April 16, 2009 (FinancialWire) -- Subsequent to developments such as FINRA's findings and finings totaling $2,145,000 against 25 broker-dealer firms, for failures related to their completion of FINRA's (then NASD's) firm self-assessment of mutual fund breakpoint discount compliance, Citigroup Global Markets, a subsidiary of Citigroup (NYSE: C), incurring $2 million in FINRA fines for a range of trading violations, and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) taking a $7 million hit from FINRA charges relating to misconduct in an early retirement investment promotion, FinancialWire(tm) is pleased to have Peter J. Chepucavage, a securities attorney with Plexus Consulting Group in Washington D.C., applying his experience and contributing his insight.

Peter J. Chepucavage has 30 years of experience in both the public and private sectors of the securities industry. He has worked for the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as well as a private law firm and a major international investment bank. He is familiar with all aspects of broker-dealer and hedge fund regulation, including broker dealer operations and stock loans.

Here is a recent submission from Mr. Chepucavage:

FINRA Rules Regarding Research, Rumors, Frontrunning And Fiduciary Duty

"On March 23, 2009, FINRA (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) brought findings and finings totaling $2,145,000 against 25 broker-dealer firms, for failures related to their completion of FINRA's (then NASD's) firm self-assessment of mutual fund breakpoint discount compliance. Less than a week prior to that, on March 17th, Citigroup Global Markets, a subsidiary of Citigroup (NYSE: C), incurred $2 million in FINRA fines for a range of trading violations. And on March 25th, two days after the mass broker-dealer levies, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) took a $7 million hit from FINRA charges relating to misconduct in an early retirement investment promotion.

"Consequently, FINRA has been the subject of much recent discussion in the financial community, and an entry posted Monday at Investrend Weblogs by Peter Chepucavage (a securities attorney with Plexus Consulting Group in Washington D.C.) offered a broad range of insight regarding FINRA." (.continued at http://www.financialwire.net/2009/04/02/blog-watch-finra-rules-regarding-research-rumors-frontrunning-and-fiduciary-duty/)

FinancialWire(tm) is a fully independent, proprietary news wire service. FinancialWire(tm) is not a press release service, and receives no compensation for its news, opinions or distributions. Further disclosure is at the FinancialWire(tm) web site (http://www.financialwire.net/disclosures.php). Contact FinancialWire(tm) directly via inquiries@financialwire.net.

Free annual reports for companies mentioned in the news are available through the Free Annual Reports Service (http://investrend.ar.wilink.com/?level=279).

Copyright(C)2009 by financialwire.net, Inc. All rights reserved.

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.