FINRA Lawyer Blog

America’s population is rapidly aging. The number of US residents over the age of 65 is expected to double over the next 30 years. Today, seniors, specifically baby boomers, control 50% of all existing investable assets across the country.
This portion of the US population has a...

Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments (PKS) of Albany, New York, recently agreed to pay $3.4 million to a Native American tribe to resolve allegations that one of its brokers, Gopi Krishna Vungarala, took millions of dollars in undisclosed commissions on the tribe’s investments.
Vungarala...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is considering whether it will bring enforcement actions against Atlanta’s $205 billion-asset SunTrust Banks. SunTrust Investment Services, the bank’s broker-dealer arm, allegedly purchased pricey mutual funds on behalf of customers when more...

Check cashing businesses are a major focus of anti-money laundering rules and regulations. Investors recently learned that federal and New York prosecutors are currently investigating Capital One Financial Corp.’s anti-money laundering program and “certain check casher clients”...

It may come as no surprise that doing business in China holds a high risk of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations. However, the record-setting numbers of FCPA enforcement actions seen in 2016 placed Mexico in a close second.
With increases in multi-jurisdictional anti-corruption...

Credit Suisse Securities U.S.A. LLC has agreed to pay $16.5 million to resolve Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) allegations that the firm violated anti-money laundering (AML) program regulations, supervision requirements and other policies, FINRA reported Monday.
Specifically,...

As the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) continues to crack down on broker-dealers with anti-money laundering program (AML)-related deficiencies, broker-dealers and AML compliance officers (AMLCOs) should take note of the most common AML program compliance deficiencies mentioned in...

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has fined Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. $6.25 million for inadequately supervising its customers’ use of leverage in their Merrill brokerage accounts. The firm has also agreed to pay approximately $780,000 in restitution to...

VALIC Financial Advisors Inc. has agreed to pay $1.75 million to resolve Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) allegations that the firm failed to implement reasonable systems to address and review conflicts of interest created by its compensation policy, FINRA reported Monday.
The...

Securities law violations are a major focus of regulatory compliance programs across the industry. Yet not all organizations realize the threat cybersecurity breaches pose to company viability. A new breed of corporate whistleblower is cropping up among marketplace professionals – the...