Anyone who was sold one of these notes learned the hard way: in broker-speak the terms “principal protected” and even “100% principal protected” does not really mean your principal is protected. After Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, 2008, holders of the notes learned that they are just unsecured creditors of the insolvent […]
Fraudulent and Unsuitable Private Placements
Under the federal and state securities laws, most securities must be registered with the SEC before they can be solicited or sold to the investing public. In the issuer’s registration statement and in periodic reports filed after a company goes public, the issuer of securities provides detailed financial information which reasonable investors can use to […]
Private Placement Securities
Smiley Bishop & Porter LLP is investigating the fraudulent or unsuitable sales of private placement securities to brokerage firm clients. Click here for a detailed examination of private placements. The lack of transparency in the private placement market has allowed it to become a fertile breeding ground for fraud that has generated regulatory investigations and […]
The Japanese Earthquake and Leveraged ETFs
The earthquake and tsunami in Japan are a horrifying human tragedy, and our hearts must go out to the thousands of victims and their families. It would be wrong to equate financial loss with loss of actual lives. Yet, the natural disaster and its subsequent impact on the Japanese stock market highlights the investment risk […]
Lisa Mitchum, Certified PLS, reelected as Region 4 Director of NALS, Inc.
Lisa Mitchum, Certified PLS, a legal assistant with the firm, was recently installed as a Regional Director of NALS…the association for legal professionals (http://www.nals.org) for a second term during NALS’ Professional Development and Education Conference held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, March 11-13, 2011. The 60th Annual NALS Education Conference & National Forum will be held October […]
Lisa Mitchum, Certified PLS, reelected as Region 4 Director of NALS, Inc.
Lisa Mitchum, Certified PLS, a legal assistant with the firm, was recently installed as a Regional Director of NALS – the association for legal professionals (http://www.nals.org) – for a second term during NALS’ Professional Development and Education Conference held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, March 11-13, 2011. The 60th Annual NALS Education Conference & National Forum will […]
Citigroup/Smith Barney MAT/ASTA Funds
Smiley Bishop & Porter LLP is investigating the Citigroup/Smith Barney MAT/ASTA Hedge Funds. The Funds were allegedly marketed as conservative, suitable investments. Unfortunately, the Funds were heavily leveraged and exposed to higher risk than represented. The Funds were involved in a risky investment strategy known as municipal arbitrage, and many investors were unaware of the […]
MAT/ASTA Fund
In 2002, Citigroup’s Smith Barney brokerage unit started marketing six MAT/ASTA hedge funds to its clients. These Citigroup proprietary funds were trusts, which used borrowed money to buy municipal bonds, and were supposed to make profits based on the spread in interest rates between borrowed and invested funds. Total assets in these funds were approximately […]
Regions Morgan Keegan Bond Funds
Smiley Bishop & Porter LLP has represented a number of individual and institutional investors who bought shares of Morgan Keegan’s RMK High Yield Bond Funds. RMK Funds were marketed as low risk investments, despite a high concentration in subprime mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations. A particular problem was that the funds invested in low […]
East Tennessee Neurology P.C. Profit Sharing Plan v. Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc.
Profit sharing plan recovery for losses on RMK Bond Funds (FINRA, 2010) Brian Smiley and Mike Bishop, along with co-counsel, represented the pension plan for a medical practice. The plan’s losses arose from investments solicited in three Regions Morgan Keegan Bond Funds (RMK High Income, RMK Strategic Income, and RMK Multi-Sector Funds). These funds took incredible […]
