News Clips & Coverage

InvestmentNews’ revelation that independent broker-dealer LPL Financial terminated James Bashaw for “selling away” marks the second high-profile brokerage firing for similar infractions in a few weeks. But the latest case doesn’t shed light on why this infraction, by some accounts tolerated in the past, is now a firing offense — especially when other business models don’t even consider it an infraction.
According to Bashaw’s Finra CRD...

The United States and Canada have long enjoyed very close ties. That relationship isn’t likely to change in the near future, although FATCA – the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act – has angered many Canadians. Some equate FATCA with U.S. imperialism and say the law threatens Canada’s sovereignty.
Congress passed FATCA in 2010. The law hopes to curtail tax evasion that relies on offshore bank accounts to hide money from the IRS. Having the offshore account...

For years the world’s biggest asset managers have tried everything to slow Vanguard’s meteoric rise. Now a startling lawsuit, dismissed by some legal experts but credited by others, is accusing the low-cost investment company of building its empire on nothing less than systematic tax evasion.
The suit, filed in New York by David Danon, a tax lawyer whom Vanguard fired last year, targets Vanguard’s singular, all-important mutual ownership structure. In this model, the...

A civil RICO (Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization) complaint has been filed against Wells Fargo, US Bank and two other entities in the latest wrinkle in a complex financial case involving investors.
Representing over 200 people who were investors in the alleged Cabot Ponzi scheme, Attorney Brian Mahany, a former Maine state revenue commissioner, saidthe often-elderly victims became joint guarantors on debt incurred by Cabot.
The latest event is connected to Carlton Cabot, who...

Bank of America on Thursday agreed to pay $16.65 billion to end investigations into that the bank and its units sold in the run-up to the financial crisis.
The settlement announced on Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice calls for the second-largest U.S. bank to pay a $9.65 billion cash penalty, and provide $7 billion of consumer relief to struggling homeowners and communities.
It is expected to resolve the vast majority of the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank's remaining...

Bank of America Corp. is expected to pay nearly $17 billion to settle U.S. Department of Justice accusations it packaged shoddy mortgages into securities and sold them to investors in the run-up to the financial crisis, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.
The agreement, which could come as early as Thursday, would mark the biggest settlement between the U.S. government and a single company. The roughly $17 billion will be a combination of cash and consumer aid – an...

The Department of Justice has raked in more than $2 billion already this year in settlements and judgments over acts of fraud perpetrated against the government, and the number of cases is expected to rise.
The issue has been brought to a head over allegations that software company Symantec overcharged government agencies and could face penalties of $145 million.
Now, experts are saying, the cure for this expensive type of litigation may be tougher compliance and whistle-blower...

A former associate counsel with Vanguard Group Inc. turned whistleblower has alleged that the investment management company has evaded more than $1 billion in taxes.
In a qui tam action under New York's False Claims Act (FCA), David Danon filed a lawsuit in New York state court claiming that Vanguard has operated as an illegal tax shelter for nearly 40 years and has avoided $1 billion in federal taxes and at least $20 million in New York taxes over the last 10 years. As an employee of...

A former Vanguard Group employee sued the largest U.S. mutual fund company, accusing it of operating an illegal tax shelter for around 40 years by providing services at prices designed to avoid federal and state income tax.
The complaint was filed under the False Claims Act, a whistleblower law in New York State.
Vanguard Group avoided taxes The lawsuit was filed in New York last year by a then-Vanguard Group Inc. tax attorney, and unsealed Friday in state court in Manhattan. The...

A lawsuit filed in New York last year by a then-Vanguard Group Inc. tax attorney, and unsealed Friday in state court in Manhattan, alleges that Vanguard, the nation's largest mutual fund company, has wrongly avoided paying federal and state income taxes since its creation in the 1970s.
Vanguard "has operated as an illegal tax shelter for nearly 40 years, providing services to [its] funds at prices designed to avoid federal and state income tax, sheltering hundreds of millions of dollars...