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Fined: Jefferies Execution Services, Inc. Fined by FINRA

Fined

Jefferies Execution Services, Inc. Fined by FINRA

An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured and fined $215,000, of which $18,800 is payable to FINRA and the remaining will be paid to other various self-regulatory organizations. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it did not establish, maintain and enforce a supervisory system or WSPs reasonably designed to monitor for potential layering or spoofing by its direct market access clients.

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Fined: Aeon Capital Inc. Fined by FINRA

Fined

Aeon Capital Inc. Fined by FINRA

An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured, fined $45,000, of which $10,000 is joint and several with Bruno, required to retain one or more qualified independent consultants to conduct a comprehensive review of the adequacy of its compliance with FINRA Rule 3170 (the Taping Rule) and required to comply voluntarily with the Taping Rule for an additional 18 months. Bruno was fined $10,000, jointly and severally with the firm, and suspended from association with any FINRA member in any principal capacity for 30 business days.

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Article: Morgan Stanley Fined $22 Million for Rigging Bond Markets

Article - Media

Morgan Stanley Fined $22 Million for Rigging Bond Markets

Gaspard Sebag, Stephanie Bodoni

Bloomberg, 10 December 2019

Morgan Stanley was fined 20 million euros ($22.1 million) by French regulators after the bank’s London desk was accused of using “pump and dump” tactics to manipulate sovereign bond prices.

The Autorite des Marches Financier’s enforcement committee said that the bank manipulated the prices of 14 French government bonds and 8 Belgian bonds in June 2015. The lender also manipulated the price of a French government bond futures contract, the AMF said in a statement Tuesday.

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Fined: Nomura Securities International, Inc. Fined by FINRA

Fined

Nomura Securities International, Inc. Fined by FINRA

An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured and fined $300,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it failed to comply with FINRA’s short interest reporting requirements concerning the reporting of certain foreign-listed securities. The findings stated that the firm experienced a system-related coding issue that resulted in the exclusion of certain foreign-listed securities from its short interest submissions to FINRA. In addition, the firm inaccurately reported short interest positions. Upon receiving notification from FINRA of the reporting deficiencies, the firm identified and corrected the coding issue.

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Fined: KGS-Alpha Capital Markets, L.P. nka BMO Capital Markets Corp. Fined by FINRA

Fined

KGS-Alpha Capital Markets, L.P. nka BMO Capital Markets Corp. Fined by FINRA

An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured and fined $30,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that due to a misunderstanding as to how to determine the time of execution and manual errors by its employees, it failed to report to the Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (TRACE®) the correct time of execution for transactions in TRACEeligible securitized products.

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Fined: Key Investment Services LLC Fined by FINRA

Fined

Key Investment Services LLC Fined by FINRA

An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured, fined $425,000, ordered to pay $589,221.66, plus interest, in restitution to customers, ordered to pay disgorgement to customers in the amount of $134,169.40, plus interest, and is also required to certify in writing to FINRA that it has implemented supervisory systems and WSPs reasonably designed to address each of the areas of conduct identified in the AWC, and to achieve compliance with suitability requirements for unit investment trust (UIT) transactions. In determining the appropriate sanction in this matter, FINRA considered, among other factors, that the firm previously paid $470,818.75 in restitution to complaining and non-complaining customers.

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Fined: PUMA Capital, LLC Fined by FINRA

Fined

PUMA Capital, LLC Fined by FINRA

An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured and fined $15,000. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it failed to implement policies and procedures to reasonably avoid displaying, or engaging in a pattern or practice of displaying, locking or crossing quotations in over-the-counter (OTC) equity securities.

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Fined: Chelsea Morgan Securities, Inc. dba Chelsea Financial Services Fined by FINRA

Fined

Chelsea Morgan Securities, Inc. dba Chelsea Financial Services Fined by FINRA

A Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) was issued in which the firm was censured, fined $15,000, ordered to pay $68,899, plus interest, in restitution to customers and required to review and revise, as necessary, its supervisory system and written supervisory procedures (WSPs) regarding supervision of excessive trading. A reduced fine was imposed after considering, among other things, the firm’s revenues and financial resources, as well as its agreement to pay full restitution to the affected customers.

