JURIST - Paper Chase: SEC probes brokerage firms and mutual fund companies

In Tuesday's corporations and securities law news, SEC official said today that they is investigating 8 brokerage firms and 12 mutual fund companies for failing to disclose incentives that may have influenced advice to investors. The probes were revealed by SEC enforcement chief Stephen Cutler after an SEC examination of 15 large brokerages found that 13 appeared to have given favored treatment to mutual funds that paid them. The Washington Post has more.... The SEC gained a victory in the US Supreme Court today when the Court ruled that an investment promising a fixed rate of return can be a security under federal law and subject to Securities and Exchange Commission jurisdiction. Read the opinion here[PDF]. Reuters has more.... New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in conjunction with the SEC is examining whether the pay of former NYSE chairman Richard Grasso was excessive for a head of a nonprofit organization. AP has more....The SEC is beginning an investigation against Fremont Investment Advisors to determine whether improper trading occurred in some of its mutual funds. Reuters has more.

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