SEC Charges Four Underwriters in First Actions Enforcing Municipal Bond Disclosure Law

The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed a litigated action against Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. and separately announced settlements with BNY Mellon Capital Markets LLC, TD Securities (USA) LLC, and Jefferies LLC, charging each of the four firms with failing to comply with municipal bond offering disclosure requirements. These are the first SEC actions addressing underwriters who fail to meet the legal requirements that would exempt them from obtaining disclosures for investors in certain offerings of municipal bonds. According to the SEC’s complaint and the settled orders, during different periods since 2017, the four firms sold new issue municipal bonds without obtaining required disclosures for investors.