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Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced Assurances of Discontinuance with Credit Suisse Securities LLC and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated relating to the auction rate securities settlements reached last summer. The Assurances detail how the firms have and will continue to provide liquidity to investors who purchased auction rate securities.
Attorney General Cuomo last year settled allegations that eleven securities firms made misrepresentations in their marketing and sale of auction rate securities. As a result of the Assurances released today and settlements with other regulators, the settling firms have to date bought back billions of auction rate securities from investors. Significant additional liquidity has been restored to the market through other obligations imposed by these settlements.
“These historic settlements provided relief to cash-strapped consumers who held billions of dollars of illiquid investments after the auction rate securities market collapsed in early 2008,” said Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
From the beginning of his investigation into the auction-rate market, the Attorney General’s objective has been to bring relief to investors stuck with illiquid auction rate securities. To date, regulatory settlements called for over $61 billion in investor buy-backs, representing the largest return on behalf of investors ever. Additional obligations to facilitate liquidity solutions for investors still holding auction rate securities have resulted in billions more in buy-backs, refinancing or redemptions.
The Attorney General thanked the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), the NASAA multi-state ARS Task Force and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), for their efforts in achieving these settlements. He also thanked the North Carolina Securities Division.
In addition, the Attorney General thanked the Securities and Exchange Commission and its staff for their assistance and cooperation in the auction-rate securities investigations.
With today’s release, the Attorney General has announced Assurances of Discontinuance with the eleven securities firms that last year settled with the Attorney General as part of his investigation of auction rate securities. The settling firms are Banc of America Securities LLC and Banc of America Investment Services, Inc., Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Goldman, Sachs & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc., RBC Capital Markets Corporation, UBS Securities LLC and UBS Financial Services LLC, and Wachovia Securities LLC and Wachovia Capital Markets LLC. Copies of these Assurances of Discontinuance are available on the Attorney General's website.
Cuomo’s auction-rate securities investigation continues as to other market participants.
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