market, lawyer says”

12/07/201105/18/2020

Article: Merrill Lynch fined for violating cotton-speculation limits

Article - Media

Merrill Lynch fined for violating cotton-speculation limits

Kevin G. Hall

McClatchy Newspapers, 7 December 2011

A key financial regulator said Wednesday that it had fined Wall Street powerhouse Merrill Lynch $350,000 for violating rules that limit how many speculative contracts it can hold in markets where bets are made on the price of cotton for future delivery.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said that Merrill Lynch Commodities Inc., a subsidiary of Bank of America, repeatedly had violated limits on how many Cotton No. 2 futures contracts it was allowed to hold. Futures are bets on where the price of a given commodity will be for future delivery.

Read full article.