Securities Fraud

March 12, 2015

The New Jersey Bureau of Securities obtained a default judgment totaling more than $23 million in restitution, disgorgement, and civil penalties against Branded Marketing LLC (also known as 1800tarjetas.com), its successor company Branded Marketing, Inc., and its President and CEO, Richard Jackowitz, and affiliated company IT Connect, Inc., for their role in an investment scam that raised more than $4 million from unsuspecting investors. NJ

February 3, 2015

California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, along with the DOJ and the attorneys general of 18 states and the District of Columbia, announced a settlement with Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC (S&P) and its parent company McGraw-Hill Financial Inc. to resolve federal and state civil claims related to S&P’s conduct in inflating ratings of residential mortgage-backed securities and structured investment vehicle notes. Combined with a separate settlement also announced today resolving a lawsuit filed by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), S&P will pay a total of $1.5B to federal and state government entities. The State of California will recover $210M in damages, from which CalPERS and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) will receive allocations for their losses on investments of certain S&P-rated securities. Separately, S&P will also pay CalPERS $125M to settle CalPERS’ specific lawsuit. The remainder of the total settlement proceeds will be distributed amongst the DOJ and the other nineteen attorneys general. CA