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West Virginias attorney general has reached settlements totaling $1.28 million with four firms in a lawsuit that alleged they engaged in bid rigging and price fixing for municipal investments, the latest action in federal and state investigations of bid rigging in the muni market that stretch back more than ten years.
August 31 -
Financial regulators and others should work to reverse the increased narrowing of the municipal market caused by fewer retail investors and wealthier bondholders, the Securities and Exchange Commissions Investor Advocate told regulators.
August 29 -
Piper Jaffray & Co. has agreed to pay a $12,500 fine after the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority found the firm submitted 23 disclosure documents related to primary offerings late to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Boards EMMA system.
August 29 -
The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced it intends to issue an order that will allow municipal advisors that are also considered investment advisors to be excluded under its pay-to-play rule for investment advisers because they are now covered under a revised Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board rule.
August 26 -
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will soon introduce the first two of several educational courses it plans to offer as part of its new learning management system designed to keep participants up to date on the municipal market and in compliance with their continuing education requirements.
August 26 -
The default of some unrated nonprofit project bonds in Michigan and subsequent struggle to recover funds highlights the frustration bondholders sometimes feel in working with trustees, who are tasked with acting as the agents of the investors in distressed and default situations.
August 26 -
Ernesto Lanza, formerly a shareholder with the law firm Greenberg Traurig, joined the D.C. office of Clark Hill as a senior counsel in August.
August 25 -
The Securities and Exchange Commissions settlements with 71 issuers announced on Wednesday under a voluntary continuing disclosure enforcement initiative showed a widespread and pervasive problem with continuing disclosure in the municipal bond market but have led to some improvements, the SECs enforcement chief said Wednesday.
August 24 -
A criminal case alleging two Ramapo, N.Y. officials misled investors and credit rating agencies in connection with municipal bonds would go to trial on Jan. 9 under the timeline the federal judge has put forth for the proceedings.
August 23 -
The Government Finance Officers Association is urging its members to write senators about the need to get companion legislation to a House bill that would classify investment-grade municipal securities as high quality liquid assets under a rule by written by bank regulators.
August 22