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Fined: International Assets Advisory, LLC Fined by FINRA

Fined

International Assets Advisory, LLC Fined by FINRA

An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured, fined $30,000 and ordered to pay $92,805.13, plus interest, in restitution to customers. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it failed to establish, maintain and enforce a supervisory system, including WSPs, reasonably designed to ensure compliance with FINRA Rule 2111 in relation to the sale of non-traditional exchange traded products (NT-ETPs).

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Fined: D.A. Davidson & Co Fined by FINRA

Fined

D.A. Davidson & Co Fined by FINRA

An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured, fined $85,000 and required to provide to FINRA a plan for reviewing the securities detailed in the AWC to identify and then provide notice to the issuers of inaccuracies in the issue price certificates. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that in connection with municipal offerings, it provided inaccurate or misleading statements in its issue price certificates related to the percentage of each maturity that was sold, or was reasonably expect to be sold, to the public.

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Article: Morgan Stanley Places Four Traders on Leave in Wake of FX Probe

Article - Media

Morgan Stanley Places Four Traders on Leave in Wake of FX Probe

Aziz Abdel-Qader

Finance Magnates, 29 November 2019

Morgan Stanley has reportedly dismissed, or placed on leave, four currency traders after being caught out trying to conceal significant trading losses. The move comes amid investigations by the US bank into alleged charges that they exaggerated the performance of the FX options desk.

A Bloomberg report identified two London based traders – Scott Eisner and Rodrigo Jolig – and two senior New York-based colleagues, Thiago Melzer and Mitchell Nadel, who were running emerging-markets desk and macro trading in the Americas.

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Fined: Coda Markets, Inc. fka PDQ ATS, Inc. Fined by FINRA

Fined

Coda Markets, Inc. fka PDQ ATS, Inc. Fined by FINRA

An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured, fined $90,000 and required to review and revise its systems and written procedures regarding the supervision of its Order Audit Trail System (OATS™) reporting to ensure that the systems and procedures are reasonably designed to achieve compliance with FINRA Rule 7450 and to implement and test all coding changes necessary to remediate the violations identified in the AWC. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it failed to report Reportable Order Events (ROEs) to OATS and reported ROEs that contained inaccurate, incomplete or improperly formatted data.

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Fined: NYLIFE Securities LLC Fined by FINRA

Fined

NYLIFE Securities LLC Fined by FINRA

An AWC was issued in which the firm was censured, fined $250,000, ordered to pay $76,643.47, plus interest, in restitution to customers for realized losses, ordered to offer rescission to customers for unrealized losses totaling approximately $250,000, plus interest, and ordered to certify in writing that it has reviewed its systems for enforcing its written procedures governing the suitability of recommendations to purchase mutual funds, and that it has established and implemented systems for enforcing those procedures that are reasonably designed to achieve compliance with FINRA Rule 3110. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that it failed to enforce its written procedures for supervising the suitability of sales of higher-risk mutual funds that were subject to significant volatility.

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Article: These Are the Banks that Own the New York Fed and Its Money Button

Article - Media

These Are the Banks that Own the New York Fed and Its Money Button

Pam Martens, Russ Martens

Wall Street on Parade, 20 November 2019

The New York Fed has now pumped out upwards of $3 trillion in a period of 63 days to unnamed trading houses on Wall Street to ease a liquidity crisis that has yet to be credibly explained. In addition, it has launched a new asset purchase program, buying up $60 billion each month in U.S. Treasury bills. Based on the continuing escalation of its plans, it appears to be testing the limits of what the public will tolerate. We thought it was time to answer the question: who exactly owns the New York Fed and its magical money spigot that can pump trillions of dollars into Wall Street at the press of a button.

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Article: Who’s Been Swimming Naked? We’re About to Find Out (It’s Time to Raise Capital)

Article - Media

Who’s Been Swimming Naked? We’re About to Find Out (It’s Time to Raise Capital)

David Spreng

Runway Growth, 18 November 2019

Every growth company on the planet should seriously consider raising additional capital now. The U.S. economy and capital markets are showing near-record valuations, performance and strength across the board. However, we are keenly aware of economist Herb Stein’s maxim, “If something can’t go on forever, it won’t.” Growth capital is readily available today—but likely won’t be for many companies in the near future.

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THE DOLLAR HAS NO INTRINSIC VALUE : DO YOUR ASSETS?